Financial failings

The government has failed the third annual audit of its financial statements, the General Accounting Office announced in March.

Comptroller General David Walker said that most agencies' financial systems aren't in good shape. As of March 31st, 13 of the 24 largest agencies have received clean

Walker applauded the Social Security Administration for its timeliness in completing its annual financial audit and congratulated the Energy Department for improving weaknesses in its financial statements. But the Defense Department was singled out as one of the worst examples of financial mismanagement in the federal government.

Still, agencies that received clean opinions on their audits aren't off the hook. Clean opinions can be misleading, Walker said, because "they do not guarantee that agencies have the financial systems needed to dependably produce reliable financial information."

The government's finances are still a tangled mess, with serious challenges remaining if they are to be straightened out in the future,Walker said. The federal government, he said, doesn't have accurate cost information, reliable data about loan programs, or reliable inventories that document its physical assets.

"I hope during my 15-year tenure I'll be able to express an unqualified opinion on the financial statements of the U.S. government," said Walker.