FederalDaily - November 15, 2006
GAO: IRS Financial System Deficiencies Continue
Despite significant progress, the IRS remains saddled with serious internal control and financial
management systems deficiencies while attempting a doubtful major business systems modernization effort,
a new report said. The Government Accountability Office looked at the agency’s books for Fiscal
Years 2005 and 2006 to see whether IRS financial statements were reliable and if its management maintained
effective internal controls, said the Nov. 9 report. Because of the internal control problems, the
IRS did not maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, GAO suggested. Furthermore,
GAO said, the agency did not provide reasonable assurance that losses would be prevented or detected
on a timely basis. The internal procedures are complicated by IRS’s phased implementation of
an Integrated Financial System (IFS), which was supposed to clean things up. The IRS is now not sure
it will go ahead with the final stages of the IFS and is looking at alternatives, the report said.
To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-136
:: Back to Top ::
Dudley Unfit For OMB Post, Group Says
A public advocacy group asked President Bush to withdraw the nomination of Susan Dudley to a key regulatory
post at the Office of Management and Budget. The group, Public Citizen, on Nov 13 denounced Dudley’s
close ties to industry, as well as her advocacy for a laisser-faire approach to regulating corporations.
Bush nominated Dudley to head OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a low-profile
but powerful office which can set government-wide policies and work with agencies to draft rules. Public
Citizen said Dudley is not fit for the job, and pointed to her former post as director of regulatory
studies at the industry-funded Mercatus Center, where Public Citizen said Dudley advocated for mandatory
expiration dates for protective standards. “The enormous power that the OIRA administrator would
wield over all public health, safety, environmental, civil rights, privacy and consumer safeguards
makes this nomination too important an issue to leave to this lame-duck Congress,” said Public
Citizen President Joan Claybrook. To see more, go to: www.publiccitizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2317
:: Back to Top ::
SSA Warns of New E-Mail Scam
Social Security Administration (SSA) officials issued a warning about a new, elaborate e-mail scam
designed to lure the unsuspecting onto a fake SSA Web site and gather credit card numbers and personal
information. This sort of scam, called “phishing,” has been increasing at an alarming rate,
officials said. In a statement published on its Web site Nov. 7, SSA said it has received several reports
of an e-mail being circulated with the subject header of "Cost-of-Living for 2007 update." The
e-mail is designed to appear as if it were from the agency and redirects the user to a fake SSA Web
site. There it asks the recipient for personal information, warning that those who failed to provide
it by Nov. 11 would have their accounts suspended indefinitely. “I am outraged that someone would
target an unsuspecting public in this manner,” said Jo Anne Barnhart, SSA commissioner. “I
have asked the Inspector General to use all the resources at his command to find and prosecute whoever
is perpetrating this fraud.” To see more, go to: www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/colaPhishingScam-pr.htm
:: Back to Top ::
|
