The Pentagon failed its annual audit for the sixth year in a row.
Department of Defense Comptroller Mike McCord announced the results to reporters on Wednesday as the department defended its continued failures as an ongoing process of cleaning up its books.
“We’re working on improving our process. While it wasn’t the results that we wanted, we certainly are learning each time an audit passes,” said Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.
She added, “And, you know, it’s a continuing, ongoing process that this building is assessing.”
The audit consisted of 29 sub-audits and examined approximately $4 trillion in assets and another $4 trillion in liabilities. The process cost approximately $187 million to conduct.
“Auditing the department’s $3.8 trillion in assets and $4 trillion in liabilities is a massive undertaking,” McCord said.
FAKE PENTAGON EXPLOSION IMAGE GOES VIRAL ON TWITTER, SPARKING FURTHER AI CONCERNS
He continued, “But the improvements and changes we are making every day as a result of these audits positively affect every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, guardian and DOD civilian.”
Audit investigations were carried out at approximately 700 sites by 1,600 auditors.
The Pentagon passed only 7 out of 29 sub-audits in 2023 — identical to last year’s final results.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Auditors found that half of the department’s claimed assets could not be accounted for.
The Pentagon began auditing itself in 2018 under former President Trump’s administration.