Author: U S Government Accountability Office (G

Publisher: BiblioGov

Published: 2013-07

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 9781289250577

GAO reviewed certified public accountants' audit of the U.S. Customs Service's Customs Forfeiture Fund's 1990 and 1991 financial statements. GAO found that: (1) Customs' and the auditor's failure to disclose two significant unreconciled cash items adversely impacted the usefulness of the audit information and inhibited Congress and other information users from understanding and assessing the impact of the Fund's internal control problems; (2) Customs' inability to detect $6.4 million in unreconciled cash balances and report $10.6 million in unreconciled differences in cash activity increased its vulnerability to waste, fraud, and abuse; (3) the unexplained amounts could have resulted from incorrect entries in accounting records, misappropriation of funds, or theft; (4) the auditor believed that accounting and auditing standards did not require it to disclose the unreconciled items; since they were insignificant; and (5) the remainder of the independent auditor's report materially complied with auditing laws and regulations.