Report: Pentagon's accounting is a hot mess

With a staff of millions and an annual budget of around $670 billion, it should come as no surprise that the U.S. Department of Defense has engaged in some wasteful spending. A new report by the Center for Public Integrity, however, claims the Pentagon's financial ledgers are worse than imagined.

Essentially, the DOD does not have and has never really had reliable mechanisms for showing proof of where the billions in taxpayers' dollars are going exactly, and efforts to create those mechanisms are turning out to be more time-consuming, complicated and expensive than imagined.

The DOD has already promised to clean up its accounting practices for public scrutiny by 2017, and has pledged an estimated $300 million annually to do just that. They will likely need an additional $1 billion to meet that goal, CPI reports, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is allegedly poised to announce a speeding-up of the auditing process, which might raise the cost of reigning in spending even more.

The CPI report states: "Experts say the Pentagon's accounting has never been reliable. A lengthy effort by the military services to implement new financial systems at a cost so far of more than $6 billion has itself been plagued by overruns and delays, senior defense officials say."

Just last month, the Government Accountability Office said in a report that although the services can now fully track incoming appropriations, they still cannot demonstrate their funds are being spent as they should.

The effort to clean up its financial ledgers comes at a critical time for the Pentagon, which is facing budget cuts as America tries to address its debt crisis. The agreement between President Obama and Congress over lowering the nation's debt ceiling includes at least $350 billion in defense budget cuts.

CPI reports that, as it stands now, the Pentagon's accounting practices make it nearly impossible to accurately point out duplications and unnecessary spending while they adjust to their new financial reality.

There is also an even more urgent need for this cleanup than pleasing the accountants and politicians. The aforementioned GAO report stated last month: "DOD financial management has been on GAO's high-risk list since 1995 and, despite several reform initiatives, remains on the list today. Pervasive deficiencies in financial management processes, systems, and controls, and the resulting lack of data reliability, continue to impair management's ability to assess the resources needed for DOD operations."

[oldman67]

Just when most Mmakes perfect sense to me that since the Pentagon waste so much money why not give them more. Seems like the right thing to do. It is no wonder this country is in such sad shape with so many dumbed down people in America. The government has to be grateful that this is a nation of sheepe.

[fedup12]

"Report: Pentagon's accounting is a hot mess"

No S__t sherlock.

But anything the military wants is OK with the GOP. Even though we may be throwing gozillions away in a HUGE black hole. Never to be seen or heard from again.

[scabbard2]

So at this point, the congress of the United States has bankrupted our country, and can't account for the selective authorized spending of tax money. And the Super Committee, comprised of members of congress, is charged with finding a solution to the massive deficit created by congress, spending money that cannot be accounted for. A prime time address, with an explanation and a plan, carried on all networks is in order. I would like to hear George W. Bush explain the mechanics of how we got here and how we are going to get out.

[boehhher]

I swear they need to ban this 'hot mess' BS. It's just getting ridiculous. Can the media just use English instead of this trendy garbage?

[rightbehind]

Too many private contractors sucking on the cash cow teat. They're an insult to our troops.

[Anotheryahoo]

Thats one major problem, how many millions did Bush & Cheney just loose in Iraq? the other are black projects, they are consuming billions with no over sight whatsoever. untouchable.

[tsigili]

It seems, when it comes to oversight, the Obama Administration has been totally absent from their responsibilities. Just as they were, in seeing that all that stimulus money, was wisely used.

[wxwizard1]

Is this really a fair statement? After all article says the "Pentagon's accounting has never been reliable". And I'm pretty sure the Pentagon has been around long before Obama became president.

If you want to dump on Obama, fine, but at least do so with a topic that has more credibility to it. Doing otherwise just reduces your credibility.

[rightbehind]

LOL! More than 2 billion dollars disappeared off the back of a flatbed truck during the bushco term and nobody said a word investigating that..