OMB Press Release. The following press release from the Office of Management and Budget was issued November 20. 2007.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20. 2007
Contact: OMB Communications, 202-395-7254
Federal Agencies Continue to Improve Financial Reporting Results
and Eliminate Payment Errors
Washington. DC—For the third year in row, all major Federal agencies successfully met the 45-day financial audit deadline as required by the rigorous reporting guidelines set by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Since 2001, agencies are required to complete the financial report 45 days after the end of the Fiscal Year, compared to the previous five month (ISO days) window for completion. The accelerated deadline results in more immediate availability of financial information to agency decision makers and requires agencies to employ rigorous disciplines throughout the year to ensure readiness for year-end reporting. In addition to timely reporting, the results from Fiscal Year 2007 show that the Federal government is improving the validity of its financial information.
• Of the 24 major Federal agencies. 19 received clean opinions, one more than the 18 clean opinions reported last year at this time.
• The total number of material weaknesses government-wide declined from 41 to 39. This is the fourth year in a row that material weaknesses have declined, with a more than 35% decrease in weaknesses since 2001.
• Five additional agencies received a clean opinion with no material weaknesses, including the Departments of Justice, the Interior, Energy, the Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. This brings the total number of agencies realizing this important accomplishment to 13, up from just seven in 2001.
The decrease in weaknesses this year is more notable in light of recent changes to government audit guidelines that lower materiality thresholds and have the effect of characterizing more audit findings as “material weaknesses.” In other words, while auditing standards are getting tougher. Federal agencies are more than keeping pace by continuing to decrease the number of material findings.
Source: www.whitehouse.gov/omh/pubpress/index2007.html.
Required:
Choose a federal agency of the U.S. government and locate its annual financial report for the most recent fiscal year from its agency Web site or a government site such as www.fedworld.gov or www.firstgov.gov. Answer the following questions.
a. Did this agency receive an unqualified opinion for the most recent fiscal year? If not, can you determine why?
b. Examine the statements of net cost and changes in net position and determine the amount of operations that was funded by appropriations for this fiscal year. Did the agency report a positive or negative change in net position? Which elements of this financial statement were significantly different from those of the prior year and might have contributed most to the change in net position?
c. Does the agency integrate accountability reports with performance reports produced under the Government Performance and Results Act?