The Pentagon announced on Nov. 15 that the Defense Department failed its seventh consecutive audit, with more than half of its departments unable to provide auditors with sufficient data to accurately evaluate the status of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of assets under the Pentagon’s domain, reports Sputnik.
DOD comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord—appointed by President Obama in 2014 and under whom the Pentagon has failed every one of its independent audits since they began in 2017—assured in a statement that the Pentagon had “turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges” and promises to do better in the future. “Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” McCord claimed.
The audit’s failing grade was based on financial inspections of 28 subordinated bodies. Out of that, 15 received disclaimers (auditors were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to form an opinion on the financial statements being audited), 9 received unmodified audit opinions (that is, a reasonable level of assurance that financial statements represented a true and fair reflection of audit results), 1 received a qualified opinion (auditors identified material misstatements in financial statements), and 3 opinions remain pending.
