The US Department of Defense failed the audit for the sixth year in a row – Kommersant

The US Department of Defense failed an independent audit this year. This is happening for the sixth year in a row, reports Defense News with reference to Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord. The publication believes that decentralization and too large a volume of assets of the Ministry of Defense led to this result.

According to Defense Now, the US Department of Defense has $3.8 trillion in assets with $4 trillion in liabilities. The assets are located in all US states and more than 4.5 thousand facilities around the world, the publication claims. According to Mr. McCord, half of the Pentagon’s assets were found not to meet audit standards.

Defense News recalled that in 2022, out of 30 audits at the Pentagon, 18 reported unsatisfactory results, 7 recognized the assets as “clean”, 1 as “qualified” (one step below “clean”), and 3 audits are still ongoing.

Mr. McCord said that the remaining US reserves that can still be used for military assistance to Ukraine amount to $5 billion. Last week, the Pentagon press service reported that the volume of such reserves is $1 billion.

Defense News claims that the discrepancy in numbers was due to an accounting error made by the Pentagon. According to the publication, Defense Ministry officials assessed assistance to Ukraine without taking into account the influence of the temporary factor.