Testimony: Statement of Robert J. Lieberman, Deputy Inspector General, Department of Defense to the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations, House Government Reform Committee on Defense Financial Management.

摘要

In terms of audit opinions on the reliability of DoD year-end financial statements, I am unable to report progress for the DoD-wide or major component funds. As in previous years, we issued an unqualified (clean) opinion for the Military Retirement Fund's statements. Disclaimers of opinion were necessary for all other major funds, because of serious deficiencies in the reporting systems and other internal control problems. A few DoD organizations, whose funds are not large enough to require separate reporting to OMB, have made progress, but the impact is primarily symbolic. Measuring progress toward compliance with the Chief Financial Officers Act and related statutes has been extremely difficult, because the Government has lacked any metrics except audit opinions on year-end financial statements. I am greatly encouraged by the widespread support expressed for our concept of applying Year 2000 conversion-type metrics to the financial system improvement projects. As soon as the ongoing effort to develop a comprehensive systems architecture has laid the groundwork, we can begin assessing the progress of each system development or modification effort that is needed to achieve compliance with the new Federal Accounting Standards.