au·dit/ˈôdət/ noun — An official inspection of an individual's or organization's accounts, typically by an independent body.
David L. Norquist, the Defense Department's comptroller, talks about why the DOD audit is important. This audit is the largest in the department’s history.
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Just like a personal or business audit, the Defense Department audit accounted for every piece of property — real estate, military equipment, etc. — as well as all of the DOD’s financial commitments.
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The yearlong audit of the Defense Department is the largest audit ever, covering $2.7 trillion in assets and $2.6 trillion in liabilities.
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This year’s defense budget is $716 billion — a significant investment by taxpayers. When the president promised to rebuild the U.S. military, he made a commitment to audit DOD to help stretch and maximize every dollar spent.
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To be efficient on the battlefield, we have to be efficient with our money. Transparency, accountability and business process reform are some of the benefits military leaders and taxpayers will see from the results of this audit.
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Taxpayers deserve the same level of confidence as a shareholder in a publicly traded company. Up until now, a clear and accurate accounting of DOD’s finances didn’t exist.