IRS Expenditure of Appropriated Funds for Purchase of Tickets to Awards Ceremony and Dinner

GAO was asked for a decision as to the propriety of an agency's purchase of corporate tickets to a dinner given by the National Association of Black Accountants. Agency representatives attended the banquet for recruitment purposes and to demonstrate the agency's commitment to its equal opportunity program. An agency counsel argued that, although any charge made specifically for meals at the banquet would not be payable from appropriated funds, the entire fee was payable as the ticket was not divisable into portions covering the cost of the meal and the cost of attending the meeting. Absent authorizing legislation, the cost of meals furnished to Government employees may not be paid with appropriated funds. It was incorrect that the entire fee was payable here. The fee is payable only in training situations, and this banquet was not a training meeting. Nothing in the agency's appropriations authorized the payment of employee incurred expenses at meetings or conferences of a society or an association. The agency counsel also contended that the restrictions could be avoided by the purchase of the tickets to the banquet in the name of the agency. However, regulations prohibit such expenditure. The agency employees' attendance at the meeting would not be sufficiently related to the agency mission to allow the expenditure. The purchase of the tickets with agency funds should not have been allowed. Since GAO decisions in similar matters may have been misleading, GAO did not insist on recoupment of the improperly used monies in this matter.