Pentagon Fails Audit for Sixth Year in a Row
The Facts
The US Department of Defense failed an independent audit of its accounting systems for the sixth year in a row, the Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday.
Since the Pentagon began the practice in 2018 — the last government department to do so following a Congress requirement in 1990 — it has yet to pass. This year, auditors rated seven of the nearly 30 sub-audits as clean, the same figure as last year. One sub-audit was rated the next lowest level of "qualified," three were ongoing, and 18 received failing grades.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
It's no surprise at all that the Defense Department has once again failed its yearly audit. Until the Pentagon tries to pioneer a new system of accounting for its vast assets and equipment — rather than continuously depending on outdated methods — it will repeat these failures year after year. Not only is the US military working with ancient auditing systems, but it's also spending more money to conduct these reviews — almost a billion dollars a year — than private companies who have no issues getting their books in order.
Pro-establishment narrative
The Defense Department is one of the largest organizations in the world and auditing its vast web of assets and equipment across the globe is an extremely difficult undertaking. While the department received the same topline grade as last year, it continues to make incremental progress toward a clean audit. While this doesn't mean the DOD has lost its assets, the Pentagon knows that its outdated auditing systems are causing an unnecessary mess and is working toward modernizing as quickly as possible.