Financial Management: Audit of the Centennial of Flight Commission
GAO-02-43R
Published: Oct 22, 2001. Publicly Released: Oct 22, 2001.
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Highlights
The Centennial of Flight Commission was created in 1998 to provide recommendations and advice to the President, Congress, and federal agencies on ways to encourage and promote national and international participation and sponsorships in commemoration of the centennial of powered flight. All 45 of the Commission's recorded financial transactions for fiscal years 2000 and 1999 were supported by documentation that was approved by management. The Commission recorded no donations, user fees, or in-kind donations for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Also, the Commission's obligations exceeded its fiscal year 2000 appropriation of $600,000 by $29,729.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Centennial of Flight Commission | The Executive Director of the Centennial of Flight Commission, or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of the Commission should reconcile all of the financial accounting records kept for the Commission to correctly account for the $29,948 computer support contract modification in fiscal year 2000 and the $40,334 contract for computer hardware in fiscal year 1999. |
Closed – Implemented
The Commission corrected these errors by reporting the fiscal year (FY) 1999 contract for $40,334 in FY 1999, and deobligating the $29,948 contract amendment from FY 1999, and reobligating it for FY 2000.
|
| Centennial of Flight Commission | The Executive Director of the Commission, or the FAA on behalf of the Commission should report the violation of the Antideficiency Act for fiscal year 2000 as required by OMB Circular No. A-34 Instructions on Budget Execution. |
Closed – Implemented
The Commission reported the violation of the Antideficiency Act by letters to the President, Speaker of the House, and President of the Senate as required by OMB Circular No. A-34.
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| Centennial of Flight Commission | The Executive Director of the Commission, or the FAA on behalf of the Commission should address the overobligation by deobligating $29,729 for fiscal year 2000. |
Closed – Implemented
The Commission deobligated $29,800 from a fiscal year (FY) 2000 contract, and reobligated this amount against its FY 2001 appropriation to correct an overobligation in FY 2000.
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| Centennial of Flight Commission | The Executive Director of the Commission, or the FAA on behalf of the Commission should strengthen the Commission's internal control by reconciling its record of approved obligations and expenditures monthly with FAA accounting records maintained on behalf of the Commission. |
Closed – Implemented
The Commission agreed with this recommendation, and during fiscal year (FY) 2001, had partially implemented it by periodically reconciling its financial transactions with FAA and NASA records. Due to the small number of transactions, GAO concurred that periodic reconciliation instead of monthly would be sufficient. However, GAO noted that during its FY 2001 audit, the reconciliations were not completely effective because of continuing errors, and the Commission needed further work to fully implement this recommendation. Based upon its FY 2002 audit that identified no errors on the Commission's part, GAO determined that the periodic reconciliations were effective, and the Commission had fully implemented this recommendation as of September 30, 2002.
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Topics
Budget authorityFinancial statement auditsInternal controlsNoncomplianceExpenditure of fundsFinancial managementFinancial recordsAviationBudget allotmentAccounting records