United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-09-28 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-01-1151 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151 P0b002ee18038c78d f:d011151 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151 GAO-01-1151 Erroneous payments Financial management systems Fraud Internal controls Pell Grant Other Written Product A02037 Internal control weaknesses in the Department of Education's payment processes make the department vulnerable to improper payments. GAO focused on three types of disbursements made from May 1998 through September 2000--grants and loans totaling $181.4 billion, third party drafts totaling $55 million, and government purchase card transactions totaling $22 million. In the grant and loan area, certain edit checks and other key controls were missing from Education's payment system. For example, Education's student aid application processing system lacked an automated edit check that would identify students that were much older than expected. There were several internal control weaknesses that made the third party draft payment process susceptible to improper payments. GAO found 268 instances totaling about $8.9 million where Education employees circumvented a system control designed to avoid duplicate payments. While analyzing Education's use of government purchase cards, GAO also found several internal control weaknesses, including serious deficiencies in the department's process for reviewing and approving purchase card transactions. Over one-third of the 903 purchase cardholders' monthly statements reviewed lacked proper review and approval for payment. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see Financial Management: Poor Internal Control Exposes Department of Education to improper payments by Linda M. Calbom, Director of Financial Management and Assurance, before the Select Education Subcommittee, House Committee on Education and the Workforce. GAO-01-997T, July 24, 2001. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151.htm GAO-01-1151 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-1151 Other Written Product GAO-01-1151; Financial Management: Poor Internal Controls Expose Department of Education to Improper Payments; Erroneous payments Financial management systems Fraud Internal controls Pell Grant