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Areas of Focus
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Agencies
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
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- Department of Energy
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- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Department of the Interior
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- Department of Transportation
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- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Army Corps of Engineers
- General Services Administration
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Personnel Management
- Small Business Administration
- Social Security Administration
- U.S. Agency for International Development
Agency Snapshot: Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture serves to enhance food safety by taking steps to reduce the prevalence of food borne hazards from farm to table, improve nutrition and health by providing food assistance and nutrition education, expand markets for agricultural products and support international economic development, and provide financing needed to help expand job opportunities and improve housing, utilities and infrastructure in rural America. The Department’s $225 billion in budgetary resources ensures the operation of the Food and Nutrition Service, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Forest Service, and Farm Service Agency amongst many other organizations. Like other agencies, it is committed to pursuing this important mission while managing its finances effectively, which includes ensuring its payments are accurate, using only property it needs, and accounting for its finances properly.
Key Initiatives
The Administration is eager to reduce annual improper payments and is working with Federal and State partners, Congress, and other stakeholders, to reduce the government-wide amount of errors without negatively impacting citizen access to needed programs. "Improper payments" occur when funds go to the wrong recipient, the recipient receives the incorrect amount of funds, documentation is not available to support a payment, or the recipient uses funds in an improper manner. The government must better ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. You can learn more about our efforts to reduce improper payments at the newly launched PaymentAccuracy.gov.
The chart to the right depicts the agency’s progress towards its real property savings goal. More information about the nature of the savings can be found on this agency’s page in the Real Property section of Performance.gov.
Decision makers and the public must have confidence in the financial information provided by agencies in order to make good decisions about managing government programs and implementing policy. The results of the annual independent audit are one of the best ways to assess agencies’ financial information and recordkeeping systems. All agencies are working to improve their financial management in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used as efficiently as possible.
