Financial Management: Status of BIA's Efforts to Reconcile Indian Trust
Fund Accounts and Implement Management Improvements (Testimony, 04/12/94,
GAO/T-AIMD-94-99).

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is continuing its efforts to
reconcile Indian trust fund accounts and to obtain an independent
certification on the results of the reconciliation.  After 3 years,
BIA's reconciliation contractor has nearly finished the first of eight
major tribal reconciliation tasks and a certification contractor is on
board.  Yet overall progress has been slow and BIA has yet to address
many critical, long-standing trust fund management problems that have
affected proper control and accountability over trust fund accounts.
BIA has been criticized for erroneous allocations of receipts, erroneous
payments to account holders, failure to consistently invest trust fund
balances, and failure to pay interest.  Tribes and individual Indians
continue to express concern about the accuracy of BIA's accounting for
trust fund receipts and disbursements and the effectiveness of BIA's
investment practices.  Past audits and GAO's current work on BIA trust
funds management continue to show (1) the lack of a strategic plan to
guide trust fund management in the future, (2) inadequate staffing and
training, (3) a lack of consistent, written trust fund management
policies and procedures, and (4) inadequate systems for ensuring
reliable accounting and reporting.  GAO makes several recommendations
aimed at ensuring better control and accountability over Indian trust
funds.  GAO continues to urge BIA to develop a strategic management plan
for improving Indian trust fund operations.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-AIMD-94-99
     TITLE:  Financial Management: Status of BIA's Efforts to Reconcile 
             Indian Trust Fund Accounts and Implement Management
             Improvements
      DATE:  04/12/94
   SUBJECT:  Accounts receivable
             Records management
             Native Americans
             Trust funds
             Financial management
             Internal controls
             Accountability
             Accounting procedures
             Federal agency accounting systems
             Funds management
IDENTIFIER:  Indian Trust Fund
             BIA Integrated Resources Management System
             
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