Fiscal Service

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Dollars in Thousands

Summary

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal 

Service) is focused on maximizing 

efficiencies, transparency, and accountability 

with the goal of transforming governmentwide financial management and the delivery of 

shared services. These themes are reinforced 

through Strategic Goals that promote 

leadership and innovation, an engaged and 

highly effective workforce, delivery of 

exceptional programs and services, data 

transparency and usefulness, and the 

expansion of shared services.

Fiscal Service FY 2017 Budget Highlights

FY 2017 Budget Adjustments

Adjustments to Request

Base Realignment

Technical FTE Adjustment +$0 / +108 FTE

Maintaining Current Level (MCLs)

Pay-Raise +$2,295,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for the proposed January 

2017 pay-raise.

Pay Annualization +$620,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for annualization of the 

January 2016 pay raise.

Non-Pay +$3,117,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for inflation adjustments 

in non-labor expenses such as GSA rent, 

postage, supplies, and equipment.

Efficiency Savings

Program Efficiencies -$1,935,000 / -30 FTE

Anticipated savings realized from reduced 

programmatic and FTE requirements to align 

with estimated operating levels.

Dollars in Thousands

Bureau of the Fiscal Service FTE Amount

FY 2016 Enacted 1,586 $363,850 

Changes to Base

Base Realignment 108 $0 

Technical FTE Adjustment 108 $0 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) $6,032 

Pay-Raise $2,295 

Pay Annualization $620 

Non-Pay $3,117 

Efficiency Savings (30) ($1,935)

Program Efficiencies (30) ($1,935)

Total FY 2017 Base 1,664 $367,947 

Program Changes 

Program Decreases ($14,890)

DATA Act Implementation ($10,780)

Rent Savings ($4,110)

Total FY 2017 Request 1,664 $353,057 

 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2016 TO FY 2017

Budget Activity Enacted Enacted Request $ Change % Change

Accounting and Reporting $104,725 $125,752 $114,167 ($11,585) -9.21%

Collections $35,029 $38,798 $40,225 $1,427 3.68%

Payments $120,912 $118,454 $115,141 ($3,313) -2.80%

Retail Securities Services $76,819 $70,038 $71,186 $1,148 1.64%

Wholesale Securities Services $10,699 $10,808 $12,338 $1,530 14.16%

Subtotal, Fiscal Service $348,184 $363,850 $353,057 ($10,793) -2.97%

Offsetting Collections -

Reimbursables $277,674 $292,381 $268,486 ($23,895) -8.17%

Total Program Operating Level $277,674 $656,231 $621,543 ($34,688) -5.29%

Direct FTE 1,636 1,586 1,664 78 4.92%

Reimbursable FTE 714 701 488 -213 -30.39%

Total FTE 2,350 2,287 2,152 -135 -5.90%

Note: Fiscal Service revised the budget activities and reporting to reflect the consolidated bureau activities. 

Please see Section 4B of the Congressional Justification for additional information.
Program Decreases

DATA Act Implementation -$10,780,000 / 

+0 FTE

With the implementation of the DATA Act 

anticipated to be well underway, it is expected 

that Fiscal Service will be able to decrease the 

funding needed to complete the balance of the 

government-wide legislative requirements.

Rent Savings -$4,110,000 / +0 FTE

With the final closeout of the Emeryville, 

California lease, Fiscal Service is realizing the 

last portion of the Payment Center Closure 

savings.

Explanation of Budget Activities

Accounting and Reporting ($114,167,000 

from direct appropriations, $13,344,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Accounting and Reporting activity 

consists of three programs: Government 

Agency Investment Services, Governmentwide Accounting and Reporting, and Summary 

Debt Accounting. In prior budget 

submissions, these three programs were 

separate budget activities. Fiscal Service has 

combined the three programs into one budget 

activity due to their commonalities. 

Additionally, all three support the Treasury 

Strategic Goal Three to “Fairly and effectively 

reform and modernize the federal financial 

management, accounting, and tax systems.”

The Government Agency Investment Services 

program issues, services, and redeems 

Government Account Series securities for 

federal agencies that have legislative authority 

to invest, administers State and Local 

Government Series securities and offers a 

flexible investment alternative for state and 

local governments to refinance their 

outstanding tax-exempt debt, and represents 

Treasury’s role in the federal loan program.

The Government-wide Accounting and 

Reporting (GWA) activity accounts for the 

monetary assets and liabilities of the Federal 

Government. It also works with federal 

agencies to adopt uniform accounting and 

reporting standards and provides support, 

guidance, and training to assist federal 

program agencies in improving their 

Government-wide accounting and reporting 

responsibilities. GWA gathers and publishes 

government-wide financial information in the 

Daily Treasury Statement, the Monthly 

Treasury Statement and the Financial Report 

of the United States Government that are used 

in establishing fiscal and debt management 

policies and by the public and private sectors 

to monitor the government’s financial status.

