Evening star., 1950-02-26

warrants to find out just where tt
Again like the family the pro,
pened to the income sometimes Is
accompanied by considerable ex-
asperation. In Government, if the
evaporation is acute. it is fol-
lowed usually by report by Con-
troller General Lindsay c. War
rem to Congress. Instances of
congressional evaporation as a
sequel are numerous.
Tomorrow the Senate Expendi-
lures Committee is scheduled to
explore the subject of budgets and
audits. Secretary of the Treas
ury Snyder. Budget Director
Frank Pace. jr.. and Mr.. Warren
have been called to testify. The
basis of discussion will be pro-
posed budgeting and accounting
act, introduced in the last session,
which would carry out Hoover
Commission recommendations.
Rates High Priority
The Hoover Commission de-
voted one of it's 18 reports to budg-
eting and accounting. Last De-
cember former President Herbert
Hoover, who headed the Commis-
sion on Organization of the Exec
utive Branch, put budgeting and
accounting second on his priority
list of eight Government reorgani-
zation projects he held to be
urgent.
The accounting section of the
commissions report produced Wig
orous discussion and disagree
ment. The budgeting section was
more quietly received.
On the accounting side, the
commission recommended setting
up an accountant general in the
Treasury with authority to pre-
scribe systems of accounts. The
result would be to shift that re-
sponsibility from the legislative
to the executive branch of the
Government. The Controller
General now is given authority to
prescribe accounting systems for
the executive agencies. He is
head of the General Accounting
Office. which is an agency of Con-
greSs.
The Hoover Commission said
also there should be an end to the
shipping of freight carloads of
vouchers and warrants to Wash
ington to be checked over by the
GAO. 1t wanted simplification to
cut down on the number of en-
ployes and on red tape.
On the other side is the fact
that the GAO, the Treasury and
the Budget Bureau have been
working together for two years to
improve the accounting and fl
nancial reporting of Government
agencies.
The GAO says that this work is
yielding results. It says also that
less and less do executive agency
field Offices ship documents to
Washington to be audited. 1t says
the multiplicity of forms has been
cut down and is continuing to be
reduced.
Walter F. Frese, chief of the
accounting systems division of the
GAO, outlined in an interview
what the three agencies con-
cerned with money matters have
been doing in their joint effort.
He stressed these points:
Systems Modernized
/. Modernization of an agency's
accounting system Is co-opera-
tive project between the agency
concerned and the GAO-Treasury-
Budget Bureau program. The
agency's accountants generally
are found to be carrying the ball.
2. There is no attempt to impose
identical accounting systems on
Government activities of a widely
varying nature.
3. Modernization of an account
ing system-except in the case of
new agency-cannot start from
scratch because the agency already
is in operation. The modernized
system must be a development OF
the system already in use. Mr..
Frese described it as somewhat
like putting in new motor while
the car is going"
To illustrate accomplishments
Mr.. Frese said the accounting
systems have been or are being
brought up to date in these agen-
cies:
Reclamation Bureau of the In
terror Department. The bureau is
the biggest producer of electric
power in the world and carries on
a variety of other activities. The
new accounting system went into
effect last July /.
Coast Guard. Much of the work
has been done and completion Is
expected later this year.
Maritime Commission. One re-
suit of the new system is that the
commission now has its accounts
receivable in such shape that il
can make collections, a desirable
end no matter what the business
Justice Department. A typica,
deputy marshal's accounts former.
ly required 90 forms. Thirty
forms have been reduced to four
with a saving Of 80 per cent II
paper work.
Economic Cooperation Admin
istration. This is an agency
where a modern accounting sys.
tenn was started with the setting
up of the agency.
Paper Work Reduced
Atomic Energy Commission
One of the features of the &C
counting system here is that the
accounting systems of the Acc