Financial Audit: House Interparliamentary Groups' Financial Statements
for 1993 and 1992 (Letter Report, 04/28/95, GAO/AIMD-95-92).
GAO audited the financial statement of the following House of
Representatives interparliamentary groups for 1993 and 1992:
Medico-United States Interparliamentary Group, Canada-United States
Interparliamentary Group, United States-European Community
Interparliamentary Group, United States Group of the North Atlantic
Treaty Parliamentary Conference, and British-American Interparliamentary
Group. These groups enable Members of Congress to meet annually with
(1) their foreign counterparts to discuss common problems between the
various countries or (2) representatives of other NATO members to
discuss security issues in the North Atlantic area. GAO found that the
financial statements were reliable in all material respects. Further,
GAO found no material weaknesses in the internal control structure and
its operations and there was no material noncompliance with laws and
regulations.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: AIMD-95-92
TITLE: Financial Audit: House Interparliamentary Groups' Financial
Statements for 1993 and 1992
DATE: 04/28/95
SUBJECT: Funds management
Financial records
Financial statement audits
Auditing standards
Accounting procedures
Internal controls
Legislative bodies
Compliance
Administrative costs
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Report to the Chairman, Committee on International Relations, House
of Representatives
April 1995
FINANCIAL AUDIT - HOUSE
INTERPARLIAMENTARY GROUPS'
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR 1993 AND
1992
GAO/AIMD-95-92
House Interparliamentary Groups
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-259566
April 28, 1995
The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman
Chairman, Committee on International Relations
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Chairman:
As requested by your predecessor, we audited the balance sheets of
the following House of Representatives interparliamentary groups, all
of which your Committee administers, as of December 31, 1993 and
1992, and the related statements of receipts and expenses and changes
in fund balance and cash flows for the years then ended:
Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group,
Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group,
United States-European Community Interparliamentary Group,
United States Group of the North Atlantic Treaty Parliamentary
Conference, and
British-American Interparliamentary Group.
We found the financial statements were reliable in all material
respects.
Further, our audit included limited tests of internal controls and
compliance with laws and regulations that disclosed
no material weaknesses in the internal control structure and its
operations for 1993 and
no material noncompliance with laws and regulations we tested for
1993.
The following sections outline each conclusion in more detail and
discuss the scope of our audit.
OPINION ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1
The financial statements and accompanying notes present fairly, in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles, each
group's
assets, liabilities, and fund balance;
receipts and expenses; and
cash flows.
As discussed in note 3, the financial statements present only the
funds for expenses the membership incurred when participating in the
five interparliamentary groups that are paid by a permanent
appropriation for delegation expenses. The financial statements do
not include certain travel and other related costs paid from
Department of State and Department of Defense appropriated funds.
Also excluded are costs associated with House Foreign Affairs
Committee (renamed House International Relations Committee) staff
support, which are paid by legislative branch appropriations.
STATEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROLS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2
The internal controls we considered were those designed for all
groups to
safeguard assets against loss from unauthorized use or disposition;
assure the execution of transactions in accordance with management
authority and with laws and regulations; and
properly record, process, and summarize transactions to permit the
preparation of financial statements and to maintain accountability
for assets.
We are not expressing an opinion on internal controls because of the
limited scope of our work. However, for the controls we tested, we
found no reportable conditions in the internal control structure and
its operations for the period ending on December 31, 1993.
Reportable conditions involve matters, including material weaknesses,
coming to our attention related to significant deficiencies in the
design or operation of the internal control structure that, in our
judgment, could adversely affect the groups' ability to implement its
statutory mandate. Because of the limitations described above, our
consideration of the internal control structure would not disclose
all reportable conditions.\1
--------------------
\1 Our report on the groups' internal control structures and
compliance with laws and regulations for fiscal year 1992 is
presented in GAO/AIMD-94-21, dated December 14, 1993.
COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND
REGULATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3
Our current year audit tests for compliance with selected provisions
of laws and regulations disclosed no material instances of
noncompliance. Also, nothing came to our attention in the course of
our other work to indicate that material noncompliance with such
provisions occurred.
OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND
METHODOLOGY
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4
Management is responsible for
preparing annual financial statements in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles,
establishing and maintaining internal controls to provide reasonable
assurance that the control objectives mentioned above are met, and
complying with applicable laws and regulations.
We are responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance about whether
the financial statements are reliable (free of material misstatement
and presented fairly in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles). We directed our work to accounting and other controls
necessary to support the financial statements and did not evaluate
the efficiency or effectiveness of the groups' operations. We are
also responsible for testing compliance with selected provisions of
laws and regulations.
It is important to note that because of inherent limitations in any
internal control structure, losses, noncompliance, or misstatements
may nevertheless occur and not be detected. Also, projecting any
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.
Specifically, we
examined, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and
disclosures in the financial statements;
assessed the accounting principles used and significant estimates
made by management;
evaluated the overall presentation of the financial statements;
evaluated and tested relevant internal controls in the following
areas: treasury, revenues, expenditures, and financial reporting;
and
tested compliance with selected provisions of the regulations
established by the public laws applicable to
We performed our audit in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards. We completed our audit work on
December 21, 1994.
Sincerely yours,
Charles A. Bowsher
Comptroller General
of the United States
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MEXICO-UNITED STATES
INTERPARLIAMENTARY GROUP
=========================================================== Appendix 0
Balance Sheets
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Receipts and
Expenses and Changes in Fund
Balance
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Cash Flows
(See figure in printed
edition.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
CANADA-UNITED STATES
INTERPARLIAMENTARY GROUP
=========================================================== Appendix 1
Balance Sheets
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Receipts and
Expenses and Changes in Fund
Balance
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Cash Flows
(See figure in printed
edition.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED
STATES-EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
INTERPARLIAMENTARY GROUP
=========================================================== Appendix 2
Balance Sheets
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Receipts and
Expenses and Changes in Fund
Balance
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Cash Flows
(See figure in printed
edition.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED
STATES GROUP OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC
TREATY PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE
=========================================================== Appendix 3
Balance Sheets
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Receipts and
Expenses and Changes in Fund
Balance
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Cash Flows
(See figure in printed
edition.)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BRITISH-AMERICAN
INTERPARLIAMENTARY GROUP
=========================================================== Appendix 4
Balance Sheets
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Receipts and
Expenses and Changes in Fund
Balance
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Statements of Cash Flows
(See figure in printed
edition.)
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
=========================================================== Appendix 5
(See figure in printed
edition.)
(See figure in printed
edition.)