We’ve been seeing accounting scandals in the corporate world from the likes of Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom, etc. And surely we’ll continue to see more from other businesses. But all these pale in comparison to the the biggest accounting scandal in the world, the US government.
A memorandum of February 15, 2001, signed by David K. Steensma, deputy assistant inspector general for auditing, wrote, “We identified $1.1 trillion in department-level accounting entries to financial data used to prepare DoD component financial statements that were not supported by adequate audit trails or by sufficient evidence to determine their validity. In addition, we also identified $107 billion in department-level accounting entries to financial data used to prepare DoD component financial statements that were improper because the entries were illogical or did not follow accounting principles.”
And this is just one department! And never mind the Social Security fiasco.
So, Mr Congressman, before you go about “fixing” all of corporate America’s problems, please fix the government’s problems.
Links:
The Government Needs to Get Its
Own Accounting House in Order – Independent
What About Government Accountability? – Ron Paul
It Doesn’t Add Up – NRO
Financial Report of the US Government – Treasury Dept
Real Accounting Fraud – Mises
Trust Fund & Deficit Report – Grandfather Economic Report
Social Security Fraud – FFF