Summary: GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) December 1992 Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) report and August 1992 5-year Financial Management Plan. GAO found that: (1) the NASA FMFIA report does not accurately disclose extensive weaknesses in NASA internal management controls and its accounting systems' failure to conform to Comptroller General accounting principles and standards; (2) system weaknesses include inadequate controls over contract payments and government-owned contractor-held property; (3) planned corrective actions do not address all identified weaknesses and do not ensure that appropriations are only used for authorized purposes; (4) many corrective actions depend on NASA implementing a new accounting system that it will not complete for several years; (5) interim improvements will not fully resolve system weaknesses and will require extensive monitoring and reconciliations; (6) NASA plans to rely on its internal financial statement audits to satisfy the FMFIA requirement for self-assessments, but this approach will not disclose most of its internal control weaknesses; (7) the NASA 5-year Financial Management Plan does not provide for broad financial management leadership or timely financial management system improvement plans; and (8) NASA does not have a chief financial officer with authority over financial management policy and operations.
