Summary: Although the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) used appropriate statistical methods in its publication entitled Hard-to-Sell Assets Review Project, data limitations hindered its efforts to analyze three of its sale strategies: (1) Standard Asset Management and Disposition Agreement contractor sales, (2) portfolio sales, and (3) auction sales. The results of RTC's statistical analysis of hard-to-sell assets were compromised because RTC did not always have enough sales and other financial data to assess the effectiveness of its asset disposition strategies. Accurate and complete asset sales and financial information would allow RTC to better manage its inventory and better assess its asset disposition programs. Also, this information will be needed to carry out the Secretary of the Treasury's request that RTC develop a comprehensive business plan that includes a strategy to maximize returns from the sale of its large inventory of hard-to-sell assets. Therefore, GAO recommends that RTC improve its methods for collecting and summarizing this information.
