[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30323-30324]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14448]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5833-9]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses From Grant Officials
at Year-End
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit a
proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR is
intended to obtain information on unbilled grant expenses at year end
from a sample of EPA grant recipients. Before submitting the ICR to
OMB, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed
collection of information as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted August 4, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of the
Comptroller, Financial Management Division, Mail Code 2733F, 401 M St.
SW Washington D. C. 20460. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the
ICR without charge by contacting Mr. Larry Achter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Achter, 202-260-9446, Facsimile
Number 202-260-4592, E-MAIL Address: achter.larry@epamail.epa.gov
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Affected entities: EPA will use the Probability Proportionate to
Size sampling method to select approximately 110 grants awarded by the
Agency and paid through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) process. EPA
will contact the recipients of these selected grants to obtain
information on unbilled expenses.
Title: Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses from Grant Officials at
Year-end (EPA ICR No. 1810.01.)
Abstract: EPA's Financial Management Division (FMD) prepares annual
financial statements that present the financial position and results of
operations for EPA. The financial statements must comply with the
Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) and other
accounting requirements. EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
audits these financial statements to determine whether they fairly and
accurately reflect EPA financial conditions.
To meet the SFFAS requirements, EPA must report the estimated
amount of its accrued liabilities. These accrued liabilities include:
(1) Grant expenses incurred during the fiscal year that the grant
recipient has paid and recorded in its accounting records but has not
yet billed to EPA; and (2) grant expenses that vendors have billed the
grant recipient between October 1 and November 15 (following the end of
the Federal fiscal year) that relate to the prior fiscal year. EPA,
working with its OIG, has evaluated the use of existing reports as a
source of accrued liability information. However, for grants paid
through the ACH electronic funds transfer mechanism, EPA has been
unable to determine how to obtain this information without contacting
the grant recipients themselves. ACH drawdown requests do not include
period of performance data, which is essential for determining
accruals. To minimize the amount of burden associated with gathering
this data, EPA believes that information from a sample of approximately
110 grants would be sufficient to meet its financial statement needs.
EPA would use estimation techniques to project the amount of grant
accruals applicable to all EPA grants paid through ACH.
The grant recipients selected in the sample would only be asked to
report
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the accrual information on the specific grant, and not all EPA grants
to that grantee. Further, other EPA grant recipients would not be
affected by this information collection request. EPA will also request
information from the selected grant recipients on their billing
practices in order to conduct additional analyses to improve our
accrual estimates.
Unless EPA is able to obtain this information from the selected
grant recipients, and develop a reasonable estimate of accruals based
on that data, EPA does not believe it will be able to obtain an
unqualified (``clean'') audit opinion from the OIG on its financial
statements. Thus the information is crucial for EPA to meet its
fiduciary responsibilities.
Burden Statement: Burden means the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This
includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire,
install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of
collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information;
adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable
instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to
a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review
the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the
information.
EPA believes that a grant recipient should require no more than 6
hours to prepare the information requested, and the data collection
will not require grant recipients to purchase new equipment or develop
new procedures to compile and report the data. Thus, the total
reporting burden would be 660 hours, or a total estimated annual cost
of $14,600.
Confidential information: FMD does not believe this information is
confidential in nature. Therefore the additional protections afforded
confidential data will not be provided.
OMB Control Numbers: An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a
person is not required to respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB
control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and
48 CFR Chapter 15. In this specific information collection, grant
recipient responses will be voluntary.
Comments requested: EPA would like to solicit public comments on:
(i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including
whether the information will have practical utility;
(ii) Whether the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information is accurate, and whether methodology and
assumptions used are valid;
(iii) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
(iv) Means to minimize the burden of the collection of information
on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
Dated: May 28, 1997.
Jack Shipley,
Director, Financial Management Division.
[FR Doc. 97-14448 Filed 6-2-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
