As Pentagon Fails 4th Audit, Officials Have ‘No Doubt’ It Will Eventually Pass
The inspector general and independent public accounting firms conducted this year's audit of DoD's $3.2 trillion in assets and $3 trillion in liabilities.
Courtney Bublé
By Courtney Bublé
November 17, 2021 03:30 PM ET
For the fourth year in a row, the Defense Department failed its annual financial audit, but demonstrated it’s making progress.
On Monday, the Defense Department completed its annual audit required by the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act for the fourth time. The department’s inspector general and independent public accounting firms conducted the fiscal 2021 audit, which covered the department’s more than $3.2 trillion in assets and $3 trillion in liabilities. About 1,200 auditors did 278 in-person and 1,069 virtual site visits.
“Although we do not yet have a clean opinion and we have a long way to go, I will note that over this past decade we have done what we have told the Congress we would do when we said we would do it,” said Michael McCord, undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer, on a briefing call with reporters. “We believe we’ve made steady progress in unmodified opinions achieved or expected to be achieved from several of our standalone audits that cover approximately 37% of our total assets.”
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/11/defense-department-fails-its-audit-again-officials-have-no-doubt-it-will-eventually-pass/186914/
