Information Technology Management: Report on Defense Civilian Pay System Controls Placed in Operation and Tests of Operating Effectiveness for the Period October 1, 2004 Through June 30, 2005

摘要

This report is intended for the use of Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) management, its user organizations, and the independent auditors of its user organizations. DoD personnel who manage and use the Defense Civilian Pay System (DCPS) will also find this report of interest as it contains information about DCPS general and application controls. DCPS is a pay processing system used to pay DoD civilian employees, as well as employees at several other Federal entities, including the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services, and the Executive Office of the President. In 2004, DCPS processed approximately 542.3 billion of pay transactions and paid approximately 762,000 employees on a bi-weekly basis. The DoD Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) is implementing a long-range strategy to conduct audits of DoD financial statements. The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-576), as amended, mandates that agencies prepare and conduct audits of financial statements. The reliability of information in DCPS directly impacts the Defense Department's ability to provide reliable, and ultimately auditable, financial statements; which is key to achieving the goals of the Chief Financial Officers Act. This audit assessed the application and general computer controls over DCPS and its related processing. Those application and general computer controls are managed and maintained by DFAS and DISA. This report provides an opinion on the fairness of presentation, the adequacy of design, and the operating effectiveness of key application and general computer controls that are relevant to audits of user organization financial statements. As a result, this audit precludes the need for multiple audits of DCPS controls previously performed by user organizations to plan or conduct financial statement and performance audits.