#Socialites, get a load of this! According to The Hill, the Pentagon has failed its 7th audit in a row, claiming it cannot fully account for its $824 billion budget, but adding that it has still made some progress.
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On Friday (November 15), the Department of Defense (DOD) released the results of its department-wide fiscal year 2024 financial audit, the seventh such audit since 2018. The Pentagon said that its 2024 audit shows progress toward its 2028 goals despite failing its 7th audit in a row and being unable to fully account for a $824 billion budget.
According to the report, the Defense Department’s Inspector General provided an overall “disclaimer of opinion” on DOD financial statements, which means it has failed to provide sufficient information for auditors to form an accurate opinion. Mike McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer, said this simply means the department has failed to achieve a clean audit.
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The Pentagon’s goal is to earn an “unmodified audit opinion,” or a clean audit that says the financial statements are accurate. If a “qualified opinion” is received that means there are omissions and concerns, but the finances are generally reliable. However, despite failing a 7th audit in a row, McCord, who expected the “disclaimer of opinion” result, said the Pentagon has continued to show great improvement every year on department-wide audits.
McCord said, “I believe the department has turned a corner in its understanding of its challenges, and more importantly in addressing them. Momentum is on our side, and throughout the department, there is strong commitment — and belief in our ability — to achieve an unmodified audit opinion.”
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As part of the DOD audit for fiscal year 2024, there were 28 different reporting entities and of those 28, only 9 entities achieved “unmodified audit opinions,” with 15 receiving “disclaimers.” McCord said 3 additional entities are still pending, but it’s expected that two of them will, as they did last year, also achieve “unmodified audit opinions.” Once confirmed, this will mean that 11 audits came back clean, one more than fiscal year 2023… progress.
McCord said that this year, for the first time, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency achieved an “unmodified audit opinion.” He also said that this is only the second year that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency has undergone a stand-alone audit. Additionally, as part of this year’s department-wide audit, one entity received a “qualified opinion,” while 15 others received “disclaimers.”
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The Hill reports that the Pentagon has never passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to carry them out in 2018. It appears the Defense Department’s biggest challenge in auditing continues to be fully accounting for the number of systems the DOD employs.
However, despite the auditing challenges, failing its 7th audit in a row, and being unable to account for its $824 billion budget, the Pentagon fully commits to having a clean audit by fiscal year 2028, as mandated by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
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