Performance and Accountability Report — Fiscal Year 2000 (NUREG-1542, Volume 6)

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• Publication Information
• Abstract
• A Message from the Chairman

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Publication Information

Date Published: November 2000

Resource Management and Support Staff
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

The Performance and Accountability Report provides performance results and audited financial statements that enable Congress, the President, and the public to assess the performance of the agency in achieving its mission and stewardship of its resources. The report contains a concise overview, management's discussion and analysis, as well as performance and financial sections. Additional details of performance results and program evaluations can be found in the appendices.

A Message from the Chairman

I am pleased to present the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2000. This report reflects the NRC's continued commitment to employ sound management strategies in regulating the Nation's use of nuclear materials. NRC's Fiscal Year 2000 Performance Report has been integrated into this report and shows that the agency achieved its overall goals of protecting public health and safety.

In September 2000, NRC published a revised Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2000 to 2005 that describes how we intend to accomplish our mission. In particular, it discusses our core principles and strategies and sets out both performance goals and measures to gauge performance. It has been exciting to observe the NRC's continuing efforts to create an environment in which the agency and its programs are managed to performance goals.

I am also pleased that the agency has earned its seventh consecutive unqualified audit opinion on its financial statements. This achievement reaffirms the NRC's continued commitment to ensure that sound financial management principles are consistently followed by all employees responsible for public assets. However, important work remains to be completed in order to comply fully with Federal accounting and reporting standards. The NRC evaluated its management control and financial management systems for Fiscal Year 2000 as required by the Federal Manager's Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (Integrity Act) and the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (Improvement Act). The results of the Integrity Act evaluation disclosed no material weaknesses. The Improvement Act evaluation disclosed that the NRC's major financial management systems were in overall compliance with this act except for (1) the failure to achieve full implementation of the Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards Number 4, Managerial Cost Accounting Concepts and Standards for the Federal Government and (2) the inability of the Treasury's Financial Management Service to test business continuity plans for the NRC's core accounting system. The agency's response to the audit report on the agency's financial statements, provided at the end of this report, contains a discussion of NRC's corrective actions.

Consistent with the requirements of the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, this report includes a summary and an assessment by the agency's Inspector General of the most serious management challenges facing the agency and the agency's progress in addressing them. While some of these issues concern initiatives which are not central to our mission, others are critical in maintaining our future capability to protect the public health and safety. Each of these issues is important, and each will continue to receive senior management attention.

Of course, external factors beyond NRC's control will have a major influence on how the NRC carries out its mission. Such factors include deregulation in the electrical power industry, a renewed interest in expanding the capacity to produce nuclear power, and the disposition of spent nuclear fuel. My colleagues and I look forward to meeting the challenges and are confident the American public will be the benefactors of our success.

Richard A. Meserve