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performance and accountability report | fiscal year 2010 part 1: managements discussion and analysis

information. treasury is also enhancing its capability to monitor the use of illegal and unauthorized software in its networks and systems. this capability will help prevent software piracy and the introduction of hostile software which would put treasurys It-based business processes and information at risk of theft, compromise, or disruption.

Achieved Acquisition Savings


the Department executed its fiscal year 2010 plan to meet the oMb acquisition improvement mandate to deliver 3.5 percent in procurement savings in fiscal year 2010 and achieve a ten percent reduction in high risk contracting in fiscal year 2010. as of september 30, treasury had exceeded both goals, realizing over $241.9 million in savings versus the goal of $158.4 million, and $129.4 million in high risk contracting reduction versus the goal of $48.8 million. the Department has taken steps to achieve 3.5 percent savings in fiscal year 2011 ($158 million) and reduce the use of high risk contracting authorities. treasury will continue to actively transition to lower risk contracting strategies. treasury will achieve its targets through active management of acquisition operations and increased examination of high dollar/risk contracts.

Increased Use of Electronic Transactions


In 2010, treasury began implementing a paperless initiative to increase the use of electronic transactions with the public. the largest effort involves migrating social security, supplemental security Income, Veterans, railroad retirement, and office of Personnel Management payments to electronic transactions. Individuals will be able to receive benefits either through direct deposit or treasurys Direct express debit card. today, one million americans are receiving their benefit payments through Direct express. beginning March 1, 2011, treasury will require that new enrollees receive payments electronically. all recipients will be required to receive payments electronically by March 1, 2013. currently, 85 percent of federal benefit recipients receive their payments electronically. Moving all recipients of these benefits to electronic payments is expected to save upwards of $300 million in the first five years. currently, nearly 98 percent of all business tax dollars are paid electronically through treasurys free electronic federal tax Payment system (eftPs). Irs research has shown that businesses using eftPs are 31 times less likely to make an error. for tax collection, businesses with $2,500 or more in quarterly tax liabilities that are permitted to use paper federal tax Deposit coupons will have to make those deposits electronically beginning in 2011. this change will save an estimated $65 million in the first five years. finally, treasury will eliminate the option to purchase paper savings bonds through payroll deductions for federal employees on september 30, 2010 and for the private sector by January 1, 2011. Individuals will still be able to purchase paper savings bonds at financial institutions for themselves and as gifts. Payroll savers will be encouraged to continue their purchases through treasuryDirect, a web-based system that allows investors to buy and hold electronic treasury securities. this change is estimated to save nearly $50 million in the first five years.

Improved Transparency and Accountability


In april 2010, the Department of treasury published its first open government plan in line with the obama administrations open government Directive. an open government steering committee with representatives from each of treasurys bureaus was established to develop guidance and lead activities across the Department. In executing the plan, treasury released 84 data sets, increased stakeholder outreach efforts, and began a more focused approach to tracking reductions in the freedom of Information act (foIa) request backlog. In addition, the Department identified costs savings from open government initiatives such as tracking the impact of proactive disclosure through financialstability.gov on foIa requests to the office of financial stability (ofs). using this data, treasury developed a cost-benefit matrix to assess open government initiatives. the Department of the treasury received a leading Practices award for Participation and collaboration for achievement above and beyond the requirements of the Directive. this award recognized treasury as an agency that outlined the best and most innovative strategies for promoting open government over the next two years. treasury was only one of eight agencies to receive an award.

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the department of the treasury part 1: managements discussion and analysis

corrective actions (Pcas). In fiscal year 2010, treasurys offices and bureaus completed 88.4 percent of Pcas on time or early.

Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA)


the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (ffMIa) of 1996 mandates that agencies ... implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with federal financial management systems requirements, applicable federal accounting standards, and the united states government standard general ledger at the transaction level. ffMIa also requires that remediation plans be developed for any entity that is unable to report substantial compliance with these requirements. During fiscal year 2010, the Department issued revised ffMIa guidance and procedures based on federal guidance issued by the office of Management and budget (oMb). oMb requires agencies to use a risk-based approach to assess their financial management systems compliance with ffMIa. In compliance with the revised guidance, treasurys bureaus and offices conducted a self-assessment to determine their risk level. With the exception of the Internal revenue service (Irs), all treasury bureaus and offices are in compliance with ffMIa. as required, the Irs has a remediation plan in place to correct the identified deficiencies. for each identified deficiency, the remediation plan provides specific remedies, target dates, responsible officials, and estimated resources required to correct the deficiencies. this plan is reviewed and updated quarterly. (refer to appendix D for detailed information.)

