U.S. Department of State Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report

4  F inancial and P roperty M anagement The Department operates in a complex and challenging global environment and, as a result, manages one of the U.S. Government’s most complex financial operations. Operating around-the-clock in over 270 locations and 180 countries, the Department conducts business in over 138 currencies, accounts for $100 billion in assets, maintains 236 bank accounts around the world, executes over 6,100 annual foreign currency purchases and sales valued at over $6 billion, and manages real and personal property capital assets with historical costs of more than $34 billion. As part of the High Five theme of Excellence and Innovation, the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services is working to automate and streamline financial operations through process enhancements and technology innovations, including the increased use of Robotic Process Automation, or “bots.” As part of the High Five theme of Security and Infrastructure, the Bureau of Administration is working to optimize the management of the Department’s domestic real property assets. Additionally, as part of Security and Infrastructure, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations is working to improve the process to prioritize projects of varying scope and scale across the global portfolio to optimize safety, security, and functionality through the Embassy After Next initiative. Department officials at all levels, both at home and abroad, are dedicated to ensuring effective management controls and over- sight over the resources entrusted to the Department. In doing so, the Department has received seven consecutive unmodified opinions (FYs 2012-2018) from the external Independent Auditor on our annual Department-wide financial statements. In addition, the Department ended 2018 with no reported material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting. The Management Challenges report notes the Department’s difficulty in tracking and reporting data. The Office of Management Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation has taken significant strides to overcome these difficulties by setting up the Department’s Center for Analytics and establishment of the Chief Data Officer (CDO). Since its inception in November 2018, the Center for Analytics has had a significant impact by infusing analytics into agency-wide management and policy decision making, with over 30 projects complete and 60 queued. The Center for Analytics, led by the CDO, is enhancing its data management and governance activities by creating an enterprise data governance board and a data catalogue, and is working to improve data quality and accessibility issues through its master reference data and other efforts. The Under Secretary for Management also addresses this in the High Five, stressing the importance of data-informed decisions, particularly: ■ ■ Treating data as a strategic asset; increasing timeliness, usability, quality, and reliability of data while ensuring data security and integrity; ■ ■ Improving decision making with evidence and analysis; and ■ ■ Building and enhancing data analysis and literacy capabilities. Internal Control Deficiencies The OIG found purchase card users complied with laws and regulations but were deficient in documenting required reviews. Fiscal year 2018 was the first year that all bureaus and posts were required to complete their annual reviews in the Purchase Card Management and Reporting System. The Department has a clear and consistent policy that requires annual reviews and will continue to communicate reminders to enforce the policy through Department Notices, ALDACs, and email notifications. 130 | U nited S tates D epartment of S tate 2019 A gency F inancial R eport OTHER INFORMATION | MANAGEMENT’S RESPONSE TO INSPECTOR GENERAL