Independent Auditor's Report – Appendix I: Scope and Methodology
USAID management is responsible for (1) preparing the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, (2) establishing, maintaining and assessing internal control to provide reasonable assurance that the broad control objectives of the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act are met, (3) ensuring that USAID’s financial management systems substantially comply with FFMIA requirements, and (4) complying with applicable laws and regulations.
The Office of Inspector General is responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. The Office of Inspector General is also responsible for (1) obtaining a sufficient understanding of internal control over financial reporting and compliance to plan the audit, (2) testing whether USAID’s financial management systems substantially comply with the three FFMIA requirements, (3) testing compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations that have a direct and material effect on the financial statements and laws for which OMB audit guidance requires testing, and (4) performing limited procedures with respect to certain other information appearing in the Performance and Accountability Report.
In order to fulfill these responsibilities, we (1) examined, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, (2) assessed the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, (3) evaluated the overall presentation of the financial statements, (4) obtained an understanding of internal control related to financial reporting (including safeguarding assets), compliance with laws and regulations (including execution of transactions in accordance with budget authority), and performance measures reported in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of the Performance and Accountability Report, (5) tested relevant internal controls over financial reporting and compliance, and evaluated the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls, (6) considered the process for evaluating and reporting on internal control and financial management systems under the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act, (7) tested whether USAID’s financial management systems substantially complied with the three FFMIA requirements, and (8) tested USAID’s compliance with selected provisions of the following laws and regulations:
- Antideficiency Act
- Improper Payments Information Act
- Prompt Payment Act
- Debt Collection and Improvement Act
- Federal Credit Reform Act
- OMB Circular A-136
- OMB Circular A-123
- Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
We did not evaluate all internal controls relevant to operating objectives as broadly defined by the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act, such as those controls relevant to preparing statistical reports and ensuring efficient operations. We limited our internal control testing to controls over financial reporting and compliance. Because of inherent limitations in internal control, misstatements due to error or fraud, losses, or noncompliance may occur and not be detected. We also caution that projecting our evaluation to future periods is subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with controls may deteriorate. In addition, we caution that our internal control testing may not be sufficient for other purposes.
We did not test compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to USAID. We limited our tests of compliance to those laws and regulations required by OMB audit guidance that we deemed applicable to the financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2006 and 2005. We caution that noncompliance may occur and not be detected by these tests and that such testing may not be sufficient for other purposes.
In forming our opinion, the OIG considered potential aggregate errors exceeding $313 million for any individual statement to be material to the presentation of the overall financial statements.
FFMIA
We assessed whether USAID complied with the Federal financial management systems requirements under FFMIA. The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Core Financial System Requirements (CFSR) dated November 2001 were the required standard that agencies were expected to meet in fiscal year 2006 even though the CFSR were updated in January 2006.
In assessing USAID’s compliance with federal financial management systems requirements, we evaluated the Agency’s Phoenix financial management system using the updated January 2006 CFSR. To determine whether the Agency substantially complied with system requirements, we assumed that if the Agency met an OMB 2006 requirement, then it met the equivalent 2001 requirement. In addition, for each January 2006 requirement that the Agency did not comply with, we tested whether the Agency complied with the equivalent November 2001 requirement.
To perform our fieldwork we interviewed USAID staff and contract personnel and reviewed documentation related to the capabilities of Phoenix. Documentation included reports, system queries, system screen captures, system documentation, testing documentation generated during system implementation, and documentation generated for certification and accreditation activity. Scenario driven transactional testing was not conducted.
MD&A
With respect to the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), we gained an understanding of USAID’s system of collecting and reporting performance information. We did not assess the quality of the performance indicators and performed limited tests to assess the controls established by USAID. We conducted a limited review of the internal controls related to the existence and completeness assertions relevant to the performance measures included in the MD&A.
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