work satisfies both the bureaus diverse financial operational and reporting needs, as well as the Departments internal and external reporting requirements. the financial data warehouse is part of the overarching treasury-wide financial analysis and reporting system (fars), which also includes applications for the bureaus to report the status of their planned audit corrective actions. In addition to the existing fars applications, the Department is reviewing existing government owned and operated systems for the implementation of a Department-wide fleet management information system, which would streamline and enhance management controls and reporting and improve fleet management planning and decision making. treasurys fars applications operate at a contractor operated hosting facility. In accordance with the guidance contained in the american Institute of certified Public accountants statement of auditing standards (sas) no. 70, Service Organizations, the service providers independent auditors examined the controls for the dedicated hosting service. In the opinion of the auditors, the description of the controls presents fairly, in all material respects, the relevant aspects of the providers controls that had been placed in operation as of september 30, 2010. fourteen treasury bureaus and offices use the financial operations services and systems support from the bureau of the Public Debts administrative resource center. utilizing these services reduces the need for treasury to maintain duplicative financial management systems; enhances the quality, timeliness, and accuracy of financial management processes; and achieves a more efficient and cost-effective business model. treasury continues to work with the bureaus to evaluate plans for continuous improvement to their financial management systems structure.

Financial Management Systems Framework


the Departments overall financial management systems framework consists of a treasury-wide financial data warehouse, supported by a financial reporting tool, and separate bureau core financial systems. bureaus submit their monthly financial data to the data warehouse within three business days of the month-end. the Department then produces monthly financial statements and reports for management analysis. this frame-

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material weaknesses, audit follow-up, and financial systems

the department of the treasury

Analysis of Performance Results


the Department exceeded targets for 73 percent of performance measures in this section. of the four measures (27 percent) that did not meet the target, the average percent of target achieved was 70 percent. treasury discontinued two measures: one in fiscal year 2010 and one in fiscal year 2009. results suggest that treasury has room for improvement in this area and that challenging targets have been set. oIgs audit completion metrics were substantially affected by material loss review work for failed banks. oIgs ability to meet this metric in fiscal year 2011 will depend largely on the number and sizes of future bank failures compared to available oIg audit resources. tIgta exceeded targets for all of its measures by at least 11 percent. tIgta should consider setting more aggressive targets for measures related to audit products delivered and recommendations implemented as both also had undesirable target trends. sIgtarPs completed audit product measure target may have been overly aggressive. although sIgtarP did not reach its goal of producing 12 audit products in fiscal year 2010, it did exhibit a 200 percent increase in completed audits (from three to nine). sIgtarP did not meet its implementation rate measure; it anticipated a higher implementation rate by ofs, but it was not fully met. ofs is working on implementing the recommendations, and planned corrective action dates extend into fiscal 2011. sIgtarP will continue to monitor the implementation of these recommendations.

to develop guidance and provide leadership on these activities across the Department. the Department released 84 data sets to date, completed a number of stakeholder outreach efforts, and began a more focused approach to tracking reduction in the freedom of Information act (foIa) request backlog. In addition, DasPtr identified cost savings from open government initiatives, developing a cost-benefit matrix and tracking the impact of proactive information disclosure on FinancialStability. gov on the number of foIa requests for ofs. the Department of the treasury received a leading Practices award for Participation and collaboration for achievement above and beyond the requirements of the Directive. this award recognized treasury as an agency that outlined the best and most innovative strategies for promoting open government over the next two years. treasury was only one of eight agencies to receive an award. the office of Disclosure services submitted the final version of the chief foIa officers report in March 2010 to meet the requirement of submission to the attorney general by March 15, 2010. the requirement supports the principles of transparency and openness in government. agencies report on the steps taken to apply the presumption of disclosure, including proactive disclosure activities, to greater utilization of technology, and steps taken to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness in responding to foIa requests. In January 2010, DasPtr launched a lean six sigma study for foIa requests processing. the objective was to analyze foIa processes within Departmental offices. the plan was to enable the Department of the treasury to promptly respond to foIa requests within statutory requirements, increase proactive disclosure of information, eliminate the foIa requests backlog, and ensure sensitive or complex foIa requests are processed properly. this will result in disclosure of information more efficiently, accurately, and rapidly to the american public to promote public trust and government accountability through increased openness and transparency. the DasPtr was designated as lead for treasurys Departmentwide the enterprise content Management (ecM) initiative during fiscal year 2010. ecM will enable the Department of treasury to create structure for managing information and complying with foIa requests. In the long term, treasury expects that the project will improve productivity, increase cost

part 2: annual performance report

Privacy, Transparency and Records


the office of the Deputy assistant secretary for Privacy, transparency, and records (DasPtr) exists to strengthen privacy and disclosure. civil liberties functions have been included to take advantage of existing privacy processes, and the records, library, and orders and directives programs are included because they are significantly interrelated with the privacy and disclosure programs. DasPtr sets the standard for the protection, access, and appropriate disclosure of treasurys information, and provides support for these activities so that program offices may concentrate on their core functions. In april 2010, the Department of the treasury published its first open government Plan, which represents the beginning of the Departments formal implementation of the open government Directive. oMb validated that the plan met every directive requirement. an open government steering committee has been convened with representatives from each of treasurys bureaus

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strategic goal: management and organizational excellence

performance and accountability report | fiscal year 2010

the following table provides a snapshot of oIg and tIgta audit reports with significant recommendations reported in previous semiannual reports for which corrective actions had not been completed as of september 30, 2009 and september 30, 2010, respectively. oIg and tIgta define significant as any recommendation open for more than one year. there were no undecided audit recommendations during the same periods.

