Financial Management: Review of the Financial Statement Audit of the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance for Fiscal Year 2005 and Status of GAO Audit Recommendations

The White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance (Commission) was created on December 28, 2000, by the National Moment of Remembrance Act. The Commission's purpose is to sustain the American spirit through acts of remembrance, not only on Memorial Day but also throughout the year, for those who died serving our country. Congress appropriated $1.25 million to the Commission to fund its operations for fiscal years 2002 through 2005. In fiscal year 2005, the Commission received net appropriations of approximately $248,000, along with cash and in-kind donations of approximately $103,000 from individuals and businesses. In addition, it had approximately $244,000 in unexpended appropriations from prior fiscal years. The Commission expended approximately $239,000 of appropriated funds and funded costs of approximately $103,000 with cash and in-kind donations received during the fiscal year. The National Moment of Remembrance Act requires GAO to annually audit the financial transactions of the Commission. However, as reflected in an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum, the Commission is subject to the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002 which was enacted on November 7, 2002. This act requires the Commission to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements to OMB and Congress. This is the first year the Commission has prepared a complete set of financial statements and contracted with an independent public accountant (IPA) to conduct the financial statement audit. In lieu of performing an audit of the Commission's fiscal year 2005 financial transactions, which would duplicate much of the work performed by the IPA, we performed a review of the IPA's audit of the Commission's financial statements. This report provides the results of our review of the Commission's fiscal year 2005 financial statement audit and provides the status of the Commission's implementation of recommendations made by us during prior years' audits of the Commission's financial transactions.