No. of Recommendations: 11
First of thanks for the clear articulation opposing funding finding its way to place it shouldn't. Many here only lament the data collection process, avoiding discussion of the waste and absurdity of some of things uncovered. So I applaud you for acknowledging there is a real problem here.
The United States budget in fiscal year 2024 was $6.75 trillion dollars. Does ANYONE think there isn’t waste or even fraud going on within a budget that large? A system that large will ALWAYS have some waste, and yes, even fraud. You should start by thinking like our Founding Fathers. What is the very first sentence they wrote in the Constitution? "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,………. Not a perfect Union but a more perfect Union. We imperfect humans are incapable of creating perfect, except for maybe Edson Lopes playing Bach on classical guitar. That’s as close to perfection as there is.
The whole idea of financial auditing is to create a more perfect financial system because we know there is no perfect financial system. I have audited both for-profit companies and non-profit organizations both large and small. They all have imperfections. Every single one of them. I have discovered fraud in both for-profits and non-profits, but the solution was never to break the system and start over. It was to make sure the perpetrators were held accountable (criminally charged) and to fix the internal controls weaknesses that the perpetrators used to take advantage of the system. Interestingly, it’s more difficult to put internal controls in place in a small company than in a large organization because small company staff have to do multiple tasks that tend to overlap basic internal controls.
So is there a real problem here? Finding one item in a billion dollar entity does not necessarily indicate there is a problem. But problems found should always be corrected.
The DOGE effort would benefit from more resources and if some of those resources come in the form of professional auditors then that would be great. But if they are coming with a "Step aside Sonny, the pros are here now" attitude and try to take over policy, then no.
I remember the first day of my college audit class. The teacher, an ex-Big 8 (yes, I’m that old) auditor, said you may forget some things I teach you, but never forget these two:
1) An auditor must be independent in fact as well as appearance
2) One of the 5 sections of the CPA exam is on law. Don’t let it go to your head. If you ever come across any legal issue, hire a god damn lawyer.
Musk companies have received billions in U.S. tax dollars. THAT is as big of an example of lack of independence as there is. Period. Full stop. Musk looking for waste or fraud in our government is the biggest red flag 5-alarm fire alert there is. And don’t get me started on having access to financial systems!!!
Another red flag? Firing 17 IGs who, along with their staff, were tasked with finding waste and fraud.
Again, Musk is not looking for waste or fraud, he’s looking to break the whole system which will have major financial repercussions throughout our country, including people unnecessary dying. Yes, it’s that serious.
When a check is written to entities such as the Central American Gender Assessment Consultant Service or the Women in Forests Carbon Initiative Mentorship Program, we don't need a professional auditor to certify what common sense already tells us.
Let me be kind here, Musk has a habit of making things up. Do these really exist? If so, were the costs material (is Musk chasing pennies instead of dollars)? Has Musk sat down with the person in charge of the program to understand exactly why they spent the money on that? Musk has as much common sense as his boss; None.
