The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced that independent auditors have awarded the agency top marks for financial accountability for the tenth consecutive year. On Tuesday, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs released the FY 2016 Agency Financial Report (AFR) outlining how DOT has managed the various programs and resources under its control – and for the tenth year in a row, the AFR showed that DOT has received an unmodified, or “clean”, audit opinion on its financial statements.
“Our nation continues to face a critical transportation infrastructure deficit, and it is essential that we get the most out of every dollar,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Taxpayers have a right to expect that their money will be managed responsibly, effectively, and transparently, and I’m proud that for the tenth year in a row, DOT has met the highest standards for financial excellence. I commend our Chief Financial Officer Shoshana Lew, the Chief Financial Officers of our Operating Administrations, and our entire financial management team for the hard work that went into this milestone.”
In FY 2016, DOT managed an annual budget of $76 billion which supported everything from building roads and repairing bridges to maintaining our nation’s shipping ports and running the safest air traffic control system in the world. In order to ensure that taxpayer funds are being managed responsibly, DOT’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) contracts with a public accounting firm to perform an annual audit of the agency’s financial statements. This year, the auditor provided DOT with an unmodified opinion – the highest possible rating from an external auditor – on the FY 2016 financial statements, which acknowledges that DOT’s financial statements fairly present the agency's financial position and results of operations in all material respects.
“Timely, accurate, and transparent financial information is critical to supporting all of our Department’s successful activities,” said Shoshana Lew, DOT chief financial officer and assistant secretary for budget and programs. “We are proud to reach ten consecutive years of clean audits, and our team at DOT will continue to serve as good stewards of taxpayer dollars by sustaining and enriching the Department’s financial health, improving business processes, and increasing data transparency and reliability for the future.”
The FY 2016 AFR highlights a range of important activities over the past year, which include passage and initial implementation of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which brought with it a range of new grant programs; the creation of DOT’s Build America Bureau pursuant to new authority in the FAST Act; and strong progress toward implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act).
To complement the AFR, in early FY 2017, DOT will publish the Annual Performance Report, and a Summary of Performance and Financial Information, which provides a concise briefing of the past year’s outcomes.
