The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has failed its seventh consecutive financial audit.

Despite commanding an $824 billion 2024 budget — funded entirely by hardworking American taxpayers — the Pentagon remains unable to account for vast sums of money.

The Pentagon began its first-ever agency-wide financial audit in 2017.  This marked the beginning of a process that had been sought, promised, and delayed for years.

?Since undertaking this initial audit, the Pentagon has consistently failed to pass its subsequent audits, the first of which failed in 2018?.

Out of the 28 entities audited this year, only 9 received clean opinions, while 15 received disclaimers — meaning they were so disorganized that auditors couldn't even determine the accuracy of their records.

One received a qualified opinion, meaning the financial statements were mostly accurate but contained certain issues or exceptions that were not fully compliant with standards.

According to the DoD:

"Teams of independent public accountants and the DoD Office of Inspector General closely examined the financial statements of the Department and its reporting entities. Of the 28 reporting entities undergoing standalone financial statement audits, 9 received an unmodified audit opinion, 1 received a qualified opinion, 15 received disclaimers, and 3 opinions remain pending.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) achieved an unmodified audit opinion in only its second year under standalone audit. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 U.S. Marine Corps' unmodified opinion and the FY 2024 DTRA unmodified opinion are the first new financial statement opinions since FY 2020.

The Department is firmly committed and is taking actions to achieve an unmodified audit opinion on its financial statements by December 31, 2028, as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024."

Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord downplayed the audit failure, claiming progress and rejecting the term "failure" altogether.