Forest Service Purchase Cards: Internal Control Weaknesses Resulted in Instances of Improper, Wasteful, and Questionable Purchases

摘要

Since 1999, GAO has designated Forest Services financial management as a high-risk area because of internal control and accounting weaknesses that have been identified by the Inspector General and GAO. Given these known risks and the hundreds of millions of dollars in credit card purchases made by the agency each year, GAO was asked to review the Forest Services fiscal year 2001 purchase card transactions to determine whether (1) existing internal controls were designed to provide reasonable assurance that improper purchases would be prevented or detected, (2) purchases were made in accordance with established policies and procedures, and (3) purchases were made for a reasonable cost and reflected a legitimate government need. GAO is making a number of recommendations to strengthen the Forest Services internal controls and compliance in its purchase card program, decrease wasteful purchases, and improve accountability for assets. In responding to our draft report, the Forest Service did not specifically discuss GAOs recommendations, but it outlined actions taken or planned to strengthen management of the purchase card program. However, the actions outlined will not address many of the weaknesses identified in the report that GAOs recommendations are intended to address.