Objective 5.5
| Ensure effective stewardship and management of CFTC financial resources. |
Effective stewardship and management of Commission financial resources begins with protecting CFTC resources against waste, fraud, and abuse, and ensuring their use in compliance with Federal financial laws and regulations. The foundation for effective fiduciary stewardship of Commission financial resources develops from sound application of a number of interrelated financial programs and systems: budget formulation, execution, and justification; contracting and procurement; and accounting, audit, and financial reporting. With an annual budget nearly fully allocated to fund onboard staff compensation and benefits, technology, and space leases, rigorous centralized budgetary resources oversight ensures compliance with Federal financial laws and regulations. The Commission maintains a clean unqualified audit status, first earned in 2006.
Commission core financial systems ensure the CFTC effectively and efficiently allocates and expends limited funds and other resources. A robust annual internal control and management integrity program coupled with the third-party neutral annual audit of financial statements make sure staff expend funds and resources as intended and protect against financial fraud, waste, and abuse.
Over the next five years the Commission will take a number of steps to increase its vigilance, improve its processes, and increase the accuracy of its financial data.
Strategy 5.5.1 Reengineer budget program activity codes (BPACs).
The CFTC will reengineer, improve, and implement changes to CFTC’s cost accounting system to ensure it is more flexible (more easily allowing for changes) and aligns with and allows annual, accurate reporting on Commission activities and objectives at the individual and organizational level.
Accurate capture of Commission labor hours by activity and objectives at the individual and organizational levels will improve labor-based information and add transparency to budgetary resource usage, program performance, and budget formulation and justification functions.
| FY 2011 | Assess and procure reengineering options for BPAC. Design, develop, and implement BPAC repository to retain all cost accounting codes. |
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| FY 2012 | Choose best option for BPAC structure in line with operating and reporting needs and in light of available resources. Implement new codes for use in FY 2013 budget formulation process. |
| FY 2013 | Improve and adapt business processes associated with cost accounting codes. |
| FY 2014 | Staff using cost accounting codes properly with error rate documented at less than1%. |
| FY 2015 | N/A |
Strategy 5.5.2 Improve budget formulation and audit processes.
The CFTC will design and implement a robust, automated budget formulation application and business process to streamline the preparation of its annual budget and to provide single source input to its operating plans and performance accountability reports.
By automating the budget formulation process, the CFTC will add functionality to query, analyze, and forecast funding scenarios supporting timely and informed senior leadership financial decision-making in rapidly and continuously changing funding situations.
The Commission will review its programs and operations and identify and reduce any potential opportunities for waste, fraud, or abuse by developing and introducing, where appropriate, processes that promote integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness.
| FY 2011 | Conduct program and administrative risk assessments, prepare three-year plan, and begin conducting reviews. |
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| FY 2012 | Update program and administrative risk assessments and three-year plan; continue conducting reviews, developing remediation plans, and taking corrective actions. |
| FY 2013 | Complete corrective action. |
| FY 2014 | N/A |
| FY 2015 | N/A |
Strategy 5.5.3 Implement Web-based time and attendance system.
The CFTC will implement a Web-based time and attendance system (WebTA) that will enable staff to electronically record their time and the Commission to transmit and apply time records electronically with no transference or other degradation of data. Implementation of this automated system will reduce staff time spent reporting on time and attendance. This system will be paperless, faster, and significantly increase the accuracy of coding and capture of individual bi-weekly labor hours. The CFTC will also be able to more quickly and accurately track time and attendance, analyze the distribution of labor, and improve internal controls.
| FY 2011 | Conceptualize BPAC structure and configure WebTA to accommodate. |
|---|---|
| FY 2012 | Pilot WebTA. |
| FY 2013 | Go live with WebTA. |
| FY 2014 | N/A |
| FY 2015 | N/A |