Maintains liaison with the Office of Management and Budget and prepares such reports as may be required by OMB, the Treasury, and others on budget, payroll, and related financial matters.

Maintains the administrative accounting and financial reporting systems, including the summary accounting control and deposit of all GAO collections involving all Government agencies.

Examines and certifies all administrative vouchers and invoices covering operating expenses.

Prepares, examines, and certifies GAO payrolls including the maintenance and audit of individual leave and retirement records.

Since virtually all financial and supporting administrative records of the Federal Government are under the jurisdiction of the General Accounting Office, records management is an important responsibility. Some of the functions of the Records Management and Services Branch include:

Advising the Administrator of General Services in the development, maintenance, and review of the general records schedules for the control of the various categories of Federal administrative support records needed for the audit of Government accounts.

Reviewing for approval overall fiscal records programs and requests for approval to dispose of fiscal and accounting documents submitted to GAO by the departments and agencies of the Government. In fiscal year 1971, 54 schedules covering the disposition of agency fiscal records were approved.

Controlling agencies' records holdings transferred to Federal records depositories and granting final approval for the disposal of these records. In fiscal year 1971, the Branch approved the disposition of 129,053 cubic feet of fiscal records that were stored by Federal Records Centers. At June 30, 1971, 891,202 cubic feet of records under GAO's control were on hand in Federal Records Centers.

Maintaining a continuing records management program for GAO, including storage, disposal, and transfer of records generated at GAO's headquarters or field offices. During fiscal year 1971, GAO destroyed 6,707 cubic feet and transferred 15,355 cubic feet of its records to Federal Records Centers or the National Archives, leaving on hand a balance of 75,275 cubic feet.

Furnishing information from records material to other agencies, the courts, and the public. During fiscal year 1971, 953 requests were received and serviced. That total includes requests (1) from Government agencies, (2) from attorneys and subcontractors for certified copies of contracts and payment bonds under the Miller Act, (3) for copies of documents from Revolutionary and Civil War records, (4) for transcripts of pay of military and National Guard personnel, and (5) for contracts and vouchers to be used by GAO's Claims Division in its claims settlement work.

The Records Management and Services Branch also:

Procures, controls, and distributes all supplies, material, furniture, and equipment for GAO and arranges for and provides utility, transportation, and mail and messenger services.

Furnishes illustrating and graphic art services within GAO and, upon request, to congressional

committees.

Edits and prepares for printing certain GAO publications.

The Publications Branch edits, types, proofreads, reproduces, and distributes audit reports of the Comptroller General and reproduces and distributes other material originating in GAO, including manuals, decisions, digests, memorandums, regulations, and other documents.

As discussed in earlier chapters of this report, GAO's audit reports are a major product of the Office. During fiscal year 1971, nearly 1,000 reports containing GAO's findings and recommendations on a wide variety of Government activities were issued. The importance of these reports to the Congress, its committees, and Members, the departments and agencies, and other recipients necessitates timely and accurate preparation.

The Office of Administrative Services is also responsible from time to time for furnishing management services to independent commissions and boards which are attached to GAO for support and for serving as an advisor to officials of these independent bodies on management services problems. Currently, such services are being provided to the Cost Accounting Standards Board which began operations during fiscal year 1971 pursuant to Public Law 91-379.

449-406 O 72 - 11

EXHIBITS

September 2, 1789. President Washington signed a bill that established the Treasury Department and provided for a Secretary, a Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, and other lesser officers. The duties of the Comptroller were to superintend the adjustment. and preservation of public accounts. All public accounts were to be verified and transmitted to the Comptroller for his decision.

March 3, 1817. President Madison signed an act to provide for the prompt settlement of public accounts. This act contained the language that is still in effect under section 305 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921.

July 31, 1894. President Cleveland approved an appropriation act which included the Dockery Act, named after Representative Alexander M. Dockery of Missouri. Under this act, a single Comptroller of the Treasury replaced the several kinds of comptrollers which had mushroomed under previous laws and which were abolished. Centralized control was vested in the Comptroller of the Treasury. The auditors were designated for the audit of particular departmental accounts.

June 10, 1921. The signing by President Harding of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, marked the culmination of efforts of more than a decade to modernize the financial management system of the Federal Government. This act created the Bureau of the Budget and established the General Accounting Office under the control and direction of the Comptroller General of the United States. The GAO was designated as an establishment independent of the executive branch reporting to the Congress. The statutory duties formerly vested in the Comptroller of the Treasury and the six auditors were transferred to the Comptroller General.

The principal functions vested in the GAO included (1) investigation of all matters relating to the receipt, disbursement, and application of public funds, (2) making recommendations for legislation deemed necessary and those looking to greater econ

omy and efficiency in public expenditures, (3) making investigations and reports ordered by designated congressional committees, (4) rendering advance decisions on legality of proposed expenditures, (5) settlement and adjustment of all claims and demands. by or against the Government, and (6) prescribing accounting forms, systems, and procedures.

