2018: The Year of the DoD Audit

It’s finally here: 2018. That means many of different things to many different people and for the Department of Defense (DoD), that means it’s time for the full financial audit. The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, is a U.S. law intended to improve the government's financial management practices. Since then, DoD has worked tirelessly to try to refine their business processes, internal controls, and accountability to support its financial statements.

DoD has certainly spent a lot of time, money, and effort preparing for the full financial audit. In fact, the estimates are in the hundreds of millions of dollars for 2018 alone. But, DoD Comptroller and CFO, David Norquist believes it is money well spent. Federal News Radio provided an excerpt from Mr. Norquist stating, “Any number that ends in ‘million’ is a large number, but on the scale of the enterprise, that type of money for accountability is money well spent,” he said. “I don’t think operating in ignorance of the problem is the right way forward. I fully support the committee and the legislative direction. We need to conduct the audit.”

Will the DoD be ready? It’s a tough question to answer, especially given the scale of testing that is about to take place Defense-wide this year. However, financial management companies like St. Michael’s have been supporting DoD in their efforts towards auditability since our founding 11 years ago. It’s certainly going to be a long road to an unmodified, or “clean” opinion. But, with the audit being a high-visibility endeavor and senior leadership realizing the value of passing an audit, we believe DoD will continue to make strides in the right direction.

For a summary of the audit readiness services we provide, please be sure to visit our Audit Readiness page.