[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 22 (Monday, February 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5047-5049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2428]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
[Secretary's Order 01-97]
Authority and Responsibilities for Implementation of the Chief
Financial Officers Act of 1990 and Related Legislation
January 10, 1997.
1. Purpose. To delegate authority and assign responsibilities for
implementation of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and related
legislation,\1\ and to establish within the Department of Labor an
Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
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\1\ Including The Chief Financial Officer's Act of 1990,
Government Performance Results Act of 1993, Government Management
Reform Act of 1994, Information Technology Management Reform Act of
1996, and the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996.
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2. Organization. There is established in the Department of Labor
(DOL) an Office of the Chief Financial Officer, headed by a Chief
Financial Officer (CFO), who is appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate, and a Deputy Chief Financial Officer, who is
in the Senior Executive Service. The CFO shall report to the Secretary,
but may receive day-to-day guidance and direction from the Deputy
Secretary. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer shall have such
component organization units, staffing a funding as may subsequently be
authorized.
3. Delegation of Authority. The CFO is hereby delegated authority
to act for and speak on behalf of the Secretary of Deputy Secretary on
all matters relating to departmental financial management.
4. Assignment of Responsibilities.
a. Pursuant to the statute, the DOL CFO shall:
--Report directly to the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary regarding
financial management matters;
--Oversee all financial management activities relating to the DOL's
programs and operations.
--Develop and maintain an integrated departmental accounting and
financial management system, including financial reporting and internal
controls;
--Make recommendations to the Secretary regarding selection of the DOL
Deputy CFO;
--Establish minimum, core standards for the recruitment, selection,
development, training and performance review of financial management
staff throughout DOL. Financial management staffs outside the immediate
office of the CFO will operate in accordance with policies and
procedures prescribed by the CFO;
--Prepare and transmit an annual report to the Secretary and the
Director of OMB;
--Approve the allotment of obligational authority, related
disbursements and guidelines on the application and uses of funds. The
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management
will conduct initial reviews of request allotments under policies
established by the CFO;
--Monitor the financial execution of the budget of the DOL and its
component agencies in relation to actual expenditures, and prepare and
submit to the Secretary timely performance reports in cooperation with
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and
Management; and
--Review, on a biennial basis, the fees, royalties, rents, and other
charges imposed by the Department for services and things of value it
provides, and make recommendations on revising those charges to reflect
costs incurred by DOL in providing those services and things of value.
b. In furtherance of these statutory responsibilities and to assure
conformance to applicable Office of Management and Budget, Department
of the Treasury, Office of Personnel Management, General Services
Administration and other central Federal agency standards and
requirements, and, to the extent determined to be applicable, Federal
Accounting Standards Advisory Board, Joint Financial Management
Improvement Program, the Executive Branch Councils and other central
Federal agency guidelines, the DOL CFO is also assigned the following
responsibilities.
(1) Financial Policy
(a) Establish financial management policies for the DOL and its
component agencies.
(b) Ensure compliance throughout the DOL, and its component parts,
with applicable accounting standards and principles, and financial
information and systems function standards including the standards
promulgated by the Federal Accounting Systems Advisory Board, the
Federal Government's Standard General Ledger, the core requirements for
Financial Systems, and the financial statement form and content
guidance issued by OMB.
(c) Establish, review and enforce throughout the DOL internal
control policies, standards and compliance guidelines involving
financial management including authority to require and ensure timely
corrective actions regarding material weaknesses disclosed through
audit findings and reports under the Federal Managers' Financial
Integrity Act (FMFIA); establish, in coordination with program
managers, agency-wide internal control processes; advise the Secretary
on the accuracy and completeness of the annual FMFIA report; and
participate in monitoring and prescribing corrective actions on
reported material weaknesses.
(d) Provide oversight of and issue core requirements and standards
related to component agency financial management personnel, financial
systems, activities, and operations, including preparation and revision
of agency financial management plans and performance reports. Financial
management staffs outside the immediate office of the CFO will operate
in accordance with policies and procedures prescribed by the CFO.
(e) Ensure adequate controls over asset management including cash
management operations; credit management and debt collection
operations; and real property, equipment and inventories.
