Soft Paper Report

What Is a Soft Paper Report?

A soft paper report is a reference to a lack of confidence in a report's realities or general irreverence for a report's creator. A soft paper report has just a single use — as bathroom tissue — which is the way its name was derived.

Seeing Soft Paper Report

Reports are quite often subjective, as even hard realities must be deciphered. In business, it is important not to depend on all that you hear and peruse, and on second thought to do a little homework yourself. If not you could wind up depending on a report that is just great for bathroom tissue.

Illustration of a Soft Paper Report

In an Oct. 1992 report to Congress by the U.S. General Accounting Office, the GAO blamed NASA for creating financial reports that depended on untrustworthy data. All in all, the GAO blamed NASA for delivering soft paper financial reports.

The GAO found that NASA's internal controls and financial management systems didn't give accurate and dependable financial data for effective management of the agency, particularly when it came to oversight of the substantial amount of assets and funds heavily influenced by its contractors. The report examined exhaustively the lacks in NASA's financial systems and controls that contributed to the financial management shortcomings alongside suggestions for corrective actions.

In particular, the GAO report indicated that NASA's internal controls, policies and procedures, and financial management systems didn't give adequate assurance that its anywhere near $14 billion allotments allocated in fiscal year 1991 were appropriately utilized and accurately represented and reported. For example, contractor-reported cost and performance data was not generally received, and program analysts improperly adjusted contractor cost data without supporting documentation. At times, these practices covered cost overwhelms, underruns, and occurrences where costs surpassed obligations or budget plans.

For instance, the GAO recognized one case where cost reports showed tremendous cost growth for fostering the space transport's waste collections systems, however it just made a limited move to control costs until the GAO distinguished a 900% increase over the initial estimate. What's more, it said NASA's internal controls didn't guarantee that its reported $13.4 billion in government-owned, contractor-held property was appropriately represented or that its reported value was accurate.

This situation introduced a significant issue since NASA managers utilized contractor-reported cost data as a primary source of data to oversee billions of dollars in contractor-worked programs and ventures, lay out and refresh accounts payable, and decide budget needs.

Features

• The name is derived from tissue.
• The items in a soft paper report ought to be confirmed by approving its items.
• A soft paper report is a report whose items lack credibility.