Management Integrity and Controls

The Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (FMFIA) requires an annual review of the adequacy of NSF program and activity management controls. The NSF Management Controls Committee (MCC), chaired by the Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for oversight and for reporting of the Foundation’s management and internal control program to the NSF Director on an annual basis.

The MCC requires that individual offices provide assurance statements each year on the FMFIA reviews within their own organizations on program and activity management controls. Individual assurance statements from each of NSF’s Assistant Directors and Staff Office Directors serve as the primary basis for NSF’s assurance that management controls are adequate, and that NSF systems are in compliance with all applicable laws and administrative requirements, including OMB circulars A-123 and A-127.

During the FY 1999 certification process, the MCC did not identify any material weaknesses as defined by OMB guidance. The MCC evaluated the progress made on one reportable condition in the FY 1998 financial statement audit related to the recording, valuation and accountability of property, plant, and equipment maintained by an NSF contractor. The MCC identified that credible progress to correct this reportable condition had been made in FY 1999. The MCC also provided reasonable assurance that the NSF systems that are being used to compile information for NSF’s first GPRA Performance Report have been evaluated and are FMFIA compliant.

NSF also evaluated agency financial management systems for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999. NSF management found internal accounting systems and administrative controls to be adequate to ensure transactions were executed in accordance with budgetary and financial law, and recorded in accordance with federal accounting standards. It was also determined that assets were properly safeguarded.

The MCC asserted to the NSF Director that agency management controls and financial management systems taken as a whole provide reasonable assurance that the objectives of the FMFIA are being achieved for FY 1999. The following memoranda transmitted the results and assertions of the annual FMFIA review.

Memorandum - Fiscal Year 1999 Management Controls Review

Memorandum - FY 1999 Review of Management Controls in NSF