Posted on May 19, 2021
The Pentagon Has Never Passed An Audit. Some Senators Want To Change That
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When the Pentagon launched its first-ever independent financial audit back in 2017, backers of accountability in government welcomed it as a major step for a department with a track record of financial boondoggles.
But the Defense Department failed that audit – and the next two as well. Now lawmakers are introducing a bipartisan bill that would impose a penalty for any part of the military that fails to undergo a "clean" audit.
"The Pentagon and the military industrial complex have been plagued by a massive amount of waste, fraud and financial mismanagement for decades. That is absolutely unacceptable," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, along with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Despite having trillions of dollars in assets and receiving hundreds of billions in federal dollars annually, the U.S. military has never detailed its assets and liabilities in a given year. For the past three financial years, the Defense Department's audit has resulted in a "Disclaimer of Opinion," meaning the auditor didn't get enough accounting records to form an assessment.
But the Defense Department failed that audit – and the next two as well. Now lawmakers are introducing a bipartisan bill that would impose a penalty for any part of the military that fails to undergo a "clean" audit.
"The Pentagon and the military industrial complex have been plagued by a massive amount of waste, fraud and financial mismanagement for decades. That is absolutely unacceptable," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, along with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Despite having trillions of dollars in assets and receiving hundreds of billions in federal dollars annually, the U.S. military has never detailed its assets and liabilities in a given year. For the past three financial years, the Defense Department's audit has resulted in a "Disclaimer of Opinion," meaning the auditor didn't get enough accounting records to form an assessment.
The Pentagon Has Never Passed An Audit. Some Senators Want To Change That
Posted from npr.org
Pentagon
Budget
Money
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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Non-compliance should come with penalties - but penalties to people, not programs. (Unless it is something like a contract program which is not meeting its contractual requirements.)
A unit doesn't produce the required data? Commander is relieved.
A unit has faulty data? Data maintainer is relieved. Maybe Commander, too.
A unit is committing fraud? Fraudster(s) are relieved. Probably Commander, too.
Start firing people, and people will start complying. Do nothing other than write a report, no one will truly give a damn.
A unit doesn't produce the required data? Commander is relieved.
A unit has faulty data? Data maintainer is relieved. Maybe Commander, too.
A unit is committing fraud? Fraudster(s) are relieved. Probably Commander, too.
Start firing people, and people will start complying. Do nothing other than write a report, no one will truly give a damn.
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Not for nothing...but...some auditors are idiots. I've been through a couple audits and the auditors couldn't see past their own agendas when you laid the facts and numbers, to the penny, in front of them.
Granted, I was only dealing with fleets in the low 9, high 8 digit values, but still. The audits were a joke. And its difficult answer in the affimitive to problems that didn't exist before an auditor created one on paper.
Now...the DoD, yeah I'd bet there's some funny math going on and shouldn't be. There has to be a goal at the end, and a sustainable one at that. Seems the people that run these big programs and are responsible parties are changed out too frequently. It's like a game of hot potato. New person comes in and the old problems are ignored knowing they won't be around long enough to care or make positive changes.
V/R
Bogie
Granted, I was only dealing with fleets in the low 9, high 8 digit values, but still. The audits were a joke. And its difficult answer in the affimitive to problems that didn't exist before an auditor created one on paper.
Now...the DoD, yeah I'd bet there's some funny math going on and shouldn't be. There has to be a goal at the end, and a sustainable one at that. Seems the people that run these big programs and are responsible parties are changed out too frequently. It's like a game of hot potato. New person comes in and the old problems are ignored knowing they won't be around long enough to care or make positive changes.
V/R
Bogie
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