Audit Reports with Significant Unimplemented Recommendations


9/30/2009 OIG TIGTA OIG 9/30/2010 TIGTA

No. of Reports

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finanCial m anagement s ystems frameWOrk


part 4: other accompanying information

Overview
the Department of the treasurys financial management systems structure consists of financial and mixed systems maintained by the treasury bureaus and the Department-wide financial analysis and reporting system (fars). the bureau systems process and record the detailed financial transactions and submit summary-level data to fars on a scheduled basis. fars maintains the key financial data necessary for consolidated financial reporting. In addition, the fars modules also maintain data on the status of audit-based corrective actions. under this systems structure, the bureaus are able to maintain financial management systems that meet their specific business requirements. on a monthly basis, the required financial data submitted to fars to meet Departmental analysis and reporting requirements. the Department uses fars to produce its periodic financial reports as well as the annual Performance and accountability report (Par). this structured financial systems environment enables treasury to receive an unqualified audit opinion and supports its required financial management reporting and analysis requirements. the fars structure consists of the following components:

bureau core and financial management systems that process and record detailed financial transactions treasury Information executive repository (tIer) that consolidates bureau financial data cfo Vision that produces monthly financial statements and performs financial analysis Joint audit Management enterprise system (JaMes) that tracks information on audit findings, recommendations, and planned corrective actions

bureaus submit summary-level financial data to tIer on a monthly basis, within three business days of the month-end. these data are then used by cfo Vision to generate financial statements and reports on both a Department-wide and bureau-level basis. this structure enables the Department to produce its audited annual financial statements and monthly management reports. During fiscal year 2010, treasury continued to upgrade its fars applications to take advantage of technology improvements such as information security and the technical environment. as part of the Departments enhancement effort, 14 treasury bureaus and reporting entities are cross-serviced for financial systems by the bureau of the Public Debts (bPD) administrative resource center (arc). cross-servicing enables these bureaus to have access to core financial systems without having to maintain the necessary technical and systems architectures. In an ongoing effort to streamline its financial systems environment, treasury continues to work with the bureaus to evaluate plans for continuous improvement to their financial management systems structure.

appendix d: material weaknesses, audit follow-up, financial systems, and recovery act risk management

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the department of the treasury

Continued Improvement
treasurys target financial management systems structure continues to build upon the current fars foundation. treasury has enhanced fars to support new financial and performance requirements and continues to provide management with the appropriate tools needed to align the Departments goals and objectives. In fiscal year 2010, treasury established a tIer focus group to improve communication with the bureaus and to coordinate changes impacting financial management systems and financial operations. treasury enhanced the fars applications to be section 508 compliant, which assists users with disabilities in accessing reports and performing data entry. In addition, treasury upgraded the fars servers to improve performance. the Irs continued to modernize the tax administration systems, improving the speed in which the Irs processes tax returns. In fiscal year 2010, the customer account Data engine (caDe) posted more than 41.2 million tax returns and more than 35.8 million refunds. the account Management services system, which stores taxpayer information, has been enhanced to eliminate the processing of paper and reduce case cycle time from 14 days to recognizing real-time submissions; and Irs upgraded the servers which host the financial management system that accounts for $11.5 billion in Irs funding. bPD/arc continued to improve the effectiveness of providing efficient financial management systems and financial operations services to 14 treasury bureaus and offices by implementing best practices in financial management. In fiscal year 2010, bPD/arc upgraded the core financial management systems platform to increase its responsiveness in producing financial management reports and to adhere to financial reporting governance standards. bPD/arc also provides administrative services in the areas of accounting, travel, payroll, human resources, and procurement to treasury bureaus and offices and to other federal entities to support core business activities. the bureau of engraving and Printing (beP) enhanced its manufacturing system to be fully integrated into its existing financial management system to support capturing performance data into the managerial cost accounting process. beP also participated in a pilot program with the bureau of the Public Debt (bPD) for intra-governmental transactions, utilizing a secure, web-based electronic invoicing and payment information system provided by the treasurys financial Management service.

part 4: other accompanying information

Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) of 1996 Compliance


With the exception of the Irs, all treasury bureaus are in compliance with ffMIa. as required by ffMIa, the Irs has a remediation plan in place to correct the deficiencies. for each ffMIa recommendation, the remediation plan identifies specific remedies, target dates, responsible officials, and resource estimates required for completion. this plan is reviewed and updated quarterly. the Irs made significant progress in fiscal year 2010 toward achieving ffMIa compliance by implementing the redesign revenue accounting control system (rracs), which enabled the custodial financial management system to substantially comply with the united states standard general ledger (ussgl) chart of accounts. rracs now records all tax revenue and refunds using the ussgl format and, for the first time, records the taxes receivable and allowance for doubtful accounts. the Irs also implemented automated interfaces which enabled traceability for 98.6 percent of the over $2.3 trillion in revenue collections.

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appendix d: material weaknesses, audit follow-up, financial systems, and recovery act risk management

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