31 USC 3524 - Auditing expenditures approved without vouchers

U.S Code last checked for updates: May 06, 2024

§ 3524.

Auditing expenditures approved without vouchers

(a)

(1)

The Comptroller General may audit expenditures, accounted for only on the approval, authorization, or certificate of the President or an official of an executive agency, to decide if the expenditure was authorized by law and made. Records and related information shall be made available to the Comptroller General in conducting the audit.

(2)

The Comptroller General may release the results of the audit or disclose related information only to the President or head of the agency, or, if there is an unresolved discrepancy, to the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives, and the committees of Congress having legislative or appropriation oversight of the expenditure.

(b)

Before December 1 of each year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit a report listing each account that may be subject to this section to the Committees on the Budget and Appropriations of both Houses of Congress, the Committee on Governmental Affairs, and to the Committee on Government Operations, and to the Comptroller General.

(c)

The President may exempt from this section a financial transaction about sensitive foreign intelligence or foreign counter-intelligence activities or sensitive law enforcement investigations if an audit would expose the identifying details of an active investigation or endanger investigative or domestic intelligence sources involved in the investigation. The exemption may apply to a class or category of financial transactions.

(d)

This section does not—

(1)

apply to expenditures under section 102, 103, 105(d)(1), (3), or (5), or 106(b)(2) or (3) of title 3; or

(2)

affect authority under section 8(b) of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 403j(b)).1

 See References in Text note below.

(e)

Information about a financial transaction exempt under subsection (c) of this section or a financial transaction under section 8(b) of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 403j(b)) ¹ may be reviewed by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

(f)

Subsections (a)(1) and (d)(1) of this section may be superseded only by a law enacted after April 3, 1980, specifically repealing or amending this section.

(Pub. L. 97–258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 963.)

cite as: 31 USC 3524