COMMENTS OF SURVEY REPORT OF THE CIA BUDGET STAFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05551A000200060005-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 3, 2002
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 24, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2003/01/24 : Velter5-551A000200060005-4
Management Officer
Budget Officer
Comments on Survey-Report of the CIA Budget Staff
24 March 1950
The various recommendations involved in the subject report have
been carefully considered by this office. Our comments are presented
in response to the management Report under the appropriate citation
references set forth in the report.
Item 1.
General problemz 3udget Staff man-year control card file.
Comment During the interval since performance of the
Mananement gurvey the Budget Staff has engaged in a number of
discusaions with the Personnel Division, Administrative staff,
and Machine Methods Division, OCD, on the subject. The
discussions so far have served to justify the ballowing statetents:
a, The Personnel Division records upon which position
control is maintained cannot furnish the Budget Staff the
information it requires.
b. For budgetary record purposes advices of personnel
action in the case of some assignments must be improved to
include more specific information as to the intent of the
action, (Personnel Division concurs.)
c. There is a possibility that the Budget Staff
requirement with regard to budget control card records can
be satisfied by transfer of existing card records to machine
accounting processing. Detailed problems of accomplishing
this transfer are, now being studied by the Budget Staff and
Machine Methods Division. The Machine Methods Division
will soon be in a position to furnish to the Budget Staff
"dry runs,' of the personnel information it requires,. These
test experiments will continue until such time as there is
a general agreement as to whether or not existing card
records in Budget Staff can be eliminated.
Item 2.
11 dialler amounts than were provided in the Budget
Oeneraljaroblem: Allotments of funds to Offices and Staff
0 SectiOns in e
for operations during the fiscal year.
Comment: At the beginning of fiscal year 1950 partial
allotmehta of fund" were made by the nAtdget Staff to offices
and staff sections for reasons directly attributable to the
Approved For Release 2003/01/24: CIA-RDP78-05551
III' 1011105.4
' g
Approved For Release 2003/01/24 .
UtE
:Lateness of appropriation action. It is not expected that
a similar situation will apply in the future but in any
case corrective arrangeeents have been meds by the Budget
Staff which should prevent any confusion or misunderstanding.
It is our present plan that allocations covering fiscal year
1951 will be made to Assistant Directors and Staff Chiefs
shortly before 1 July. Such allocations will be made by
memorandum from the Budget Officer to Assistant Directors and
Staff Chiefs on the basis of "subject to availability of f ?
Advices of Allotment Authorisation will be released after
appropriation enactment and will be directly predicated on the
allocation memorandum. It might be pointed out that despite
the fact that a partial allotment of funds resulted in some
awkwardness during the current fiscal year, the amount available
for initial allotment was legally restricted in view of the fact
that the Agency authority for initial operation was based on
interim resolutions during the period July to September. Under
normal circumstances not mere than a "10%" reserve for contingencies
will be withheld by the Budget Staff, unless it is obvious that
funds included in the budget for a particular activity(s) are in
excess of known requirements.
,Item 3.
General problen Release of Advice of Allotment Authorisation
on lite basis of dividing the yearly figure in
amounts rather than upon a cumulative basis.
four quarterly
Comment: This matter was previously discussed with the
Fiscal Division, Administrative Staff, and an agreement had been
reached wherebl the action recommended would be taken with regard
to allotment advioes issued during fiscal year 1951.
Itam
Oeperal probiest Revision of Report of Obligations and
Expenditures by Object Classes, Form No. 34-12, to furnish
obligation information to Assistant Directors and Staff Chiefs
in a more convenient manner.
Comment, The Budget Staff concurs in the tact that Form
No. 3442 will require revision on the basis of present a3.1oteent
and control procedures as indicated by drafts of procedures which
have been submitted to the Management Office for suggested
incorporation within Series "80" of the Manual of Agency Regulations.
At present the Budget Staff is developing revisions of not only
the Form No. 34-12 but also the Advice of Allotment Authorisation,
Form No. 32-5 and Request for Change in Allotment, Form 32-7.
