Accountability, Again

The Pentagon inspector general's office this week released a more-detailed response to a Senate report that called the Defense Department's accounting system "broken."

In its preliminary response released last week, the IG wrote that he was "refocusing" his office's audit priorities, InsideDefense.com reported on Monday:

Last week, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) released a report that "identified one all-important, central element that is adversely affecting every facet of the OIG audit program -- the DOD's broken accounting system."

"This dysfunctional system is driving the audit freight train," the report states. "The success or failure of an audit turns on the quality of financial data available for audit by competent examiners. Unfortunately, the quality of the financial data presented to OIG auditors by DOD during the period reviewed by the staff should probably be rated as poor to non-existent."

In a Sept. 10 letter to Grassley, DOD Inspector General Gordon Heddell promises to "carefully review" the report's recommendations.

"As you know, early last year as Acting Inspector General, I reached out to your office to share my vision for the future of the DOD Inspector General and welcomed an independent look at the focus and processes within Audit," Heddell's letter states. "The observations and recommendations in your report will be a valuable supplement to the efforts I have already initiated to reach my goal of providing timely, accurate, and relevant information to both the Congress and the Department."

In his more-detailed Sept. 13 letter to Grassley, Heddell writes that he has "directed the deputy inspector general for auditing and her staff to make concrete and specific proposals on how your report can be used to improve the time lines, focus and relevance of audit reports. Furthermore, I have directed that these proposals, to be completed no later than Oct. 15, 2010, are supplemented by a detailed plan listing specific initiatives to be implemented at the earliest possible date. The recommendations in your report will be an important tool in the transformation I have initiated since being confirmed as inspector general."