Summary: Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the use of surcharge proceeds received by the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Properties through September 30, 1996.
GAO noted that: (1) GAO determined that Olympic Properties received about $22.9 million in coin surcharge proceeds from the U.S. Mint through September 30, 1996; (2) Olympic Properties' financial statements were audited for calendar years ended 1991 through 1996 by an independent public accounting firm; (3) the financial statements for calendar year 1996 showed that Olympic Properties' cumulative revenues from all sources were about $658 million and cumulative expenses were about $120 million; (4) in addition, these statements showed cumulative cash disbursements to Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) of about $198 million and cumulative cash disbursements to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) of about $68.6 million; (5) Olympic Properties established a variety of accounts to record its expenses, but was not required to, and did not, separately account for its use of surcharge proceeds received through September 30, 1996; (6) instead, Olympic Properties combined surcharge proceeds with other revenue and charged expenses against the combined revenue account; (7) as a result, neither Olympic Properties nor GAO could determine specifically how Olympic Properties used its surcharge proceeds to promote and sell commemorative coins issued for the Atlanta Olympic Games and, after paying its expenses, whether Olympic Properties distributed the remaining net proceeds equally to ACOG and USOC; and (8) section 5134 of Title 31, United States Code, as amended by Public Law 104-208, addressed this issue with provisions that now require recipients who receive surcharge proceeds on or after September 30, 1996, to: (a) separately account for the receipt and expenditure of surcharge proceeds; and (b) obtain annual financial audits by an independent public accounting firm until all surcharge proceeds are expended or placed in trust.
