12.21.2004
GAO Again Finds Fault With the Federal Books (WashingtonPost.com)
Auditors Say That Government's Records Are So Inadequate They Cannot Be Evaluated, but Bush Official Cites Progress
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004; Page A23
The U.S. government's financial record-keeping is so inadequate that congressional auditors said last week that they could not determine whether the federal books meet generally accepted accounting principles.
It was the eighth fiscal year in a row that the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, was unable to provide a definitive opinion on the quality of the federal government's consolidated financial statements.
"Proper accounting and financial reporting practices are essential in the public sector," Comptroller General David M. Walker wrote in a Dec. 14 cover letter to his agency's audit report on consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2003 and 2004. "The U.S. government is the largest, most diverse, most complex, and arguably the most important entity on earth today. . . . Sound decisions on the current results and future direction of vital federal programs and policies are made more difficult without timely, reliable and useful financial and performance information."
(More ... GAO Again Finds Fault With the Federal Books (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 19:55
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004; Page A23
The U.S. government's financial record-keeping is so inadequate that congressional auditors said last week that they could not determine whether the federal books meet generally accepted accounting principles.
It was the eighth fiscal year in a row that the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, was unable to provide a definitive opinion on the quality of the federal government's consolidated financial statements.
"Proper accounting and financial reporting practices are essential in the public sector," Comptroller General David M. Walker wrote in a Dec. 14 cover letter to his agency's audit report on consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2003 and 2004. "The U.S. government is the largest, most diverse, most complex, and arguably the most important entity on earth today. . . . Sound decisions on the current results and future direction of vital federal programs and policies are made more difficult without timely, reliable and useful financial and performance information."
(More ... GAO Again Finds Fault With the Federal Books (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 19:55
