全球出差、盘点弹药！安永为某军队出具审计报告

2024年2月22日， 美国海军陆战队公布了2023财年年报，安永为其出具了无保留意见的审计报告 。如果是在其他行业，这可能是及其平常的一件事，但对海军陆战队来说，这是一件大事，也是所有军种中的第一件大事。

2017年，海军陆战队成为美国国防部内第一个接受全面财务审计的军种，这在当时意味着 要筛选4,300多个抽样项目和30,000多份文件。在2012年的有限审计中，对类似项目的核查包括一次阿富汗之行。

2023年度，审计师们前往全球70多个地点，查看数以千计的不动产资产；100多万件其他运营资产，如车辆备件、武器和通信系统以及2400多万发弹药。

负责资源的助理副司令Gregory Koval在接受Military.com采访时说:“除了审计人员必须查看这些资产并计算这些资产外，我们还必须有这些资产的文件。审计人员不仅仅关注数字、系统、数据，他们在如实评估我们手头的东西，我们在现场的东西，如果缺少什么，我们必须向他们提供信息，显示它所存放的地点信息。”

审计员在确定审计程序的类型和范围时考虑了重大缺陷。审计人员在整个2022财政年度和2023财政年度执行了实质性程序。 他们无法完全依赖USMC对财务交易的内部控制， 这意味着审计人员必须增加必要的测试量。为了获得充分的审计证据，审计员在编制财务报表时需要检查具体交易、账户余额和其他调整，以及实际清点军事装备、弹药和其他财产。

监察长Storch指出：“ 对美国海军陆战队为期两年的审计周期对于国防部来说是史无前例的。美国海军陆战队的工作人员、安永会计师事务所和国防部监察主任办公室的审计人员为完成审计工作做了大量的工作。我鼓励美国海军陆战队继续保持这一无保留意见的势头，并集中精力改进其内部控制，以弥补已发现的重大缺陷。这些努力对于美国海军陆战队提高审计效率、建立持续的财务报告和行动准备状态非常重要。 ”

虽然被出具了无保留意见审计报告，但是 安永也指出了美国海军陆战队财务报告内部控制方面的七个重大缺陷 ，总的来说，他们似乎完成了不可能的事情。

安永的审计报告如下：

原英文报道如下：

As you may have heard, the United States Marine Corps recently received an unmodified opinion from EY. In any other sector this might prompt a hearty “who cares?” but for the Marines it’s a huge deal, the first of its kind for any branch of the military. And for real this time (we’ll get to that in a minute).

As you can imagine, the two-year process was no easy feat. Wrote Military.com of prior attempts:

In 2017, the Marine Corps became the first military service within the Defense Department to undergo a full financial audit, which at the time meant sifting through more than 4,300 sample items and 30,000 documents. Verifying similar items in a 2012 limited audit included a trip to Afghanistan. Ultimately, the service failed to pass either previous attempt.

This time around it was no less daunting:

In 2023, it meant going to more than 70 sites worldwide to look at thousands of real property assets; more than a million other operating assets, such as vehicle spare parts and weapons and communications systems; and more than 24 million rounds of ammunition — sometimes within Army and Navy stockpiles where the Marine Corps had property stored.

The ammo was just one checkbox among assets of $46.3 billion. “We had to have documentation for that asset, in addition to the auditors having to view those assets and count those assets,” said Gregory Koval, the assistant deputy commandant for resources, to Military.com in an interview. “So, not just numbers, not just systems, not just data, but they were actually evaluating what we have on hand, what we have on site, and if something was not there, we had to provide them with information to show where it was.”

From the DoD OIG’s press release:

The auditors considered the material weaknesses in determining the type and extent of audit procedures performed. The auditors used a substantive-based testing approach throughout FY 2022 and FY 2023. A substantive-based approach means that the auditors had to increase the amount of testing necessary because they were unable to rely solely on USMC’s internal control over financial transactions. This included the auditors examining specific transactions, account balances, and other adjustments made while preparing financial statements, as well as physically counting military equipment, ammunition, and other property – all designed to result in adequate audit evidence.

Inspector General Storch noted, “The two-year audit cycle of the U.S. Marine Corps was unprecedented for the Department of Defense. The U.S. Marine Corps staff, EY, and DoD OIG auditors performed a tremendous amount of work to complete the audit. I encourage the U.S. Marine Corps to continue the momentum of this unmodified (clean) opinion and focus on improving its internal controls to remediate the identified material weaknesses. These efforts will be important for the U.S. Marine Corps to improve audit efficiency and establish sustained financial reporting and operational readiness.”

If this announcement sounds familiar, it’s because the Marines were the first military branch to “pass” an audit before. After a big celebration in 2014 — then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel famously told revelers at a Pentagon Hall of Heroes party “I know that it might seem a bit unusual to be in the Hall of Heroes to honor a bookkeeping accomplishment, but, damn, this is an accomplishment” — the opinion was rescinded and then promptly ragged on as just more piss poor work from Grant Thornton. Full story on that here:

This time the Marines contracted a real firm and here we are. Although the opinion is good, EY identified seven material weaknesses related to internal controls over financial reporting within the USMC so they have some homework to do. But overall it seems they’ve done the impossible. Impossible for the Pentagon anyway.

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