The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Friday that it has failed its seventh consecutive audit and is unable to account for its full $824 billion 2024 budget, while officials remain outwardly optimistic.
“Despite the disclaimer of opinion, which was expected, the Department has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges,” said Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord, “Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion.”
The DoD has 28 entities that undergo individual audits, with each entity receiving its own audit report.
Out of those entities, only nine received an “unmodified audit,” meaning that the auditors do not believe there are any materially significant discrepancies in the audits.
Three entities remain pending; one received a “qualified opinion,” meaning that the auditor found a non-pervasive materially important discrepancy.
The remaining 15 entities received “disclaimers,” where the auditors failed to access all relevant information but believe that the inaccessible information contains possibly pervasive discrepancies.
The DoD has been forced to undergo audits starting in 2018 under President-elect Donald Trump.
The organization has not passed a single one of its yearly audits.
Despite its history of failures, DoD officials claimed that they are moving closer to their goal of achieving a clean audit by December 2028, a deadline mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024.
“An unmodified audit opinion has always been the Department’s primary financial management goal, and with their help, I know it is achievable,” said McCord.
While the DoD has routinely failed to account for its yearly budgets, reaching well above half a trillion dollars, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is moving forward with a plan to require everyday Americans to report all payments on apps like Venmo or PayPal over $600.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="32566 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=32566">3 Comments
Easy fix, all monies unaccounted for at the end of the year must be returned to the general fund, refunded to tax payers or used to shore up SS. I’d bet they’d come up with some receipts fast. This should be the norm of all departments not just the DOD, FEMA I’m looking at you…
And yet when Trump wants someone to look into things like this he’s a manic dictator.
Yeah, just like we can’t account for millions and millions sent to Ukraine !