(f) Ensure that component agencies gather timely and accurate
financial information to manage and oversee major procurements, e.g.
monitoring contract disbursements in relation to projected costs,
actual commitments, deliverables and cost estimates.
(g) Participate with program Assistant Secretaries and other staff
in the policy review of proposed legislative and program initiatives.
(h) Participate with program Assistant Secretaries and other staff
at a policy and decision-making level in the departmental budget review
process.
(i) Participate in the review and approval process of information
systems that provide, at least in part, financial and/or program
performance data.
(j) Serve on the CIO Capital Planning and Investment Board and
participate in activities intended to assure conformance of proposed
major systems to established standards for financial data integrity.
Appeal to the Secretary IRM and budget decisions affecting financial
management processes, systems and operations.
(k) Serve on the Procurement Review Board and participate in
activities intended to assure conformance of proposed major
acquisitions to established standards for financial and acquisition
integrity.
(l) Provide policy advice and assistance to DOL executives
including component agency heads on all
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personnel matters (e.g., qualifications, recruitment, performance,
training and retention) affecting financial management personnel
throughout DOL and its component agencies, and on budget and staffing
levels for component agency financial functions.
(m) Review and approve component agency financial policies,
procedures and structures for consistency with the policies of the DOL
and the central Federal agencies.
(2) External Reporting
(a) Prepare accurate and timely departmental accounting reports and
financial statements (including where appropriate pertinent performance
measures).
(b) Prepare the annual report required by the Federal Managers'
Financial Integrity Act.
(c) Prepare the annual financial management report required by the
Chief Financial Officers Act.
(d) Prepare the semi-annual audit resolution reports required by
the Amendments to the Inspector General Act.
(e) Coordinate and manage financial management reporting
requirements as may be imposed by Office of Management and Budget, the
Department of the Treasury, other central Federal agencies, and the
Congress.
(f) Provide assistance to agency heads in design and review the
development of reporting mechanisms that integrate program performance
and financial data; facilitate the display of such data in budget
documents, financial statements, and other pertinent issuances.
(3) Financial Programs
(a) Manage DOL programs on internal controls, audit resolution,
travel management, cash management, debt collection, asset management
and other financial management activities.
(b) Manage centralized departmental accounting and payroll
functions for fund and cost accounting; capitalized assets accounting;
grant accounting; DOL employee compensation and benefits; and voucher,
commercial bill and other payments.
(c) Exercise departmental approval authority over interagency
transactions, involving component agency program funds e.g. for
investment, transfer, etc., in cooperation with the Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management.
(d) Distribute equitable Working Capital fund charges to DOL
components, provide WCF accounting statements to component agencies and
oversee WCF operations.
(e) Provide technical review of finance offices in the DOL and its
component agencies, and oversee component agency financial systems as
defined in the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996.
(f) Appraise centralized and decentralized operations and
organizations to determine more effective and cost-efficient methods of
performing required financial functions.
(g) Compile and review timely and accurate information on major
contract disbursements in relation to projected costs, commitments,
obligations, expenditures, and deliveries of products and services; and
evaluate component agency Annual Acquisition Plans in relation to
official budget plans and levels.
(h) Chair the Department's Management Control Policy Board, which
has broad management responsibility for planning and monitoring the
component agencies' efforts to address internal control weaknesses and
financial system non-conformance to the standards prescribed in the
Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996.
(4) Financial Systems
(a) Develop and maintain departmental central financial, accounting
and asset systems.
(b) Review and approve the design and operation of component agency
financial, accounting and asset systems, specifically including the
financial aspects of grant management systems, debt collection systems
and similar systems as defined by the Federal Financial Management
Improvement Act of 1996.
(c) Establish policies, procedures, and other guidelines to
prescribe the form, content and frequency of accounting and program
performance information to be reported from component agency systems to
meet DOL and central Federal agency information requirements.
(5) Budget
(1) Provide leadership, direction, coordination and related
services concerning budget execution for the DOL and its component
agencies.
(b) Manage and oversee the Department's administrative control of
funds, and user fees in cooperation with the Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Administration and Management.
