The U.S. Government Accountability Office said it could not render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other limitations.
“Even though significant progress has been made since the enactment of key financial management reforms in the 1990s, our report on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statement illustrates that much work remains to be done to improve federal financial management,” Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said in a statement. “Shortcomings in three areas again prevented us from expressing an opinion on the accrual-based financial statements.”
The main obstacles to a GAO opinion were: (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense that made its financial statements unauditable, (2) the federal government’s inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernmental activity and balances between federal agencies, and (3) the federal government’s ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements. The full article and link to the Report is provided below.
http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/GAO-Sees-Problems-Government-Financial-Management-56749-1.htmlhttp://www.gao.gov/financial/fy2010financialreport.htmlAs respected commenter Jesse Hughes notes in the commentary to the article this a long running story in which material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work have prevented the GAO providing an opinion on the Federal Government's accrual based financial statements.
