A House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on Thursday underscored endemic financial mismanagement across the US Department of Defense, which is the only major federal agency that has never received a clean audit opinion on its financial statements
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2023) A House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on Thursday underscored endemic financial mismanagement across the US Department of Defense, which is the only major Federal agency that has never received a clean audit opinion on its financial statements.
"During the most recent audit, the DoD Office of Inspector General identified 28 material weaknesses at the DoD agency-wide level. Of those 28 material weaknesses, we consider 16 to be scope-limiting, meaning that they prevent auditors from performing the necessary procedures and steps to draw a conclusion on the financial statements and the supporting information," said Brett Mansfield, deputy inspector general for audits at the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.
"While some material weaknesses are financial in nature, such as unsupported accounting adjustments, many others also affect DoD operations; for example, government property in possession of contractors is a financial issue, but also tied to readiness and supply chain management," he added. Mansfield later testified that he estimated contractors hold approximately $3.3 trillion worth of government property worldwide.
All three witnesses testified that the department was rife with antiquated information systems that did not communicate with each other, making it impossible to conduct a thorough audit and opening the door to waste and fraud.
"I don't know of any system in DOD that works as intended," Asif Khan, director of financial management and assurance at the US Government Accountability Office testified.
North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx declared the situation to be ridiculous. "We claim to be the greatest country in the world and yet the Department of Defense cannot produce a clean audit. What in the heck is this?"
The DOD comprises about 15% of the federal government's total spending and about half of its discretionary spending.
"Millions of Dollars should not just be lost and failing an audit should not be the norm," Congresswoman Summer Lee of Pennsylvania said. She noted that budgets for defense programs often exceeded those for social programs. She cited several examples, such as the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act authorizing $32.6 billion for shipbuilding, which exceeded the $28.7 billion spent on a national school lunch program last year, and the $1.7 trillion spent on the F-35 joint program that could eradicate student loan debt.
