Audit of the Personnel and Payroll Functions of the Thrift Savings Plan in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This final report presents the results of our audit of the personnel and payroll functions of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration (ASPER). Nothing came to our attention in the course of our audit to indicate that ASPER was not in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986. However, we found that the accounting data containing the recorded amounts of TSP contributions is not periodically reconciled with the underlying source data; reconciliations of TSP cash account balances with the Department of the Treasury cash reports are not being performed each month; the policy for resolving lost TSP earnings is costly and inefficient; eligible employees are not personally notified when they may begin to participate in TSP; and educational programs to explain TSP are not routinely conducted.

---