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November 11, 2005 at 07:00 PM
Life company executives embarrassed about internal controls problems have company in Washington: The U.S. Government Accountablity Office says the Internal Revenue Service has serious controls problems of its own.[@@]
The GAO gave unqualified opinions about the general accuracy of IRS financial statements for the fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005.
But Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the GAO, writes in a letter introducing the GAO’s report on its audits of the IRS financial statements that the IRS has “material weaknesses in internal controls” and “did not maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting (including safeguarding of assets) or compliance with laws and regulations.”
Because of those weaknesses, the IRS could “not provide reasonable assurance that losses, misstatements, and noncompliance with laws material in relation to the financial statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis,” Walker writes.
