Summary: As a result of its unannounced cash count at the House of Representatives Post Office in March 1992, GAO concludes that current post office management may be lacking the skills needed to conduct the financial aspects of daily postal operations. In addition, management and internal controls to minimize the risk of loss are lacking and existing controls are not working properly. Although it found some cash shortages and overages in several drawers, GAO could not complete its cash count and reconciliation because it could not determine how much one key Post Office official was accountable for and because a key for one cash drawer was unavailable. Among other things, GAO discovered an unopened pack of 100 blank money orders in an unlocked safe with the keys in the lock. One employee had commingled Post Office funds with personal money, creating the possibility of concealed shortages. Moreover, an independent review of clerks' daily activity and cash balances, a basic management control, had not been done during the past five working days.