(c) Ensure the development and reporting of cost information in
accordance with Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
requirements, and the systematic measurement of performance in
appropriate budget documents in cooperation with the Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management.
(6) Administration Programs for Financial Management
(a) Review all proposed personnel selections, skill requirements,
performance standards, performance appraisals, performance awards and
position descriptions for financial management personnel at senior
levels throughout the DOL and its component agencies; discuss any
problems with the component agency head and, if any issues remain
resolved, appeal any problem to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary.
(b) Manage a comprehensive training and development program for
budget analysts, accountants, financial managers and financial
technicians; assure that staff skills are commensurate with
requirements; and following consultation with the component agencies'
financial managers, implement a Continuing Professional Education (or
similar) program, as recommended by the Joint Financial Management
Improvement Program (JFMIP).
(c) Review the budget requests for all departmental and component
agency financial management functions; recommend to the Secretary their
modification as necessary to assure that sufficient resources are
requested to effectively and efficiently perform necessary financial
and related functions.
(d) Establish a CFO Advisory Council within the DOL to provide a
forum for component organizations to advise and support the CFO in
matters affecting the financial community. The Advisory Council will
also facilitate the dissemination of financial policies established by
the CFO to component agencies.
c. Unless modified by this Order the heads of component agencies
retain previously delegated responsibilities and authorities. In the
context of the Department's financial management program, they are
specifically charged with the responsibility to:
(1) Perform transaction- and operational-level financial functions
in accordance with policies, requirements and procedures established by
the CFO.
(2) Direct financial staffs and functions in their respective
component agencies consistent with those procedures.
(2) Facilitate the CFO's oversight responsibilities with respect to
financial operations and component agency
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program financial systems by providing and maintaining system
documentation, audit trails, summary or detailed transaction data and
such other information as the CFO may require.
(4) Fully solicit and consider the CFO's views in the component
agency head's review of proposed appointment, promotion, appraisal and
other personnel actions affecting financial management staff at senior
levels,
(5) Manage grants, procurement, property, debt management/accounts
receivable, and other management systems for their respective component
agencies, in a manner consistent with the CFO's responsibilities
prescribed herein.
d. In the Department's financial management program, the Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management is delegated
the following authorities:
(1) Issue requests to the Office of Management and Budget for
apportionments.
(2) Working under polices established by the CFO, administer
allotments and interagency transactions, including reprogramming and
transfer requests.
e. In addition to the above, the Assistant Secretary for
Administration and Management will work to assure a mutually supportive
relationship between the administrative management programs under his
or her direction and the Department's financial management program
including consultation with the Chief Financial Officer on the
organization and functions of financial management staff prior to
implementation of changes.
f. The Solicitor of Labor is responsible for providing legal advice
and assistance to all officials of the Department who are responsible
for activities under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and under
this Order, except as provided in Secretary's Order 2-90 (January 31,
1990) with respect to the Office of the Inspector General.
g. The Inspector General:
(1) Retains full responsibility for previously delegated budget and
financial management activities pertaining to its own office, but will
participate with the CFO in integrating such delegated assignments with
the overall financial management program of the Department.
(2) Will participate, where appropriate, in joint reviews with the
CFO of selected financial management functions, operations and systems.
(3) Consistent with its statutory responsibilities for managing an
audit program, will participate with the CFO in the resolution of audit
issues, findings and recommendations, including those involved in the
annual financial statements.
5. Communications. In consonance with the assignments of
responsibility above, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer shall
assure that the Agency Administrative Officers are apprised of
communications to component agency financial staff. Similarly,
component agencies shall keep the Chief Financial Officer apprised of
directives and other communications affecting their financial staff.
6. Directives Affected. All references to the Office of the
Comptroller, OASAM in Secretary's Orders, DLMS Chapters and other
departmental issuances shall be considered to refer to the Office of
the Chief Financial Officer. Directives inconsistent with this Order
are rescinded to the extent of the inconsistency.
7. Effective Date. This Order is effective immediately.
Robert B. Reich,
Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 97-2428 Filed 1-31-97; 8:45 am]
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