Library of Congress: Special Events Gift Fund Operations and Accountability

Following our recommendation, the Library's Office of Special Events and Public Programs (OSEPP) implemented an event management software system known as Raiser's Edge. This software requires the Special Events staff to create electronic records associated with event approval, planning, execution, and final accounting. The software provides for automated routing of key electronic records/documents to appropriate officials and offices for formal review and, where required, provides an electronic record that documents necessary approvals. Key event-related documentation, including event request/approval and final accounting, is maintained electronically in the Raiser's Edge system. Other documentation related to event execution (e.g. vendor invoices) is retained electronically in the Library's Momentum financial management system--its primary system of record--as supporting documentation for applicable accounting transactions recorded therein. Event-related financial data, including receipt and disbursement amounts, is also recorded in Raiser's Edge and routinely reconciled to the Library's Momentum system. To help ensure that Special Event documentation is properly prepared and maintained, OSEPP also implemented an on-line procedures manual in September 2005 which covers the various phases of the event cycle, including required supporting documentation. The manual lists required file documentation and provides workflow charts that address the timing of required documents.

Following our recommendation, the Special Events Fund Manager, who assumed responsibility for managing Special Events and the Fund in 2005, established an operating procedure requiring the Fund Manager to annually review event planners' electronic event file documentation for completeness as part of the event staff annual performance assessment process. The Special Events Office on-line procedures manual serves as the criteria for this review, the overall objective of which is assessment of compliance with applicable Special Events policies/procedures, including those requiring the preparation and approval of event-specific documentation. The Fund Manager performs the reviews in two phases. The first phase, generally conducted at mid-fiscal year, involves an informal review of all electronic records of events assigned to event planners through that date; this preliminary review provides planners with the opportunity to address any documentation deficiencies before the formal, year-end review. During this second phase, the Fund Manager reviews the files in which deficiencies were noted during the mid-year review, and also reviews files for all events assigned to planners since the first review. The results of the year-end review have a direct impact on planners' performance ratings and the completeness of event-related supporting documentation. In addition to periodic event file reviews, Library officials also cited the implementation of an electronic event record management system and its related on-line procedures manual as contributing to improved understanding of the documentation requirements. According to Library officials, the Fund Manager's reviews have increased the percentage of events that have all required documentation permanently maintained in the appropriate location in Raiser's Edge.

Following our recommendation, Library officials implemented a new event management system which provides for the documentation and approval of exceptions and deviations from established Special Events policies and procedures. Event planners are expected to identify and electronically document requests for exceptions and deviations associated with special event requests and execution. The system's routing and approval process electronically documents the routing and approval of event requests and planning/execution activities, including requests for exceptions and deviations from policies and procedures. In May 2007, Library officials formally documented an established operating practice governing which Library officials have authority to approve exceptions to Special Events policies and procedures and how these exceptions are to be documented.

In response to our recommendation, the Library took several actions to improve the basic accounting records maintained by the Library's Office of Special Events and Public Programs. The Library implemented a new event management software system (Raiser's Edge) which includes accounting functionality. Specifically, the system provides for tracking event-related receipts (advances from internal and external event sponsors for both event administrative fees and costs) and expenses (catering, printing, and other charges); producing reports of amounts due/owed (by event); and preparing final accountings for all events based on the recorded accounting information. In addition, the Special Events Office hired a senior accountant with the skills needed to effectively utilize the system's accounting functionality. The Library's fiscal year 2005 implementation of event-specific project codes in Momentum--its financial management system and primary system of record--was also a critical action that created a common data element with Raiser's Edge and facilitated routine reconciliations of data recorded in the two systems.

In response to our recommendation, the Library implemented several corrective actions that have improved its ability to perform periodic reconciliations of event-related receipts and disbursements. Following our recommendation, the Special Events Fund Manager established a requirement for monthly reconciliation of receipt and disbursement amounts recorded in Raiser's Edge--the Library's events management system--with event-related amounts recorded in the Library's financial management system, Momentum. In October 2005, the Special Events Senior Accountant began routinely preparing the required reconciliation reports. A key factor in the development of these control procedures was the establishment of a unique project code for each event in Momentum which is also used in the Special Events Office's event management software system. The Senior Accountant reconciles receipts on a monthly basis (by event) by extracting amounts from Momentum and importing them into an Excel spreadsheet that contains the Raiser's Edge Cash Receipts Journal. To reconcile disbursements recorded in Raiser's Edge to those recorded in Momentum, the Senior Accountant produces a bi-weekly Project Report from Momentum for each project code (i.e., a history of Momentum postings, by event) and manually compares disbursement amounts per the report to those recorded in Raiser's Edge.

In response to our recommendation, the Library's Office of Special Events and Public Programs designed and implemented the Balance Outstanding Report that enables the Special Events Fund Manager to routinely monitor fund operations and finances. The Special Events Senior Accountant produces this report for all events on a weekly basis, and the data reported includes event date, event number/name, final accounting date, and net amount due to or owed by the Library. During fiscal year 2006, the Fund Manager implemented procedures to review the report to monitor events with outstanding balances for further collection effort or refund.

In response to our recommendation, the Library instituted a policy requiring that the final accounting for all special events be completed within three months following the event, and revised its Special Events Agreement form used for externally-funded events to reflect this policy. In addition, the Library's Office of Special Events and Public Programs began preparing a monthly status report that tracks the period of time between the event date and completion of the final accounting. During fiscal year 2006, the Special Events Fund Manager implemented procedures to review this Final Accounting Aging Report to assess the timeliness of processing final accountings. According to the Library, for FY 2007 events held through May 31, 2007, the final accountings have been completed in an average of 43 days following the date of the event.