Summary: This report reviews agencies' adherence to the user fee review and reporting requirements in the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-25. The CFO Act and OMB circular are designed to help ensure that government fees are periodically reviewed and updated to reflect changes in cost or in market value. User fees may be based on the recovery costs of providing the service, the market value of the goods and services provided, or may be set by legislation. In fiscal year 1997, user fees and charges provided the government with $217.1 billion in revenues--more than 13 percent of the federal revenues collected that year. This report discusses whether the 24 agencies subject to the CFO Act (1) reviewed their user fee rates biennially during fiscal years 1993 through 1997, (2) determined both direct and indirect costs when reviewing fees on the basis of costs or current market value for fees based on market value, (3) reviewed other programs within the agency to identify potential new user fees, and (4) reported the results of the user fee reviews in their CFO annual reports. GAO also determines whether agencies were more likely to review fees when they could use such fees for their expenses than when the fees went to Treasury's general fund.
