Financial reporting at federal agencies is still too reliant on manual processes, said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in a statement from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which he chairs.

The committee had asked 26 agencies in March to respond to a committee financial system inquiry; an analysis of their responses by committee staff posted online Sept. 6 finds that 21 agencies "reported the widespread use of manual processes" in reporting systems.

The Veterans Affairs Department, for example, created in June 2010 a Data Quality Service whose primary purpose is to collect data and manually upload it to USASpending.gov. Homeland Security Department officials acknowledged in their committee response that the department "relies on numerous legacy financial assistance  systems/manual processes."

Manual process are "inherently problematic" since they're slow, inefficient, expensive, and conducive to human error, the committee notes.

Committee staff also say that many agencies aren't undertaking significant efforts to eliminate manual process, and that very few of them make financial data publicly available.

Issa is sponsor of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act, a bill that would among other things legislatively institutionalize a spending monitoring board modeled after the Recovery Board. It would also create a single, government-wide reporting system, with all financial reporting to be done in eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, an XML-based metadata schema. The XBRL requirement has proved unpopular particularly among federal contractors, who would have to also adopt it. Many say XBRL is cumbersome and would be a financial burden.

Issa's committee approved the DATA Act June 22; in the Senate, Mark Warner (D-Va.) has introduced a companion bill that is in committee.

For more:
- go to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee statement on financial management systems
- go to a page with copies of agency responses to the committee
- go to the THOMAS page for the DATA Act, H.R. 2146
- go to the THOMAS page for Warner's companion bill, S. 1222

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