Audit of the Assets Forfeiture Fund and Seized Asset Deposit Fund Annual Financial Statements Fiscal Year 2024

Implement monitoring activities over the effectiveness of existing controls to ensure expenses are recorded accurately, in the correct period, and are supported by documentation. Such activities should include, at a minimum:
a.
Coordinating with the participating agencies to monitor the design and effectiveness of accrual controls. Respond to the results of such monitoring with appropriate revisions to process level activities and controls as necessary.
b.
Coordinating with the participating agencies to monitor the design and effectiveness of controls over the accuracy of cost transactions to determine whether they are assets or expenses. Respond to the results of such monitoring with appropriate revisions to process level activities and controls as necessary.

Develop new and/or enhance existing risk assessment processes to identify and respond to potential areas of increased risk in key process areas, including consideration of materiality and aggregation risk across the participating agencies and types of business events.

Provide training to individuals responsible for recording accruals on the standard processes to record reversing accruals and the documentation requirements necessary to support relevant judgments and deviations from standard methodologies. Additionally, implement a process to identify and address transactions that, when netted, do not impact the financial statements.

Identify relevant data elements that are relied upon for financial reporting activities, such as the spending object code, and implement monitoring activities to ensure such information is processed and extracted completely and accurately for purposes of financial reporting.

Design processes and controls to identify and sufficiently analyze and respond to changes in the method of calculating and presenting amounts in the financial statements and related note disclosures.

Provide sufficient resources, and/or implement consistent automated processes across participating agencies, to perform equitable sharing approval responsibilities timely.

Update and reissue its Asset Forfeiture Financial Management and Administrative Guide to more clearly define the investigative action that should be used as the seizure date for purposes of actual or constructive custody and valuation of seized property.

Develop new and/or enhance existing process controls for participating agencies and monitoring controls within the Asset Forfeiture Management Staff to ensure participating agencies accurately and timely record seizure transactions in the Asset Forfeiture Program (AFP) asset system.