Forest Service: Financial Management Issues. Statement of Linda M. Calbom,Director, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Accounting and Financial Management Issues, Accounting and Information Management Division

摘要

This Report discusses the results of the work examining weaknesses in the ForestService's financial accounting and reporting systems reported by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Inspector General (IG). The Forest Service has been plagued by continuing financial management problems as evidenced by the IG's adverse opinion on the Forest Service's fiscal year 1995 financial statements. Due to the severity of these problems, the Forest Service did not prepare financial statements for fiscal year 1996, but chose instead to focus its efforts on problem resolution. Financial statements were prepared for fiscal year 1997, and the audit of those statements is near completion; as of July 1, 1998, the USDA IG was finalizing its report. It will focus primarily on the fiscal year 1995 audit results, which disclosed a number of serious weaknesses, most of which still exist today.