**GAO-07-913**                      Published: Sep 19, 2007. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

The federal government is accountable for how its agencies and grantees spend more than $2 trillion of taxpayer dollars and is responsible for safeguarding those funds against improper payments as well as for recouping those funds when improper payments occur. The Congress enacted the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) and the Recovery Auditing Act to address these issues. Fiscal year 2006 marked the third year that agencies were required to report improper payment and recovery audit information in their Performance and Accountability Reports. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported limited information during these 3 years. GAO was asked to (1) determine the extent to which DHS has implemented the requirements of IPIA, (2) identify actions DHS has under way to improve IPIA compliance and reporting, and (3) determine what efforts DHS has in place to recover improper payments. To accomplish this, GAO analyzed DHS's internal guidance and action plans, and reviewed information reported in its Performance and Accountability Reports.

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## Topics

Homeland Security

Audit reportsErroneous paymentsFinancial analysisFinancial managementInternal auditsInternal controlsNoncompliancePaymentsProgram abusesProgram managementReporting requirementsRisk assessmentRisk managementStrategic planning