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GAO-01-384R 1 (2001-02-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptanbj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



      . GAO

      Accountability * Integrity  Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548



         February 26, 2001

         The Honorable Kenneth M. Mead
         Inspector General
         Department of Transportation
         Subject: Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Airport and Airway Trust Fund

                  Excise Taxes

         Dear Mr. Mead:

         We have performed the procedures contained in the enclosure to this letter, which
         we agreed to perform and with which you concurred, solely to assist your office in
         ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway
         Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, is supported by the
         underlying records. As agreed with your office, we evaluated fiscal year 2000 activity
         affecting distributions to AATF.

         In performing the agreed-upon procedures, we conducted our work in accordance
         with generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate financial
         audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified
         Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance when performing and
         reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures.

         The adequacy of the procedures to meet your objectives is your responsibility, and
         we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform
         include (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of
         amounts distributed to AATF, (2) review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS)
         quarterly AATF certifications, (3) review of the Department of the Treasury Financial
         Management Service adjustments to AATF for fiscal year 2000, (4) review of the
         Office of Tax Analysis process for estimating amounts to be distributed to AATF for
         the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000, (5) comparison of net excise tax distributions to
         AATF during fiscal year 2000 and amounts reported in the financial statements
         prepared by the Bureau of the Public Debt for AATF and the Federal Aviation
         Administration's consolidated financial statements, and (6) review of key
         reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records. The enclosure contains the
         agreed-upon procedures and our findings from performing each of the procedures.

         We were not engaged to perform, and did not perform, an audit, the objective of
         which would have been the expression of an opinion on the amount of net excise
         taxes distributed to AATF. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion. Had we


GAO-01-384R Airport and Airway Trust Fund Excise Tax Procedures