Legal Services Corporation: Governance and Accountability Practices Need to Be Modernized and Strengthened Page: 26 of 81
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serious management and performance challenges. OMB Circular No. A-
136 states that PARs are intended to provide financial and performance
information to enable the President, Congress, and the public to assess the
performance of a federal agency relative to its mission and to demonstrate
the federal agency's accountability.
LSC follows a fiscal year starting on October 1, and for the past 5 years has
issued its financial statements in March or later, which is 6 months after its
year-end. As noted, federal agencies are required to issue their financial
statements 45 days following their year-ends, which is mid-November.Internal Control Systems
RequirementsLSC's statutory requirements for internal control systems are less rigorous
than those for independent federal agencies or U.S. government
corporations; D.C. nonprofit corporations have no such statutory
requirements. (See table 4.) The LSC Act requires LSC to account for
federal funds separately from nonfederal funds, but otherwise includes no
specific requirements for the establishment of accounting and internal
control systems. The LSC Act imposes some program management duties
on the LSC directors to promote good stewardship of federal taxpayer
dollars by requiring that the directors manage LSC's programs
economically, effectively, and efficiently. For example, the LSC Act
requires the LSC board to ensure that LSC makes grants "so as to provide
the most economical and effective delivery of legal assistance to persons
in both urban and rural areas." The LSC Act also requires the board to
ensure that grant recipients adopt procedures for determining priorities on
how to allocate their assistance among eligible clients. Additionally, the
LSC Act imposes a program evaluation requirement on the board,
requiring it to monitor, evaluate, and provide for independent evaluations
of LSC-supported programs to ensure that the programs comply with the
LSC Act; bylaws; and implementing rules, regulations, and guidelines.aThe Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 (Pub. L. No. 106-531, 114 Stat. 2537 (Nov. 22, 2000)
(codified at 31 U.S.C. 3516) permits agencies to submit combined reports in
implementing statutory requirements for financial and performance management reporting
to improve the efficiency of executive branch performance. These reports are combined in
the PAR. In its guidance on financial reporting in OMB Circular No. A-136, OMB converted
the PAR option into a mandatory requirement.GAO-07-993 Legal Services Corporation
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Legal Services Corporation: Governance and Accountability Practices Need to Be Modernized and Strengthened, report, August 15, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc297700/m1/26/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.