The Summary Debt Account (SDA) program 

produces daily reports on the balances and 

composition of the public debt, the Monthly 

Statement of the Public Debt, and the annual, 

audited Schedules of Federal Debt, which 

reports on the single largest liability in the 

Treasury’s annual Agency Financial Report. 

SDA also consistently receives unqualified 

opinions on the Schedules of the Federal Debt.

Collections ($40,225,000 from direct 

appropriations, $4,869,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Collections Program supports Treasury’s 

Strategic Goal Three to “Fairly and effectively 

reform and modernize the federal financial 

management, accounting and tax systems”

which includes the objective “to improve the 

disbursement and collection of federal funds 

and reduce improper payments made by the 

U.S. Government.” The Fiscal Service 

manages the collection of federal revenues 

such as individual and corporate income tax 

deposits, custom duties, loan repayments, 

fines, and proceeds from leases. In addition, 

the Fiscal Service establishes and implements 

collection policies, regulations, standards, and 

procedures for the Federal Government.
Debt Collection ($0 from direct 

appropriations, $151,934,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Debt Collection Program supports 

Treasury Strategic Goal Three to “Fairly and 

effectively reform and modernize the federal 

financial management, accounting and tax 

systems” which includes the objective “to 

improve the disbursement and collection of 

federal funds and reduce improper payments 

made by the U.S. Government.” Fiscal 

Service collects delinquent federal, state, and 

child support debt by providing centralized 

debt collection, oversight, and operational 

services to federal program agencies and states 

pursuant to the Debt Collection Improvement 

Act of 1996 (DCIA) and related legislation. 

The Fiscal Service uses two debt collection 

programs: Treasury Offset Program (TOP) 

and Cross-Servicing.

Payments ($115,141,000 from direct 

appropriations, $88,858,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Payments activity issues and distributes 

payments, develops and implements federal 

payment policy and procedures, promotes the 

use of electronics in the payment process, and 

assists agencies in converting payments from 

paper checks to Electronic Funds Transfer. 

This activity also includes controlling and 

providing financial integrity to the payments 

process through reconciliation, accounting, 

and claims activities. In addition, Fiscal 

Service collects monies from those parties 

liable for fraudulent or otherwise improper 

negotiation of government checks.

The Do Not Pay Business Center (DNP) 

provides a single centralized point of entry to 

access timely, reliable, and actionable data and 

information that can help identify, prevent, 

detect, and recover improper payments 

throughout the payment life cycle while 

protecting individuals’ privacy. DNP provides 

agencies insights and analytics based on 

reviews of multiple payment streams. 

Additionally, the DNP working system is 

integrated into the Treasury payment stream, 

enabling real-time at payment matching with 

selected data sources.

Retail Securities Services ($71,186,000 from 

direct appropriations, $8,080,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Retail Securities Services (RSS) Program 

offers simple, safe, and affordable securities 

that enable Americans to invest and save for 

their future. The program serves more than 50 

million investors by processing millions of 

transaction annually. In support of the 

President’s initiative to help millions of 

Americans start saving for retirement, myRA, a 

new retirement savings account following 

Roth Individual Retirement Account rules, was 

launched in FY 2015.

Wholesale Securities Services ($12,338,000

from direct appropriations, $1,400,000 from 

reimbursable resources)

The Wholesale Securities Services program is 

responsible for the announcement, auction, 

issuance and settlement of marketable 

Treasury bills, notes, bonds and Treasury 

Inflation-Protected Securities. It also oversees 

an infrastructure that provides for the transfer, 

custody and redemption of all Treasury 

marketable securities that are purchased 

mostly by commercial market participants.

Legislative Proposals

New for FY 2017 President’s Budget

1. Option to access the National Directory 

of New Hire Data via the Do Not Pay 

Business Center

The 2017 Budget includes a package of 

proposals to allow additional programs and 

agencies authority to access the National 

Directory of New Hire Data, a federal 

database of employment and 

unemployment insurance information 

administered by the Office of Child 
Support Enforcement within the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services. Access to this data is tightly 

controlled by statute, and HHS implements 

strong privacy, confidentiality, and 

security protections to protect the data 

from unauthorized use or disclosure.

Re-proposed from FY 2016 President’s 

Budget

1. Increase delinquent state income tax 

debt collections by allowing offset of 

federal income tax refunds to collect 

delinquent state income taxes for out-ofstate residents. Estimated collections: 

$2.3 billion in state taxes over 10 years (no 

federal revenue) 

2. Reduce costs for states collecting 

delinquent income tax obligations by 

allowing states to send notices of intent 

to offset federal tax refunds to collect 

state income tax obligations by regular 

first-class mail, rather than by certified 

mail. Estimated savings: $202.4 million 

over 10 years (no federal revenue)

3. Increase delinquent federal non-tax debt 

collections by authorizing 

administrative bank garnishment for 

non-tax debts of commercial entities. 

