Audit of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's Financial Statements for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2007

Establish policies, procedures and mechanisms to comply with the financial reporting requirements in OMB Circular A-136.

Finalize a strategic plan, implement a performance based budget and formulate useful performance measures to tie to the budget for fiscal year 2009 financial statement reporting.

Evaluate the resources and appropriate skills needed to meet the financial operations' responsibilities and implement the results of the evaluation and the recommendations.

Ensure that appropriate training is provided to financial staff on federal accounting and reporting, and on the accounting service provider's financial system.

Complete changes being made to EAC's organizational structure for financial management.

Ensure that the memorandum of agreement (MOU) with the accounting service provider clearly describes each party's responsibilities and provides for timely assistance to meet EAC's financial information needs, such as a list of all the routine…

In order to prepare reliable financial statements for Fiscal Year 2009, EAC must resolve above accounting issues as soon as possible. For complex issues such as the accounting for requirements payments, it may need to consult with authoritative bodies…

In conjunction with the recommendation no. 6 related to the service provider's memorandum of agreement, EAC should decide to either interface its standalone financial systems with the service provider's system or to utilize the service provider…

Develop and implement policy and procedures for the financial reporting process and responsibilities including preparation of the financial statements. The procedures should include, among others, financial statements review process and submission/…

Prepare and analyze monthly reconciliations of subsidiary and summary accounts balances. Consider a "formal closing" of all accounts at an interim dates which will reduce the level of accounting activity and analysis required at year-end. This…

Evaluate the most efficient way of obtaining financial data from the general ledger system or the service provider.

Ensure that supervisory reviews are applied to the monthly reconciliations and its supporting documents are maintained and reviews documented.

Analyze all contracts and prepare correcting entries.

Ensure that the accounting entries for this type of transactions are recorded in accordance with United States Standard General Ledger requirements.

Consult with OMB and/or U.S. Treasury on to the appropriate accounting for the Section 251 requirements payments. Prepare a position paper to document the authoritative decisions to support the accounting treatment.

Develop procedures for the return of the Section 102 funds from the States. The procedures should include determining States that are required to return the funds, the amounts to be returned, and the process to obtain the funds. Also, ensure that the…

Develop policies and procedures for the funds identified by the Office of Inspector General audits.

Establish and implement policy and procedures for funds control.

Resolve the potential Anti-Deficiency Act and Purpose Statue violation issues as soon as possible. EAC may need to reconstruct the transactions in order to determine proper accounting and use of the funds.

Develop and implement information system policies and procedures to meet compliance with OMB Circular No. A-130, NIST special Publication 800-18 and FISMA requirements and guidelines.

Request and review a copy of the service provider systems review rotation plan, noting which EAC support systems are covered. For fiscal years where EAC systems are not covered, EAC should obtain access from the service provider to review these systems…

Assign responsibility for the security management function to an individual with the oversight responsibility and authority over the security management structure. The individual should have the expertise and independence to enforce security policies.

Continue with ongoing efforts and complete a certification and accreditation, risk assessment, security plan and system test and evaluation of EAC's general support systems.

Obtain, review and follow up on identified security weaknesses within (1) the service provider's POA&M (2) the Statement of Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 review of the Heartland Finance Center; (3) the service provider's OIG's 2008 FISMA…

Implement written procedures for authorizing and tracking of compensatory time for official travel outside of regular working hours.