is intended to inform the American public about how much the federal government spends every year and for what purposes. Until Congress includes OTAs in the list of federal awards that agencies must report to, policymakers and the public will continue to lack complete spending information and transparency of OTAs. However, the extent to which agencies completely and consistently reported this spending is unclear. GAO found over $40 billion in OTAs, including more than $10 billion that appeared to be related to COVID-19, that were not reported to. GAO also reviewed the reporting of other transaction agreements (OTA)-legally binding agreements other than standard contracts and grants that allow for flexible arrangements-and found that agencies used different approaches to report billions of dollars in OTA spending. Information that differs from one source to another may also cause confusion and lead users to inadvertently draw incorrect conclusions. Without OMB and Treasury guidance to help agencies ensure that information reported to is consistent and comparable with other public sources, the transparency and use of information may be questioned. The Department of Transportation reported amounts that differed by $10 million. For example, in its fiscal year 2022 agency financial report, Treasury reported COVID-19 obligations that exceeded the amounts it reported to by more than $195 billion. In addition, some agencies reported COVID-19 obligation amounts to that did not agree with the information in their budget and annual financial reports. Until Congress assigns responsibility to Treasury and OMB to periodically assess and determine which agencies must report data to and oversee the completeness of their reporting, the data may lack some required spending information. Although many nonreporting agencies may not be required to report, neither the Department of the Treasury nor the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have clear responsibility for determining which agencies are required to report. Twenty-five of the 49 nonreporting agencies GAO identified were in the executive branch and accounted for more than $5 billion in net outlays for fiscal year 2022. GAO did not assess whether any of these are among the “executive agencies” required to report to .Ĭertain types of federal executive agencies are required by law to report their spending information to, although it is up to each agency to determine for itself if it falls under the definition of an agency that must report. GAO refers to the remaining 152 entities as “agencies” for purposes of this report. GAO excluded 12 of these entities for reasons such as some representing funds or entities that were not active. Note: The fiscal year 2022 CFS included 164 federal entities. Reporting Compared to CFS Reporting, Fiscal Year 2022 government, including agencies that received COVID-19 funding, did not report data to. Specifically, in fiscal year 2022, 49 of the 152 agencies that reported information in the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. While there are requirements and guidance for agencies to submit standardized data, GAO found agencies that either did not report spending data or reported inconsistent spending data, including for COVID-19 funds. Quality federal spending data are key for Congress, federal managers, and the American public in tracking taxpayers' dollars. The website, the official source of federal spending information, includes information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans.
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