Estimated Collections: $320 million in 

commercial debts over 10 years

4. Increase and streamline recovery of 

unclaimed assets owed to the United 

States by authorized Treasury to locate 

and recover assets of the United States 

and to retain a portion of amounts 

collected to pay for the costs of the 

recovery. Estimated recoveries $85 

million over 10 years

Fiscal Service Performance by Budget Activity

Description of Performance

Accounting and Reporting: In FY 2015 the 

Fiscal Service achieved 99.5 percent timely 

provision of Government-wide Accounting 

reports. These reports include the Daily 

Treasury Statement, Monthly Treasury 

Statement, and Consolidated Financial Report. 

The Fiscal Service continues to maintain the 

established process of validating and 

reconciling data with reporting sources such as 

Payment Centers, federal program agencies, 

and various electronic deposit and payment 

applications. The bureau will continue 

modernization efforts to ensure the timeliness 

Budget Activity Performance Measure FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017

Actual Actual Actual Target Target

Collections

Percentage Collected Electronically of Total 

Dollar Amount of Federal Government 

Receipts

97 98 98 98 98

Debt Collection Amount of Delinquent Debt Collected Through 

All Available Tools ($ billions) 7.02 6.91 7.28 7.36 7.56

Accounting and 

Reporting

Percentage of Government-Wide Accounting 

Reports Issued Timely 100 100 99.5 100 100

Payments Percentage of Treasury Payments and 

Associated Information Made Electronically 92.5 94.4 94.8 95 95

Retail Securities 

Services Cost Per Customer Assisted Transaction N/A N/A N/A N/A B

Retail Securities 

Services Cost per Electronic Transaction N/A N/A N/A N/A B

Wholesale Securities 

Services

Percent of Auction Results Released 

Accurately

99.6 99.3 97 100 100

Key: DISC - Discontinued
of these reports and anticipates it will achieve 

the 100 percent target for FY 2016 and 

FY 2017. 

Collections: The measure, Percentage 

Collected Electronically of Total Dollar 

Amount of Federal Government Receipts, 

refers to the dollar value of collections 

received (settled) electronically. In FY 2015, 

98 percent of revenue collections were settled 

electronically. The Fiscal Service expects to 

maintain an electronics collections rate of at 

least 98 percent in FY 2016 and FY 2017.

Debt Collection: In FY 2015, the Fiscal 

Service collected $7.28 billion in delinquent 

debt. The goal for FY 2016 and FY 2017 is to 

collect $7.36 billion and $7.56 billion, 

respectively, in delinquent debt by expanding 

the use of the administrative wage garnishment 

collection tool, enhancing the use of analytics, 

and proposing legislative changes such as the 

proposal to allow the Treasury to offset federal 

income tax refunds to collect delinquent state 

tax obligations regardless of where the debtor 

resides.

Payments: The measure Percentage of 

Treasury Payments and Associated 

Information Made Electronically supports 

Treasury Strategic Goal Three to “Fairly and 

effectively reform and modernize the federal 

financial management, accounting and tax 

systems”. Due to the continued success of the 

Go Direct® and Direct Express® programs and 

implementation of the All Electronic Treasury 

priority, Fiscal Service has issued 98 percent 

of its benefits payments and 94.8 percent of its 

total payments via EFT. Fiscal Service 

expects to achieve its targets in FY 2016 and 

FY 2017 by expanding electronic conversion 

efforts to additional benefits agencies and 

payment types such as vendor miscellaneous 

payments and federal tax refunds.

Retail Securities Services: Fiscal Service will 

add new performance measures in FY 2017 to 

support Treasury’s goal of promoting savings 

and the bureau’s goal to serve as a catalyst for 

effective government through initiative and 

innovation. The Cost per Electronic 

Transaction and Cost per Customer Assisted 

Transaction measures will demonstrate 

investor self-service and customer service 

efficiency, respectively, for all securities 

currently offered as well as future offerings. 

Fiscal Service plans to establish targets for 

each measure in FY 2016 and meet those 

targets by maintaining a skilled customer 

workforce and streamlining operations to 

effectively manage costs.

Wholesale Securities Services: The accurate 

release of auction results is critical to the 

success of the Wholesale Securities Services 

Program. An emphasis on accuracy ensures 

preservation of public confidence in Treasury 

securities and stability of the financial market. 

Therefore, in FY 2015, Fiscal Service released 

99.6 percent of auction results accurately. 

Fiscal Service anticipates meeting its future 

year targets of 100 percent through ongoing 

business process reviews and regularly 

scheduled contingency planning and mock 

auction exercises.