WASHINGTON DC (February 13, 2020) — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles "Chuck" Grassley (R-IA) joined Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) in introducing bipartisan legislation to strengthen federal financial management by updating the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990. The CFO Act created a new foundation for federal financial management and established a fiscal management reporting and leadership structure.
The legislation, S3287, is cosponsored by Sens Mark Warner (D-VA) Ron Johnson (R-WI), David Perdue (R-GA), and James Lankford (R-OK). The measure has been endorsed by the Data Coalition, Citizens Against Government Waste, National Taxpayers Union, the Project on Government Oversight, the R Street Institute, Truth in Accounting, and Taxpayers for Common Sense.
“It’s been three decades since the federal government’s financial management systems we use today were created. All too often, problems in government can be attributed to complex or outdated systems. This legislation will help modernize how government departments and agencies manage and monitor tax-payer funds and will enhance standards, streamline reporting and improve performance,” Sen Grassley said.
The bill would:
- Standardize CFO responsibilities across government and enhance strategic decision-making;
- Provide deputy CFOs with appropriate authority to ensure continuity in agency financial-management operations when CFO vacancies occur;
- Revise and update government-wide and agency-level financial-management planning requirements to make sure they are reasonable and allow Congress to track agencies’ adherence to cost and date targets. Additionally, the bill would require the government-wide plan to include actions for improving financial-management systems, strengthening the federal financial-management workforce, and better linking performance and cost-information to budget decision-making;
- Require the development of financial management performance-based metrics to determine the status and progress agencies are making towards achieving cost-effective and efficient government operations. The bill would also require this information to be included in the government-wide and agency-level financial management plans and status reports; and
- Strengthen internal controls by requiring agency management to identify key financial-management information needed for effective financial-management and decision-making, and to annually assess and report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and other key financial-management information.
