SECTION II: FINANCIAL SECTION

FY 2015 HHS Agency Financial Report

Topics In This Section:  Message from the Chief Financial Officer | Report of the Independent Auditors | Department’s Response to the Report of the Independent Auditors | Principal Financial Statements | Notes to the Principal Financial Statements | Required Supplementary Stewardship Information | Required Supplementary Information

Message from the Chief Financial Officer

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or the Department) oversees one of the largest budgets in the world, managing one of every four dollars spent by the federal government. This Agency Financial Report (AFR) represents our accountability in reporting for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. To complement the AFR, we will publish the FY 2015 HHS Summary of Performance and Financial Information, along with the FY 2017 Congressional Budget Justification and Annual Performance Plan and Report in February 2016.

The Department was recently recognized for demonstrating excellence in all aspects of accountability and transparency by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA). HHS was awarded AGA’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting for our FY 2014 AFR. Our Chief Financial Officer (CFO) community collaboratively manages financial accountability, transparency, compliance, and risk across the Department by prioritizing resources to drive mission results. We are dedicated to working together as a CFO community to improve Department-wide operations, financial reporting and systems, with the overall goal to consistently strengthen internal control, maintain data integrity, increase data transparency, and report reliable information on a timely basis. During FY 2015, we took on new initiatives, achieved many key milestones, and worked to address audit deficiencies. We discuss our plans for continuing to correct audit weaknesses and non-compliances in the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” section of the AFR. Examples of our drive for excellence include:

• Implementing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) across the Department, and making great strides in developing our standard risk language and vision for the HHS ERM program. These ERM initiatives will help us better understand and mitigate risks in our operational environment.
• Upgraded 2 of 3 instances of our commercial off-the-shelf software supporting the Department’s core financial system during FY 2015, with the third instance on-schedule to be upgraded in FY 2016. The upgrades are key components of the Department-wide strategy to mature our overall financial systems environment and ensure the continued reliability, availability, and security of our core financial system. We also expanded the use of business intelligence to further enhance the availability and analysis of financial management information to facilitate effective decision making.
• Established a Program Management Office (PMO) to oversee implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act). The DATA Act PMO operates in partnership with Operating Divisions, Staff Divisions, and system business owners to ensure government-wide data standards, data exchange, and data reporting requirements are met and implemented. Additionally, the DATA Act PMO serves as the Federal Government’s executing agent of the Section 5 Grants Pilot. Launched the Common Data Element Repository (CDER) Library. The CDER Library is a government-wide online, searchable repository for data standards, definitions, and context. Currently, the CDER Library can identify data elements within the universe of grant forms, as defined by the Section 5 Grants Pilot.
• Initiated the review, update, and development of HHS policies in financial management, grants, and acquisitions to ensure compliance with applicable federal regulations and guidance.
• Began the transition from Government-wide Accounting to the Central Accounting and Reporting System. This change will standardize Treasury Account Symbol formatting and allows agencies to report transactions in real-time to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

This year, we obtained an unmodified (clean) opinion on the Consolidated Balance Sheets, Statement of Net Cost, Statement of Changes in Net Position, and the Combined Statement of Budgetary Resources. The auditors disclaimed providing an opinion on the Statement of Social Insurance and the Statement of Changes in Social Insurance Amounts, primarily due to the uncertainties surrounding provisions of the Affordable Care Act and the impact of potential changes in law that would impact underlying assumptions of financial projections. These statements were developed based upon current law using information from the 2015 Medicare Trustees Report, as required by standards issued by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. Please refer to the “Report of the Independent Auditors,” “Principal Financial Statements,” and “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements,” in this section for further information.

I want to thank our employees and our full range of partners for their efforts and collaboration throughout the FY. The achievements depicted in this report are a reflection of their tireless dedication to our mission and the American people. We are striving together to strengthen the Department’s financial management capabilities and our stewardship of the resources entrusted to us.

/Ellen G. Murray/

Ellen G. Murray
Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and
   Chief Financial Officer

November 13, 2015

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Report of the Independent Auditors

OIG Report on the Financial Statement Audit of the Department of Health and Human Services for Fiscal Year 2015

Report of the Independent Auditors

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Department’s Response to the Report of the Independent Auditors

To:          Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General

From:      Ellen G. Murray, Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and Chief Financial Officer

Subject:  FY 2015 Financial Statement Audit

We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Independent Auditor’s Report concerning the audit of our FY 2015 financial statements. We generally concur with the findings identified in the Report on Internal Control. The final reports are included in our FY 2015 Agency Financial Report. In response to your reports, we will prepare and update corrective action plans to address the identified audit findings. HHS leadership is dedicated to effectively resolving our challenges.

The size and complexity of our information technology (IT) environment continues to pose substantial challenges as we address weaknesses across multiple systems, organizations, and business processes. A more strategic and focused approach to strengthening controls and security over our financial systems environment was initiated in FY 2015. The Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer communities formed an IT Material Weakness Working Group to more effectively identify key risks, develop effective risk responses, and implement timely corrective actions to address the material weakness. Also we are nearing completion of the migration of our financial reporting systems to the latest software. This migration is expected to provide improved security, as well as faster access to data, and simplified report queries for systems users.

The prioritization of specific internal control activities will advance our progress toward resolution of the financial reporting significant deficiency identified in the auditor’s report. With the strategic direction of the HHS Risk Management and Financial Oversight Board, our stakeholders have committed to strengthening financial management controls.

HHS remains committed to ensuring sound financial management that delivers reliable and actionable information for both internal and external decision makers and stakeholders.

We would like to thank the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and our independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, for your efforts on our behalf. We appreciate the continued collaboration of the OIG to improve our stewardship and transparency of taxpayer funds.

/Ellen G. Murray/

Ellen G. Murray
Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and
   Chief Financial Officer

November 13, 2015

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Principal Financial Statements

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Consolidated Balance Sheet
As of September 30, 2015 and 2014
(in Millions)

The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Consolidated Statement of Net Cost
For the Years Ended September 30, 2015 and 2014
(in Millions)

The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position
For the Years Ended September 30, 2015
(in Millions)

The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position
For the Year Ended September 30, 2014
(in Millions)

The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Consolidated Statement of Budgetary Resources
For the Years Ended September 30, 2015 and 2014
in Millions)

The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Statement of Social Insurance (unaudited)
75-Year Projection as of January 1, 2015 and Prior Base Years
in Billions)

Please note for the entirety of the Statement of Social Insurance:
Totals do not necessarily equal the sum of the rounded components.
Current participants are assumed to be the “closed group” of individuals who are at least age 15 at the start of the projection period and are participating in the
program as either taxpayers, beneficiaries or both.
The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Statement of Changes in Social Insurance Amounts (unaudited)
January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2015
Medicare Hospital and Supplementary Medical Insurance
in Billions)

Totals do not necessarily equal the sum of the rounded components.
The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Statement of Changes in Social Insurance Amounts (unaudited)
January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2015
Medicare Hospital and Supplementary Medical Insurance
in Billions)

Totals do not necessarily equal the sum of the rounded components.
The accompanying “Notes to the Principal Financial Statements” are an integral part of these statements.

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Also see these sections of the Agency Financial Report:

• Section I: Management, Discussion and Analysis
• Section II: Financial Section - Subsection 2
• Section II: Financial Section - Subsection 3
• Section III: Other Information
• Appendices