Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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.
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corrective actions (Pcas). In fiscal year 2010, treasurys offices and bureaus completed 88.4 percent of Pcas on time or early.
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.
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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
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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.
No. of Reports
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iii.
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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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.
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appendix d: material weaknesses, audit follow-up, financial systems, and recovery act risk management