Report Summary

Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General

November 2008

Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Statement Audit Oversight
(A-15-08-18087)

Objective

To fulfill our responsibilities under the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-576) and related legislation for ensuring the quality of the audit work performed, we monitored PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) audit of the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Fiscal Year 2008 financial statements.

Background

The CFO Act, as amended, requires that SSA's Inspector General (IG) or an independent external auditor, as determined by the IG, audit SSA's financial statements in accordance with applicable standards. Under a contract monitored by the Office of the Inspector General, PwC, an independent certified public accounting firm, audited SSA's Fiscal Year 2008 financial statements.

To view the full report, visit http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-15-08-18087.pdf

Our Findings

PwC found:  

• The consolidated balance sheets of SSA as of September 30, 2008 and 2007, and the related consolidated statements of net cost and of changes in net position, and the combined statements of budgetary resources for the years then ended and the statement of social insurance as of January 1, 2008, January 1, 2007, and January 1, 2006 are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
  
  
• Management fairly stated that SSA’s internal control over financial reporting was operating effectively as of September 30, 2008.
  
  
• No reportable instances of noncompliance with the laws, regulations or other matter tested.

Our monitoring review disclosed no instances where PwC did not comply with applicable auditing standards.

Our Recommendation

PwC found no significant deficiencies.  However, PwC will be issuing a Management Letter to discuss issues which came to its attention during the audit.  The deficiencies are not material enough to be reportable, but would strengthen SSA's internal controls and accounting if they were to be corrected.