Post by stargatebabe on Nov 17, 2024 8:17:24 GMT -6
The Pentagon on Friday failed its seventh audit in a row, with the nation’s largest government agency still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget, though officials stress they are making good progress toward a clean audit in 2028.
The Department of Defense technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion.
The goal is to earn an unmodified audit opinion, or a clean audit that says the financial statements are accurate. A qualified opinion says there are omissions and concerns but the finances are generally reliable.
Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord said that despite the disclaimer of opinion, which he expected, the Defense Department “has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges.”
“Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” he said in a statement.
The Defense Department’s report card as a whole is made up of 28 entities operating under the Pentagon that conducted independent audits.
Of those, nine received an unmodified audit opinion, one received a qualified opinion, 15 received disclaimers and three opinions remain pending. The Pentagon expects the final number of clean or qualified audits to be roughly around what it was last year.
The Pentagon has never passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to carry them out in 2018. A major challenge in auditing remains a full accounting of the sheer number of systems the Defense Department employs.
The Pentagon said it is firmly committed to achieving a clean audit by 2028, as mandated by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
At a Friday briefing with reporters, McCord explained the number of clean audits indicated progress and disputed the characterization that the Pentagon had failed another audit.
“I do not say we failed, as I said, we have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions,” he added. “So if someone had a report card that is half good and half not good, I don’t know that you call the student or the report card a failure. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re making progress.”
Read more @ thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/
The Department of Defense technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion.
The goal is to earn an unmodified audit opinion, or a clean audit that says the financial statements are accurate. A qualified opinion says there are omissions and concerns but the finances are generally reliable.
Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord said that despite the disclaimer of opinion, which he expected, the Defense Department “has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges.”
“Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” he said in a statement.
The Defense Department’s report card as a whole is made up of 28 entities operating under the Pentagon that conducted independent audits.
Of those, nine received an unmodified audit opinion, one received a qualified opinion, 15 received disclaimers and three opinions remain pending. The Pentagon expects the final number of clean or qualified audits to be roughly around what it was last year.
The Pentagon has never passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to carry them out in 2018. A major challenge in auditing remains a full accounting of the sheer number of systems the Defense Department employs.
The Pentagon said it is firmly committed to achieving a clean audit by 2028, as mandated by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
At a Friday briefing with reporters, McCord explained the number of clean audits indicated progress and disputed the characterization that the Pentagon had failed another audit.
“I do not say we failed, as I said, we have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions,” he added. “So if someone had a report card that is half good and half not good, I don’t know that you call the student or the report card a failure. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re making progress.”
Read more @ thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/
? WTF is that all about?