Examination of success factors in getting and sustaining clean audit opinions within DoD components

Abstract

Over the last fifteen years, beginning with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Federal government and specifically, the Department of Defense have been in an ambitious financial reform effort. However, the Government Accountability Office, the efficiency, economy and effectiveness experts who report to the U.S. Congress continue to criticize the DoD's efforts at reform. This paper applies a specific methodology to determine if success factors, i.e. factors that substantially contribute to achieving a "clean" audit opinion within governmental organizations, exist within DoD compoents. This thesis seeks to answer two questions: whather DoD agencies with clean, disclaimed or qualified audit opinions display common success factors, found in prior research, that contribute to clean audit opinions and whether the DoD , as a whole, exhibits those success factors as well. The benefits of this study include contributing to DoD's effort to achieve clean audit opinions and the benefits contained therein. Moreover, this paper seeks to extend the examination of DoD components that are required to submit independent, audited financial statements. Finally, this paper provides specific recommendations based upon common strategies of unqualified-audit DoD agencies to those DoD components that have yet to obtain a clean audit opinion.