Financial Reporting and Analysis
There is a need for accuracy, uniformity, and transparency in which financial data is reported by every federal agency, so leaders can demonstrate compliance and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Yet, most agencies struggle with siloed and incomplete data, and lack of internal resources and skills to produce timely and accurate financial reports.
Our team of financial and accounting experts fully understand Federal financial accounting standards and regulations, including Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (CFO Act), Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and requirements of the Department of Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Our team has hands-on experience with complex Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, legacy systems, and designing tools in the finance area to consolidate data and automate financial reports that bring consistency across the organization, enhance data quality, and improve reliable and accurate reporting and decision-making. Our team can also support Financial Statements Compilation in compliance with OMB A-136 (financial reporting requirements).
Empirical helps agencies correct errors and anomalies, resolve root-cause issues, and develop and implement innovative database and reporting solutions to move our customers beyond compliance to produce accurate and timely financial reports and perform analytics to gain insight and improve decision-making.
Empirical is all about implementing improvements to optimize financial performance for every customer. We do this by conducting cost/benefit and other financial analyses and financial reviews/studies to pinpoint problem areas and ways to maximize budgets to do more with less.
Empirical has worked with many Offices of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFOs), including the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Secret Service, Department of Labor (DOL), Architect of the Capital (AOC), Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and other OCFOs to improve financial reporting and analytics outcomes, data insight and actionable intelligence, and informed decision-making capabilities.
Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Prisons (BOP) – Improving Reporting Accuracy via Automation
Overview: The BOP is a federal law enforcement agency under DOJ responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals. Empirical is part of a team supporting BOP’s Financial Statements division with compilation and analysis of the monthly Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol (GTAS) reporting, account reconciliation, quarterly financial statements preparation, and GTAS submissions.
Goals: BOP was looking to automate manual processes including refreshing data spreadsheets with both beginning and adjusted ending balances to conduct post-GTAS reconciliations and internal checks.
Solutions: Empirical’s team used their in-depth knowledge of federal financial reporting requirements, understanding of data streams and structure needed, and technical expertise to develop a reporting solution to automate the financial data derived from monthly and quarterly reconciliations and processes. The automation solution configured the text files with adequate and accurate data for a more efficient GTAS submission process.
Empirical supported the prime contractor to develop and test the new automated reporting solution. At the same time, Empirical produced financial reports outside the system to help BOP validate the data and generate accurate GTAS reports.
Results: The automated solution is in the testing phase, and to date, is already producing accurate reports, which will improve GTAS submissions and greatly reduce staff time and costs for BOP.