July 1, 1921. J. Raymond McCarl of Nebraska, became the first Comptroller General of the United States. Lurtin R. Ginn of Indiana was appointed Assistant Comptroller General.

March 9, 1931. Following the retirement of Lurtin R. Ginn, Richard N. Elliott, a former Member of Congress, became Assistant Comptroller General. Upon the retirement of Mr. McCarl on June 30, 1936, at the end of his 15 year term and again after illness necessitated the retirement of the next Comptroller General, Fred H. Brown, Mr. Elliott served as Acting Comptroller General. He retired on April 30, 1943, when he reached the mandatory retirement age.

April 11, 1939. Fred H. Brown was appointed as Comptroller General. After 14 months in office, he had a stroke which necessitated his retirement. August 1, 1940. President Roosevelt nominated and the Senate confirmed the same day the nomination of Lindsay C. Warren of North Carolina to be Comptroller General. Mr. Warren resigned from the House of Representatives on October 31, 1940, and assumed his duties as Comptroller General on November 1, 1940.

May 1, 1943. Frank L. Yates, a career GAO employee, became Assistant Comptroller General. He served until his death on June 29, 1953.

December 6, 1945. A significant development in the Federal Government's financial system was marked when the Government Corporation Control Act was signed by President Truman. This act provided that the financial transactions of all Government corporations should be audited by the General Accounting

Office in accordance with principles and procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions. The need for annual scrutiny and control by the Congress of the financial transactions and operations of Government corporations was first outlined in the Comptroller General's annual report for the fiscal year 1928. Pursuant to this statutory mandate the Corporation Audits Division was established in GAO.

December 20, 1945. The Reorganization Act of 1945 made it clear that the General Accounting Office was a part of the legislative branch of the Government.

March 8, 1946. The Anti-Kickback Act was passed. GAO was granted power to inspect plants and audit books and records of contractors engaged in performing cost-plus-fixed-fee or cost-reimbursable contracts for the purpose of ascertaining whether fees, kick-backs, gifts or gratuities are paid by subcontractors to secure the award of subcontracts or orders.

August 2, 1946. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 authorized the Comptroller General to make expenditure analyses of each agency of the Government to enable Congress to determine whether public funds have been economically and efficiently administered.

January 6, 1949. Secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snyder; Director of the Bureau of the Budget, James E. Webb; and the Comptroller General Lindsay C. Warren signed the document which established officially the cooperative effort then designated as the Joint Program for Improving Accounting in the Federal Government. Since 1959 the program has been referred to as the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program.

This program grew out of discussions late in 1947 between representatives of the General Accounting Office, the Treasury Department, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Senate Government Operations Committee. It was agreed that improving accounting and reporting in the Federal Government would be undertaken as a joint venture by the three central agencies. To provide GAO leadership in this program, the Accounting Systems Division was formed in January 1948, headed by Walter F. Frese.

On October 20, 1948, the Comptroller General addressed a letter to the heads of all Federal agencies enlisting their cooperation in the program. This

cooperative program led to many advances in the Government's financial practices through legislation as well as through modernization of agency procedures.

June 30, 1949. The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 was signed into law. Included in its provisions was authority for the Comptroller General to prescribe accounting principles and standards for Government property, approve property accounting systems, and examine and report on such systems in operation.

October 19, 1949. The comprehensive audit program was instituted by the Comptroller General. This program was defined as including the audit of receipts, expenditures, and application of public funds; the verification of assets, liabilities, proprietary accounts, and operating results of Federal agencies; and determination of compliance with all laws, regulations, and decisions applicable to financial transactions. August 17, 1950. The Post Office Department Financial Control Act of 1950 became law. This law transferred to the Post Office Department the accounting for postal operations previously performed by GAO. It directed the Department to develop an up-to-date system of accounting under principles and standards prescribed by the Comptroller General and with his cooperation and subject to his approval. Provision was also made for GAO audit at the agency site in accordance with generally accepted principles of auditing.

September 12, 1950. President Truman signed into law the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950. He described it as "providing a firm foundation for modernizing the Government's accounting along efficient lines to serve management purposes, safeguard the public funds and inform the Congress and the taxpayers clearly of what happens to the funds provided for Government activities."

The act directed the Comptroller General to prescribe accounting principles and standards for Federal agencies, cooperate in the development of their accounting systems, and approve them when deemed adequate. Provision was made for more comprehensive and selective auditing of agency operations, at sites of those operations, and in line with improved agency accounting systems, internal controls, and related administrative practices.

January 12, 1951. The first general statutory clause on GAO access to contractor records came into being