[–] 15076276? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I was put in charge of my Battalion's $6 million budget back in 2001. I went though it line by line and sent the lines that pertained to each company or section and told them point blank get back to me with any additions or problems you have with the amounts I entered by a certain date or this will be the end product no exceptions.
In the past, the Warrant Officer before me just told each company/section to tell her what they needed for their next year's budget - who the heck knows that off the top of their head? She ended up saying if you're not sure just add 10% to your last year's total? I was like 10%? The inflation rate is only 3%. That right there ladies and gentlemen is one of the big reasons there is waste in the government plus if you don't spend all your funds by the end of the Fiscal Year you'll lose those funds the next year. Meaning if your budget was say $500,000 but you only spent $400,000 then your next year's budget won't go past $400,000 (adding in a little for inflation).
Anyway back to me running my Battalion's Budget - I ended up cutting the prior year's budget by $600,000 no one expected that to happen. In fact that's really unheard of. Unfortunately, there weren't too many like me who spent the taxpayer's money as if it was their own (not wanting to waste it).
Like I expected very few got back to me. I actually did some research on how much things cost and provided them with realistic costs.
[–] 15070076? 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago (edited ago)
The DoD is the most audited agency of the Federal Government. The GAO audits them all the time. In 35 year have never seen a 'positive' audit because 99.9% of all the audits are 'gotcha' audit at the request of various senators and congressmen.
Just an observation from a GAO auditor I knew... one reason the DoD is audited so often is that it is the only federal agency that keeps auditable records.