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Audit Reports

Sep
12
2017
Report Number:
FT-AR-17-011
Report Type:
Audit Reports
Category: Finance

Independent Report on Employee Benefits, Withholdings, Contributions, and Supplemental Semiannual Headcount Reporting Submitted to the Office of Personnel Management

BACKGROUND

At the request of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Office of Inspector General (OIG), we performed procedures agreed upon by the OPM’s Inspector General and the Chief Financial Officer. This attestation engagement is an annual requirement of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. 

Our objectives were to assist OPM in assessing the reasonableness of U.S. Postal Service employee retirement, health benefits and life insurance withholdings; Postal Service benefit contributions; and enrollment information submitted via the headcount report by the Postal Service; and to assist OPM in identifying and correcting errors related to processing and distributing Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) payroll deductions. 

This report is not suitable for any other purpose. 

WHAT THE OIG FOUND

We performed the procedures agreed upon by the Inspector General and the Chief Financial Officer of the OPM to assist OPM in assessing the reasonableness of retirement, health benefits and life insurance withholdings and contributions, as well as enrollment information submitted via the headcount report. We also performed procedures to assist OPM in identifying and correcting errors related to processing and distributing CFC deductions. 

We identified issues related to life insurance premiums, elections, and withholdings; military deposit reporting; and CFC campaign contact information and deductions. Specifically: 

  • A basic life insurance premium was incorrectly calculated for one of 25 employees. 
  • We could not verify life insurance elections for two of 25 employees reviewed. 
  • The Postal Service did not separately report “Federal Employee Retirement System Revised Annuity Employee” and “Further Revised Annuity Employee” military deposits on the September 2016 and March 2017 headcount reports. 
  • The difference between the U.S. Postal Service OIG recalculated Option C life insurance withholdings and Option C life insurance withholdings for the pay period ending March 3, 2017, reported by the Postal Service, exceeded OPM’s reportable threshold. 
  • The Postal Service records for 33 of 137 active CFC campaigns contained outdated or incorrect contact information. 
  • CFC codes in the Postal Service’s payroll system for 167 of 56,027 CFC deductions did not match the OPM campaign code associated with the employee’s official duty station. Additionally we identified one employee with a CFC deduction whose official duty station was located in an area with no local campaign. 

As a result of our engagement, the Postal Service took corrective action on three of the six issues identified in this report: basic life insurance premium, life insurance election forms and military deposits. 

We were not engaged to perform, and did not perform, an examination or review, the objective of which would have been the expression of an opinion or conclusion, respectively, on the withholdings and contributions for health benefits, life insurance, and retirement; enrollment information; and the CFC program. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion or conclusion. Had we performed additional procedures, we might have found other matters that we would have reported. 

WHAT THE OIG RECOMMENDED

This report is provided for information only, and we offered no recommendations. Accordingly, no management action is required.