DOD's lack of audit

The Pentagon's ongoing financial accounting issues in part prevented the Government Accountability Office from rendering an opinion on the federal government's FY-16 consolidated financial statements, according to a Jan. 12 statement from the congressional watchdog.

The inability to produce an opinion was "due to deficiencies that have plagued prior financial statements -- persistent financial management problems at the Department of Defense (DOD), the government's inability to account for and reconcile certain transactions, an ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements, and significant uncertainties," according to the statement.

The Pentagon is required to have all DOD financial statements audit ready by Sept. 30, 2017. While DOD intends to begin full financial statement audits in fiscal year 2018, defense officials do not expect to see positive opinions emerge for several years, according to the newest biannual Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Plan status report released in November.

DOD was one of the few executive agencies not to receive a clean FY-16 opinion.

"Given the federal government's mounting fiscal challenges, it's essential that it be able to accurately account for its costs, outlays and assets," U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said in the statement. "But GAO's latest audit report on the consolidated financial statements underscores how much more has to be done to provide policymakers with reliable financial and performance data -- information that is crucial for the difficult spending decisions that lie ahead."

President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to use money found by audits of DOD financial statements to help build up the military. Trump's campaign website notes that he intends to pay for the "necessary rebuilding of our national defense by conducting a full audit of the Pentagon, eliminating incorrect payments, reducing duplicative bureaucracy, collecting unpaid taxes, and ending unwanted and unauthorized federal programs."

However, defense analysts and experts have expressed skepticism, noting that uncovering billions of dollars in waste is not the point or likely outcome of an audit.