Congress targets tighter federal spending controls with new CFO duties, audits, and public plans

OMB issues a governmentwide 4-year financial management plan sooner (within 6 months after the bill becomes law).

People may start seeing updated governmentwide goals and measures for how federal money is tracked and reported, tied closely to the budget cycle.

Each agency CFO completes an agency financial management plan within 90 days after the governmentwide plan is issued and makes it public.

Agencies would publish how they plan to fix weak financial systems and improve tracking of spending and results, which can help the public and Congress hold them to deadlines.

Agency heads begin annual assessments and conclusions on whether internal controls over financial reporting and key spending info are effective.

Agencies will have to regularly say, in writing, whether their financial controls are working—making it harder to ignore known weaknesses and easier to spot repeat problems.

Agency audits expand to test whether financial controls are designed well, implemented, and operating effectively, and to report control weaknesses.

Audit reports may become more detailed about control failures that can lead to waste or wrong payments, which can drive faster fixes (or more scrutiny) at affected agencies.

Each year, OMB submits a financial management status report to Congress and the Comptroller General alongside the federal budget.

When the federal budget comes out, there would also be an easier-to-track update on how well agencies are managing money and fixing known financial system problems.