Liberal Forum

Pentagon Fails 7th Audit in a Row but Hopes To Pass by 2028

Congress required all federal agencies to submit annual financial reports in 1990.

Fifteen others earned "disclaimers," meaning auditors "could not obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion." Among those receiving disclaimers were such big-ticket items as the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

 "The DoD reporting entities that received disclaimers of opinion on their financial statements, when combined, account for at least 44 percent of the DoD's total assets and at least 68 percent of the DoD's total budgetary resources," the report noted.


Opinions on three components are still pending. But even if all three pass with flying colors, more than half of the DOD's elements will have failed to pass inspection.

Still, the department tried to spin the results as a positive. "The Department has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges," McCord noted on Friday. "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 told reporters that it was "very unfair" to say the department failed. "We have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions," he explained. "If someone had a report card that is half good and half not good, I don't know that you call the student or the report card a failure. We have a lot of work to do…I think we're making progress."