Book Description

The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) total budget requests for travel, as found in the President's budget submissions to Congress, were formulated on the basis of the prior year's actual travel expenditures, adjustments for inflation, and expected initiatives or program changes. VA's travel budget requests have exceeded its actual travel expenditures by millions of dollars in recent years. VA reprogrammed excess travel funds, representing the difference between the amounts included for travel in VA's appropriations accounts and expenditures--more than $61 million for fiscal years 1993 through 1998. VA spent the excess travel money on general operating expenses, such as salaries and equipment. VA is required to inform the Senate Appropriations Committee before reprogramming more than $250,0000. VA did not inform the Committee of the excess travel reprogrammings because it did not consider switching excess travel funds to other object classes, in this instance, to constitute reprogramming. The Comptroller General's internal control standards require continuous supervision to ensure proper review and approval of employees' activities, as well as separation of duties and responsibilities in authorizing transactions. However, GAO found that VA's limited open travel authorizations were being issued to many employees without the required supervisory reviews to determine whether they were frequent travelers. GAO also found that VA's policy on delegated travel authority was being implemented without a system of controls to compensate for the lack of separation of duties inherent in self-authorization and approval of travel. At the 23 VA field facilities, GAO found five officials who authorized their own travel and approved their own travel vouchers that exceeded the applicable per-diem allowances without any justification.