Senators Hail the Department of Homeland Security for Becoming Ready for its First Full Financial Audit

Statement

Today, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) hailed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for its achievement of becoming audit-ready this year, which means the agency will be able to conduct a financial audit for the first time since its establishment in 2002. In September o f 2011, Sens. Carper and Brown offered an amendment to the Homeland Security Authorization Act, the DHS Audit Requirement Target (DART) Act, which would require the DHS to obtain and pass full audits for its financial statements. The Senators also introduced a free-standing bill last year with the same language. The Department of Defense (DOD) remains the only federal agency that is unable to conduct an audit.

"An agency's ability to keep track of its finances is a key ingredient for curbing waste and fraud," said Sen. Carper. "With a lot of hard work and the attention of its leadership, the Department of Homeland Security now has accounting and financial statements in good enough order to conduct a full financial audit, a first for the Department. I am encouraged by the remarkable progress that the agency has made -- accomplishing its goal to be audit-ready two years early. I hope the agency's momentum continues as it moves to the next critical step of passing an audit. Furthermore, I hope the Department of Defense, which still has yet to achieve this same goal, follows the Department of Homeland Security's examples and makes progress on getting its books together. As we work to trim budgets and reduce deficits, agencies across the federal government must improve their financial management practices to avoid squandering precious taxpayer resources and see where they can do more with less. We will also continue to urge the Department of Defense to follow suit."

"I am encouraged that following legislative action, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finally made itself accountable to the taxpayers by being able to conduct a full financial audit," said Sen. Brown. "I will continue to ensure that all federal agencies' financial statements are auditable so that we can pursue vigorous oversight to prevent waste and fraud of hard-earned taxpayer dollars."

"Before coming to the Senate, I spent 31 years running a successful manufacturing company. I know the value of a complete audit of a company's operations," said Sen. Johnson. "That's even more true when you're talking about a federal agency that has never had a complete audit. I'm gratified that the Department of Homeland Security is now 'audit ready,' and I look forward to getting a better understanding of the department's operations, so Congress can act to reduce waste and increase efficiency."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has placed DHS financial management on its "high risk" list for waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement for the past nine years. Moreover, the DHS has never been able to conduct a department-wide audit despite the clear requirement to do so by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.

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