Accounting System Probed in Native American Land Claim

Posted by accountingweb on Aug 29 2001 63 printer friendly

The U.S. Federal Government has commissioned an external review of the accounting system used to track royalties from native American lands that are the subject of a $10 billion lawsuit.

According to press reports, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton ordered an outside appraisal of the $40 million accounting system after it was criticized by a court-appointed investigator. The investigator concluded that the system "may not be salvageable" and suggested that officials may have misled the court when they claimed that the accounts system was nearly operational.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth is presiding over the class action suit brought on behalf of 300,000 Native Americans who claim the government squandered up to $10 billion from trust accounts set up in 1887 to manage royalties from grazing, logging, mining, and oil drilling on Indian lands.

Voice of the Editor

Even though any accounting auditor would tell you it seems like there are an awful lot of tax accountants out there, surely one-third of the country isn't made up of tax preparers, so it's rather startling news to learn that one-third of Americans like to do their taxes. Who knew?

This Week on AccountingWEB

Bill Walter of Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates and Harold Gaar of TravisWolff LLP weigh in on mobile technology use while employees are at work.

WestArk RSVP and Fayette County Community Action Agency – organizations that received grant funding through the IRS Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program – spoke with AccountingWEB about how they assist senior citizens in their communities.

CPA Robert Raiola, who heads the Sports & Entertainment Group of Fazio, Mannuzza, Roche, Tankel, LaPilusa, LLC, talks NFL player income taxes with AccountingWEB.

Retiring KPMG Centennial Professor of Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business Robert May, PhD talks with AccountingWEB about his rewarding forty-three-year career.