ADP Management Controls: Farmers Home Administration Can Improve Reporting of Weaknesses
IMTEC-88-38
Published: Jul 25, 1988. Publicly Released: Jul 25, 1988.
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Highlights
GAO determined whether the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) identified, corrected, and reported its automatic data processing (ADP) weaknesses in compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (FMFIA).
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Agriculture | To ensure that the FmHA FMFIA process identifies, corrects, and reports all FmHA ADP management weaknesses, as called for by USDA implementation of that act, the Secretary of Agriculture should include in the USDA FMFIA annual report specific ADP management weaknesses identified by the 1986 and 1987 USDA and Treasury studies, along with planned corrective actions. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In 1988, FmHA reported to the Secretary of Agriculture, as a corrected weakness, that management oversight and control of its strategic financial systems could be improved. USDA does not believe that other weaknesses included in the referenced studies are appropriate for including in the USDA FMFIA report.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To ensure that the FmHA FMFIA process identifies, corrects, and reports all FmHA ADP management weaknesses, as called for by USDA implementation of that act, the Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that field office evaluations are an integral part of the FmHA FMFIA process by requiring that evaluation results be fully analyzed so that widespread patterns of weaknesses are properly identified and included in the USDA FMFIA reports. |
Closed – Implemented
During fiscal year 1988, one unit, the Internal Control Audit Liaison Branch, became responsible to receive all reports and analyses of which internal control is a part. FmHA believes that this will provide a more complete picture of the internal control system in FmHA.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To ensure that the FmHA FMFIA process identifies, corrects, and reports all FmHA ADP management weaknesses, as called for by USDA implementation of that act, the Secretary of Agriculture should include in future USDA FMFIA reports the specific weakness that FmHA field office internal controls over loan servicing and processing are inadequate, until the weakness is corrected. |
Closed – Implemented
FmHA and USDA both reported in their 1988 FMFIA reports that inadequate loan supervison contributed to delinquent loans and other problem cases. Additional internal control weaknesses were reported in FmHA and USDA 1989 reports. All weaknesses were identified either through OIG audits or agency internal control reviews. Weaknesses continue to be reported until corrective actions are completed.
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| Department of Agriculture | To ensure that the FmHA FMFIA process identifies, corrects, and reports all FmHA ADP management weaknesses, as called for by USDA implementation of that act, the Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that proposed actions to correct weaknesses are adequate, by verifying their implementation and effectiveness before reporting that the weaknesses are corrected. |
Closed – Implemented
FmHA implemented a process whereby the Internal Control Audit Liaison Branch requires specific documentation supporting a corrected weakness before reporting the weakness as corrected. For example, if the weakness is the need for additional training, documents such as course agenda and participants would be required.
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| Department of Agriculture | To ensure that the FmHA FMFIA process identifies, corrects, and reports all FmHA ADP management weaknesses, as called for by USDA implementation of that act, the Secretary of Agriculture should include in future USDA FMFIA reports the weakness and planned corrective actions concerning the ineffective priority-setting process for reducing the backlog of system change requests until the weakness is corrected. |
Closed – Implemented
FmHA issued a directive that sets a strategy to determine priority and specifies standards in this area. This issue was not included in the USDA FMFIA report. Therefore, this issue did not undergo the FmHA process for ensuring that a corrective action is effective.
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Topics
Electronic data processingAgency reportsLoan accounting systemsNoncomplianceReporting requirementsRisk managementSystems analysisSystems evaluationSystems managementFederal agency accounting systems