Recommendation:
We recommend that the Department
• Standardize requirements for processing personnel actions at posts, including the establishment of deadlines for submitting information to the responsible Global Financial Service Center.
• Validate the employee data populated in the Global Foreign Affairs Compensation System for each post (to include date of birth and service computation dates) as the system is implemented across the remaining posts.
• Periodically perform reconciliations between WebPass and the payroll applications to identify data discrepancies.
• Refine the process used to calculate the Foreign Service National after-employment liability estimate based on the results of any data remediation or validation efforts.
Insufficient Controls over Foreign Service National After-Employment Benefits
The Department provides some FSN employees with after-employment benefits through a variety of arrangements, including annuity-based defined benefit retirement plans, defined contribution retirement plans, lump-sum retirement payments, and separation benefits to FSNs who voluntarily resign or otherwise leave the workplace. The Department estimates liabilities relating to FSN after-employment benefits for financial reporting purposes.
We found that during FY 2013 the Department completed several corrective actions related to FSN after-employment benefits, which reduced the risk of significant misstatements in the financial statements. Specifically, the Department took additional steps to confirm the nature of several posts’ benefit plans and refined its estimation and reporting processes. However, the Department continued to lack formalized processes and controls relating to FSN after- employment benefits. In addition, the Department lacked a centralized inventory of benefit plans as well as controls to ensure that any newly established or updated benefit plans are approved and inventoried. During our audit, we also identified several items that the Department did not include in its liability calculation.
The corrective actions taken by the Department in FY 2013 were executed real time as we worked with the Department to ensure that the most significant risks and issues noted during our prior audits were addressed. Additional steps are needed to fully implement routine and repeatable processes and controls relating to FSN after-employment benefits.
The lack of formalized, routine processes to inventory, monitor, and account for FSN benefit plans may lead to future funding and financial reporting challenges. Benefits may exist and not be reflected in the Department's financial statements, while the nuances of other benefit plans may be misinterpreted in the Department's estimation models and assumptions. Budgeting and financial planning decisions may be made without a complete understanding of the short and