Financial Audit - Air Force's Base-Level Financial Systems Do Not Provide Reliable Information: Afmd-91-26 (Paperback)

GAO reviewed the Air Force's base-level financial management operations for fiscal years (FY) 1988 and 1989, focusing on weaknesses in internal controls and financial reporting within the bases and related commands. GAO found that the: (1) Air Force's base-level General Accounting and Finance System routinely generated inaccurate financial information that totalled over $2.7 billion in FY 1988 and 1989; (2) base and command personnel failed to perform analytical reviews of account balances, resulting in widespread instances of inaccurate and incomplete financial data; (3) European base staff attributed significant undetected or uncorrected accounting errors in account balances to poorly trained personnel and careless accounting practices; (4) the new Combat Ammunition System failed to report inventory balances in the base-level general ledger system, causing a $115.7-million understatement of ammunition inventories; (5) bases failed to report accurate real property account balances because they incorrectly recorded construction in progress and did not timely process real property transactions; (6) base-level personnel did not always properly receive, issue, and account for equipment and inventory items; and (7) bases failed to compare master payroll files with master personnel records to ensure that payments were appropriate and accurate.