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Office of Justice Programs
Fiscal Year 2000

Report No. 01-22
August 2001
Office of the Inspector General



EXHIBIT II: STATUS OF PRIOR YEAR RECOMMENDATIONS

Report Number Reported Condition Recommendation Status Current Year Recommendation
00-14 Grant Accrual Process Deficiencies
  1. We recommend that:
    • OC implement the planned grant accrual methodology in the IFMIS accounting system.
    • OC ensure that financial data integrity controls exist over the grant accrual methodology.
    • IRMD, in conjunction with OC, devote resources to scanning the remaining grant file information into electronic form so that all information pertaining to grants will be readily available for agency use and audit.
In Process Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
Lack of Timely Financial Statements
  1. We recommend that OC:
    • Record audit adjustments in the general ledger and develop a methodology to address the effects of prior year audit adjustments during the year rather than during the reporting phase of the audit.
    • Implement financial statement and combined trial balance functionality in its accounting system.
    • Develop formal fund balance with Treasury reconciliation policies and procedures and perform reconciliations on a monthly basis.
    • Implement edit checks over journal vouchers to ensure that incomplete entries cannot be made.
    • Begin performing monthly account analysis in accordance with policies and procedures.
    • Develop procedures to eliminate intra-OJP activity for consolidated financial statement purposes prior to audit.
    • Consider allocating additional staff to financial statement preparation, if the above recommendations cannot be implemented due to cost or system constraints.
In Process Numbers 3 and 5
99-17 and
00-14
Inability to Produce Financial Rpts Directly from the Acct. System
  1. We recommend that OC continue to implement the reporting module of IFMIS and the policies and procedures related to external financial reporting.
Not Started Number 4
00-14 Lease Classification and Disclosure
  1. We recommend that:
    • OA individuals responsible for property management prepare a detailed schedule of all new leases.
    • OC review the lease schedule, determine if any of the items meet the criteria for lease capitalization, and record the value of these leases on OJP's accounting system.
    • OC forward to property management personnel a listing of all leases capitalized for inclusion as capitalized assets in the property management system.
Completed Not Applicable
00-14 Lease Classification and Disclosure
  1. We recommend that OJP develop a methodology for collecting, maintaining, and updating the data necessary to prepare future minimum lease payment disclosures starting with fiscal year 2000.
In Process Management Letter Comment
00-14 Unallocated Mgt., Admin. Expenses, and Earned Revenue
  1. We recommend that Office of Budget and Management Services (OBMS) and OC develop a methodology to allocate management and administrative costs and earned revenues to its subprograms.
Completed Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
Lack of Intragovernmental Reconciliation Policies and Procedures
  1. We recommend that OJP:
    • Develop detailed policies and procedures for preparing intra-agency and inter-agency provider listings, in accordance with Department of Justice guidance and the OMB 97-01, as amended.
    • Investigate with the appropriate oversight authorities, which may include the OMB, JMD, & Treasury FMS, the possibility of recognizing exchange revenue upon receipt of funds from a trading partner to minimize the administrative burden of the reconciliation process.
In Process Management Letter Comment
00-14 Availability of Current Year Receipts
  1. We recommend that OC ask Treasury's Financial Management Services (FMS) to begin treating the CVF receipt account as unavailable in accordance with OMB guidance, so that OJP can ensure that it is appropriately accounting for CVF receipts as to availability.
Completed Not Applicable
00-14 Revenue Recognition of Current Year Receipts
  1. We recommend that OC develop revised policies and and procedures, new transaction codes, and new accounts necessary to account for the CVF in accordance with standard general ledger (SGL) guidance.
Not Started Number 4
00-14 Accrual-based Revenue
  1. We recommend that OC develop cut-off procedures for recording amounts earned but not collected as of year-end.
Completed Not Applicable
00-14 Inappropriate Recording of Allocation Transfer
  1. We recommend that OC:
    • Begin accounting for allocation transfers in accordance with SGL guidance.
    • Develop a separate fund in IFMIS to record HHS activity exclusively. This fund should be combined with parent appropriation activity for budgetary reporting but excluded for financial statement purposes.
Completed Not Applicable
00-14 Dial-in Access Line
  1. We recommend that Information Resources Management Division (IRMD):
    • Evaluate the software developer's dial-in method, perform a risk assessment, and develop a plan to address identified risks.
    • Monitor remote access to IFMIS via activity logs on a weekly or monthly basis to determine whether unauthorized entry has occurred.
In Process Number 8
00-14 Audit Trail
  1. We recommend that IRMD:
    • Use access control software to maintain audit trails.
    • Implement a compensating control to monitor access to its networks if access control software is impractical due to cost or system constraints.
Completed Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
Risk Assessments
  1. We recommend that IRMD perform risk assessments at least once every three years or when major changes have occurred.
Completed Condition Reported But No Recommendation
99-17 and
00-14
Documentation of IFMIS Configuration Mgt., Contingency, and Security Plans
  1. We recommend that IRMD finalize its configuration management, contingency, and security plans for IFMIS.
Completed Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
Comprehensive Information Technology Policy
  1. We recommend that IRMD:
    • Finalize and approve its comprehensive information technology security plan.
    • Immediately communicate the plan to providers and users of information technology resources.
Completed Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
IFMIS Configuration Management
  1. We recommend that OC:
    • Implement full change control policies and procedures over IFMIS.
    • Document all changes to IFMIS.
    • Document and monitor the software developer's configuration management policy.
    • Develop a plan to secure the source code for IFMIS if the relationship with the software developer is terminated.
Completed Not Applicable
99-17 and
00-14
Test Plan for Software Modification.
  1. We recommend that IRMD develop a system test plan for new software and modifications to existing software that:
    • defines the responsibilities of parties participating in testing,
    • describes the process for unit, integration, and system testing,
    • documents the process through which modifications are moved into production, and
    • includes procedures for updating software documentation as modifications are made.
Completed Condition Reported But No Recommendation