Material Weaknesses

During our audit of IRS’ fiscal year 1997 Custodial Financial Statements, we identified six material weaknesses that adversely affected IRS’ ability to safeguard assets from material loss, assure material compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and assure that there were no material misstatements in the financial statements. However, this approach required numerous audit adjustments to produce reliable balances. We also noted that IRS’ financial management systems do not substantially comply with the requirements of FFMIA, which is reportable under OMB Bulletin 98-04. However, we believe that IRS’ internal controls, taken as a whole, were not effective in satisfying the control objectives discussed above during fiscal year 1997 because of the severity of the material weaknesses in internal controls described in this report, which were also cited by IRS in its fiscal year 1997 FIA report. In order to fulfill these responsibilities, we examined, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the Custodial Financial Statements; assessed the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management in the preparation of the Custodial Financial Statements; evaluated the overall presentation of the Custodial Financial Statements; obtained an understanding of internal controls related to safeguarding assets, compliance with laws and regulations, including execution of transactions in accordance with budget authority and financial reporting; tested relevant internal controls over safeguarding, compliance, and financial reporting and evaluated management’s assertion about the effectiveness of internal controls; tested compliance with selected provisions of the following laws and regulations:
Internal Revenue Code (appendix I),
Debt Collection Act, as amended {31 U.S.C. § 3515, 3521 (e)-(f)}, and
Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 1982 {31 U.S.C.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO examined the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) custodial financial statements for fiscal year (FY) ending September 30, 1997.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the IRS custodial financial statements were reliable in all material respects; (2) IRS management's assertion about the effectiveness of internal controls stated that except for the material weaknesses in internal controls presented in the agency's FY 1997 Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FIA) report, internal controls were effective in satisfying the following objectives: (a) safeguarding assets from material loss; (b) assuring material compliance with laws governing the use of budget authority and with other relevant laws and regulations; and (c) assuring that there were no other material misstatements in the custodial financial statements; (3) however, GAO found that IRS' internal controls, taken as a whole, were not effective in satisfying these objectives; (5) due to the severity of the material weaknesses in IRS' financial accounting and reporting controls, all of which were reported in IRS' FY 1997 FIA report, extensive reliance on ad hoc programming and analysis was needed to develop financial statement line item balances, and the resulting amounts needed material audit adjustments to produce reliable custodial financial statements; and (6) one reportable noncompliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations GAO tested, and that IRS' financial management systems do not substantially comply with the requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996.