Under "Recommended Solution" the Management Office
has indicated its feeling that Form 34-12 should not be issued
more often than quarterly. Such an arranzement might be considered
adequate for the smaller offices, however, the larger offices,
which contain a number of highly active accounte? rust receive
Approved For Release 2003/01/24 iitin-05551AOM
rroi TIAL
Approved For Release 2003/01/24 : 0-04-2/Wif
- 3 -
obligation reports monthly if they are to have assurance that
they are operating within available fundi. Budget Staff
analysts must receive monthly etaterents of Obligations to
enable them to perform their assigned reeponeibilities if they
are to furnish adequate assistance and guidance to operating
offices on fund problems.
/tea 5.
General problems Submission of Form No. 34-12 by Fiscal
Diviiion, Administrative Staff, directly to organisational uniti
rather than through the Budget Staff.
Comments The Budget Staff feels that the present arrangement
shoulaWnrinus. Delivery through the Budget Staff affords the
Budget analyst an additional opportunity to maintain necessary
liaiton with operating offices and to advise regarding any matters
of import in connection with fund status.
6.
General problems Prevention of last minute rush in eudget
presentation.
Comment: The eudget Staff feels that a paramount consideration
under this subject is to obtain general agreement as to a deadline
beyond 'which no budgetary additions or changes will be submitted
for incorporation within the estimatee. Last year the Budget
Staff received information for incorporation within the budget
document as late as the 14th of September. From 15 August to
14September a number of changes were received by the Budget staff
which required the =pieta reworking of entire sections of the
budget. In this connection it might also be mentioned that a
change within a section after the presentation has been "shaped
up* also requires revision in a numeer of recapitulation schedules,
the overall spreadsheet and similar data. Accordingly, it is of
the utmost importance that the Budget Staff be kept entirely free
from such changes for a substantial period prior to 15 September.
Reference a. It is believed that the Budget staff has
made a sulstantial beginning toward the issuance of
comprehensive *dministrative Instructions by preparation
of the various chapters already submitted to the Management
Office for incorporation within the Agency Manual of Operating
Proceduree. It is the present intention to improve and
extend these issuances during fiscal year 1951.
Reference b. The Budget Staff has in operation an
analyit program which will provide additional budget
information for operating offices which should result in a
better understanding of budgeting and budget problems. In
connection with quarterly analysis of funds which are now
Approved For Release 2003/01/24: C
5551A01102090912074.
COKI DEN TIA
Approved For Release 2003/01/
being prepared by Budget Analysts conforencee are held
with program operators at regular intervals on the
complete budgetary status of their activities. There is
reason to believe that the strength of the Budget Analyst
Program Operator liaison program is improving daily.
Subsequent to the release of the Call forAati mates
general. aciii-ferwraiiiill behT?ereyj1 he a complete
apelaretandiaLon the art o f who will
be expected to *i upt}ii detailed requiremente expressed
in thi-airr-fiYi-Estimatee.
Reference c. Same convent as 0301,45.
Reference 44 Same comment as above,
Reference 0. The present plan is to release the cal/
for Estimates not later than 15 April with the requirement
that agency estimates be transmitted to the Budget Officer
on or before 1 June. This will provide operating offices
six weeks for preparation prior to the due date of 1 June.
This deadline will coincide with the requirement for
submission to the Projects Review Committee of estimates
covering unvouche red activities.
Reference f. Hearings will be held pr nal
estimate preparation in accordance with the schedule prepared
by the Budget Officer and transmitted to the management
Officer on 17 January 1950.
7.
Review all PRC s
prior to Committee
The Budget Staff is in c omplete concurrence with
dation and has recently prepared nt the request of
nt Office a suggested revision of Administrative
25X1 Instruction Subject: ',Projector', for incorporation within
f Agency Regulations, which will require the FRC
be submitted through the Tiudget Officer. This
11 permit additional information to be made available
members of the ItC.
Item 8.
Generalproblem: issuance of one Advice of Allotment Authorisation
tor the year or a given activity with changes required during the
year being accomplished by a change slip in lieu of the issuance
of revised Advice of liolment Authorisation.
