FCC Financial Statements Get 'Clean' Audit Opinion; Most of Annual Report Delayed

and Budget granted the FCC an extension until March 1 to publish its FY 2016 AFR, it didn't extend a Nov. 15 deadline for its "improper payment reporting section," said the memo. It said the rest of the report would be issued before March 1 or when the incentive auction bidding process is completed. The auditing firm Kearney & Co. found the FCC's consolidated FY 2016 financial statements "present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Commission as of Sept. 30," Stephens wrote. He said it was the 11th straight year of "clean audit opinions" for the FCC, which was an "unprecedented accomplishment" for the agency. "The Commission made significant strides in FY 2016 by resolving a prior year finding by the auditors that the FCC was not in compliance with the Debt Collection Improvement Act," he wrote. "This is the first year that the auditors have reported no instances of non-compliance with applicable provisions of laws and regulations for the FCC." The audit did not find "any material weaknesses but did identify three significant deficiencies ... related to Universal Service Fund budgetary accounting, accounting for non-exchange revenue, and information technology controls," he wrote, noting his office concurred with auditor recommendations. On USF, the FCC addressed a previous material weakness regarding budgetary accounting in the E-rate telecom discount program for schools and libraries, but auditors found a significant deficiency in the rural healthcare program, Stephens wrote. He said the FCC was committed to addressing a "new control weakness in accounting for non-exchange revenue" and "remediating information technology control deficiencies."