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The
legally required audit has helped sharpen the Pentagon's systems
and controls and has regularly helped the Department of Defense
find misplaced inventory helping save money.
About 1,200 auditors tested the systems and record-keeping
processes on weapons systems, military personnel and property
around the world with 278 site visits and 1,069 virtual visits.
The process led to 26 standalone audits that comprised the
overall exercise.
Eight units were expected to receive clean opinions from the
auditors, the same as last year, said Mike McCord, the
Pentagon's CFO.
"The department continues to make steady progress toward
achieving a favorable audit opinion," McCord told reporters as
he released the results of the audit of more than $3.2 trillion
in assets and $3 trillion in liabilities.
The Pentagon added, "As the audits mature and testing expands,
Department of Defense leaders expect findings to increase in
number and complexity," since successive sweeps could expose
more profound problems.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security took a decade to pass a
comprehensive audit, and Pentagon officials have said the DoD
could take just as long, making 2027 the possible date for its
first clean audit.
Travel curbs over the coronavirus hampered auditing in
situations that required in-person access, the Pentagon said,
but virtual site visits yielded some efficiencies in the due
diligence effort.
This year's audit fees of $207 million were nearly flat with the
previous year.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Jane Wardell
and Clarence Fernandez)
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