Approved For Release 2003/01/24 : GISCCEMP
*UAL
A
10 NT
Approved For Release 2003/01/2.1 :5CIA-RD
'Wee It 05-4
Coxnents This office wishes to retain in substance the
present system for the following reasonat
a. The information which would be included on this
change slip would be almost identical to that which would
be required if a revised Advice of Allotment ruthorisation
were to be issued and such a change would result in the
use of two forms where one now suffices.
b. At present it is intended that throughout the
fiscal year 1951 budget analysts will prepare a quarterly
analysis of funds covering the activities to which they
are assigned. It is believed that this procedure will
result in better budgetary planning and consequently reduce
the number of changes required.
co The Budget Staff at the present moment is engaged
in a atudy to effect a reduction in the number of allotment
accounts required for operating offices. It is believed
that a reduction can be Lade in the number of allotment
accounts through consolidation of those accounts which
involve small amounts of money. This action mill be effective
in reducing the number of revisions necessary in Advices of
Allotment Authorizations.
d. It is oelieved that on the basis of Change slip
usage there would be a greater possibility of error.
Miscellaneous
Item 1: Object and sub-object classification study for
possible iMprovement and for possible application of IBM Machine
Methods for cost accounting purposes.
Coments (a) Object classes of expenditure are prescribed
by udget-treasury Regulation el and are standard for the U. S.
Government. The present schedule of sub-object classifications
is under study by the Budget Staff for consideration as to whether
or not it can be improved.
(b) The Budget Staff does not have a definite
reaction at this time as to the applicability of It achine methods
for cost accounting purposes. It is believed that this matter may
servo as a subject for future consideration in discussions with
representatives of the Machine Methods Division, and Fiscal
Division, Administrative Staff.
Budgeteelanagement Survey coordination and foil
Comment: The Budget staff feels that the arrangement of having
iudge taTf analysts make follow ups on Manaeement surveys is an
appropriate and valuable Budget-Wanagement arrangement. The plan
is dependent upon very close liaison between both staffs and,
accordingly, the Budget Staff will insure that there is complete
Approved For Release 2003/01/24: itartiMERTAL
Approved For Release 2003/01/2 A-RDP78-17-tV5iitie40- 0
agreement upon matters on which a follow up should be made
before implementation by the budget analyst.
Item ,e Statement of functions for the Budget Staff and
unct tonal statements for the analyst and other personnel of
the eudget Staff.
Comment: Uth regard to the statement of fanAions for
the'uget Staff included in the survey report under Tab A,
it is suggested that further consideration be given to
clarification of some of the major responsibilities. The
Budget Staff has prepared drafts covering functional statements
for each employee within the Staff and it ie anticipsted that
these will be ready for submission to the Menagement Staff within
the near future.
Item 41 Reference is made to Tab B which includes a list of
proposed procedures and problems currently under consideration
by the Budget Staff and the status of each is reported below by
appropriate paragraph reference.
1. k nudget Staff analyst is now engaged in making a
detailed study of the problem for recommendation to the Budget
Officer.
2. A tentative system covering this point been
developed and is now in use on a trial basis.
3. It is anticipated that the developed system should be
ready for review by the Management Officer on 1 July.
4. This subject is covered under Item 3, "Miscellaneous".
5. This sebject is covered under Item it, "Recomendations
and findingsff.
6. These are in the process of preparation.
7. A draft covering a filing system has been completed.
S. The annual revision of Chart of Allotment #cjpnte is
now in process.
9. This matter has been under study for some time and it
is our intention that essential points pertaining to possible
improvements in the present system will be developed and appear
ma a part of the Call for Estimates to be released 15 April.
It is our opinion that the management survey was valuable in jirniehing
the Budget staff an objective appraisal of its existing operations md
providing a sound base for Budget-Management operations in matters of
common concern. The Budget Staff also wishes to express it. appreciation
of the manner and spirit in which the Management Survey was conducted.
Approved For Release 2003/01/24: CIA-RDP78-05551Alilrenagiit