Summary: GAO reviewed the Bureau of the Public Debt's internal control and accounting control systems, focusing on whether they: (1) enabled the Bureau to accurately account for the public debt and related interest; and (2) conformed to the Comptroller General's standards, as the law required.
GAO found that: (1) inadequate oversight of operations by Bureau management has resulted in long-standing internal control and accounting system weaknesses; (2) the systems do not conform to Comptroller General standards; (3) the weaknesses led to billions of dollars of differences in the records accounting for the outstanding public debt and related interest; (4) the differences were due to untimely reconciliations; (5) Bureau management plans to implement a replacement accounting system in fiscal year 1991; (6) the new system could strengthen internal controls and enable the Bureau to more accurately account for and report the outstanding public debt and interest; and (7) management must better monitor operations to ensure that transactions are accurately and timely recorded, and that errors are corrected promptly.
