Page 44 - Financial Report 2020

PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Message from the Chief Financial Officer

I am pleased to report that for the second consecutive year, we
received an unmodified opinion on our financial statements from our
independent auditors, and I am honored to join the Chairman of the
Board in issuing the FY 2020 Agency Financial Report for the Privacy
and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. This report highlights our
accomplishments in achieving our mission to ensure that the
executive branch’s efforts to prevent terrorism are balanced with the
need to protect privacy and civil liberties and demonstrates our
responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The Board has made significant progress since electing to undergo its
first financial statement audit two years ago. The disclaimer of opinion we received
following the first audit imposed an urgent need to re-examine our internal policies and
governance process and bolster the strength of our financial management capabilities. As
our staff worked diligently to address a challenging list of material weaknesses and audit
recommendations, significant accounts were analyzed, new processes were revised or
implemented, and internal controls were added or enhanced. With most of the previously
identified audit weaknesses remediated, PCLOB received an unmodified audit opinion over
the FY 2019 financial statements with no new findings and no required audit adjustments,
an achievement we take great pride in. We became even more committed to sustaining the
progress achieved through our financial statement audits by further strengthening internal
controls, reducing manual processes, and improving data quality and reporting.

This pledge to put PCLOB’s internal controls on a strong footing for the long term carried
into FY 2020 as we continued to seek areas for operational improvement and growth. In
line with an objective of our strategic plan, we performed a review of the Board’s shared-
service arrangements, and procured two new service providers, enabling gains in
functionality and enhancing our internal controls significantly. The Board met another
strategic objective by appointing a new Chief Financial Officer and hiring a full-time
accountant, both of which provide greater oversight of accounting functions. Our work to
streamline the procurement process by analyzing each contract has also benefited the
agency through a reduction of overall contracting costs. Through these measures, we
successfully remediated all previous audit recommendations to management by year’s end.

FY 2020 AGENCY FINANCIAL REPORT 35