The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent report on currency transaction reports (CTRs) includes recommendations that reflect input from America’s Credit Unions’ legacy organizations. 
The organizations shared concerns over the growing compliance burden credit unions experience due to the increase in filings of CTRs. The number of CTRs filed has increased by about 62% since fiscal year 2002.

GAO provided four recommendations the Secretary of the Treasury should urge the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to take to reduce administrative burden:

• Take steps to eliminate CTR data fields that are unnecessarily burdensome for filers and of little use to law enforcement;
• Simplify and clarify aggregation requirements;
• Establish a performance management process that defines performance goals and measure for monitoring the usefulness of CTRs; and
• Reduce the number of CTRs filed that are not used by law enforcement, such as by raising the reporting threshold or expanding criteria to allow for further exemptions.

Read the full report here.