Internal Revenue Service: Immediate and Long-Term Actions Needed to Improve Financial Management

摘要

This letter is a follow-up to the report on the results of the audit of the custodial financial statements of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year 1997. For the first time since we began auditing IRS' financial statements in fiscal year 1992, we were able to conclude that IRS' fiscal year 1997 custodial financial statements were reliable in all material respects. In issuing an unqualified opinion on these statements, we reported that the over $1.6 trillion in tax revenue, $142 billion in tax refunds, and $28 billion in net taxes receivable reported by the IRS were fairly stated. However, as we pointed out in our audit report and in subsequent congressional testimony, serious weaknesses in IRS' internal controls and financial management systems continue to exist. This report outlines what we believe needs to be done to address these problems. It details our findings and presents conclusions and recommendations for improvement.