U.S. Courts - 2004 Annual Report of the Director

2004 Annual Report of the Director
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Financial Management in the Courts

The Judiciary’s successful budget decentralization program promotes significant cost efficiencies—a savings of $1.3 billion in the Judiciary’s Salaries and Expenses appropriation account between 1994 - 2002. Advances in automation also are helping courts achieve sound financial management of public funds.

Assessment of Budget Decentralization Program

Budget decentralization—the process that delegates resource-use decisions to local court offices—continues to operate effectively in the Judiciary.

The consulting firm KPMG, engaged by the AO in November 2002 to review the program and report on its strengths and areas for improvement, hailed the program as a major success. KPMG interviewed 90 judges, court unit executives, and AO staff and reviewed all documentation associated with the program. KPMG’s year-long study:

endorsed the Judiciary's implementation of budget decentralization for the courts and stated that other federal agencies could benefit from similar programs;
reported that courts and the AO viewed budget decentralization as an overwhelming success;
noted that $1.3 billion in savings had accrued to the Judiciary’s Salaries and Expenses appropriation account between FY 1994-2002;
reported that courts had voluntarily returned over $300 million in unspent funds;
praised fair and equitable funding allotments to all court units;
remarked that courts have a high regard for the quality of AO support provided; and said that, with decentralization,
courts and the AO actively seek to prevent the occurrence of waste, fraud, and abuse.

KPMG also found that all of the original objectives for implementing budget decentralization were achieved, including giving courts the ability to prioritize expenditures; providing a means to respond to unique local court needs; offering incentives for good financial management in the courts; and improving courts’ long-term planning.

Financial Accounting System for Tomorrow

The Financial Accounting System for Tomorrow (FAS 4T) has been fully implemented in 12 circuits and in 94 districts, thanks to the leadership of numerous court and AO staff. For the first time, courts are operating a single integrated core financial system. More than an accounting system, FAS 4T has become the financial core for national systems that require financial data, such as the Integrated Library System and the Jury Management System. Plans are underway to interface other national systems that require financial data with FAS 4T, such as CM/ECF and PACTS- ECM.

Civil/Criminal Accounting Module

The Civil/Criminal Accounting Module (CCAM), a component of FAS 4T that supports civil and criminal accounting and cash receipting, is now operational in two alpha courts in the District of Arizona and the District of South Carolina. From the alpha courts' implementations, lessons learned were applied to refine the CCAM for the next wave of beta courts in the District of Maine, the Northern District of New York, the Western District of Kentucky, the Western District of Virginia, the District of Utah, the District of Oregon, and the District of Maryland. The first implementation for the beta courts occurred in September 2004, in the District of Maine and the Northern District of New York. The remaining beta courts will be phased in through early 2005. Best practices will be compiled from the beta courts' experience and applied to implementation for the remaining districts by late 2006.

Certifying Officers

Many district courts that have implemented certifying officer legislation have reported significant savings in staff time previously devoted to disbursing activities. The implementation of certifying officer authority allows other court unit executives in addition to district clerks to be appointed as certifying officers who certify the appropriateness of payments on behalf of their own programs. As a result, accountability for payments has been suitably fixed; and
redundant efforts and duplicate paper have been eliminated. At the close of fiscal year 2004, a total of 83 districts and 10 circuits had received training for the implementation of certifying officer authority in their courts.

Court Budget Management Web-Based Training

The Administrative Office offered registration to all court staff interested in the new web-based training program, “Managing the Local Court Budget.” The program is a comprehensive, knowledge-based self-assessment tool that takes approximately 10 hours to complete. A 65 percent completion rate was achieved by court staff on this voluntary training program, a significant indication that the program meets primary financial management training needs in the courts.

Automated AO Financial Planning and Tracking System

In FY 2004, the AO completed a review of alternative methods of developing and tracking the Judiciary’s annual financial plans. The new automated system, which replaces an outdated database system and offers access through InfoWeb, assists with plan development and quarterly tracking of obligation activity. Financial liaison officers may now download spreadsheet files with spending plan and obligation data for both the current year and prior year. Reporting capability has expanded, allowing financial liaisons to run reports by program committee, directorate, or budget organization code. Emphasizing more information rather than just more data, this system will also help ongoing cost-containment initiatives.

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