Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Amphabian t1_jc3yyn4 wrote

Reply to comment by illiter-it in U.S. government agencies may have been double billed for projects in Wuhan, China, records indicate; probe launched by Jamalginsbergback

I'm an accountant with 8 years experience, 4 of those working for the Department of Transportation; double billing happens all the fuckin time and is easily reconciled. I wish we'd do a thorough audit of the Department of Defense, I'd LOVE to see what those books look like lol

41

thisusedyet t1_jc48vxl wrote

Always loved the bit in Independence Day where they explain that’s how they fund Area 51

11

theknyte t1_jc4hzaj wrote

"You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?"

19

scotchdouble t1_jc51vzq wrote

I like John Hurt in Contact: “why build one when you can have two at twice the price? Only, this one can be kept secret.”

15

Mrsparkles7100 t1_jc5ww6g wrote

You talking about the Pentagon Audits? First one was in 2018 I believe of course it failed.

My favourite in the buildup to its audit was this

"The Army found 39 Black Hawk helicopters that had not been properly recorded in its property system.

"The Air Force identified 478 buildings and structures at 12 installations that were not in its real property system,"

First audit in 2017/18. Believe they expect to fully pass a clean audit in 2028.

For fun look into Air America CIAs covert air force, had Air America Inc and all these smaller companies beneath it. How they made numerous air line companies to support their covert actions. Also these same companies took on normal government transportation contracts. Was an extra source of income that was separate from their own CIA budget.

10

lameth t1_jcajkxc wrote

As someone who has been responsible for property disposition (though much, much lower in cost) within the Army, I can entirely see how this happened.

Let's say you report something as broken. For whatever reason, it cannot be repaired. You are keeping it on your books until you get your replacement. The replacement comes in, and you now have the task of turning the old one in to be destroyed/decommissioned. You assume (or are told) the new one has been already added to the property book. However, the new one hasn't. For a while, the old one is retained on the property book until the new one is in the system. Whenever you do your property count (by serial number), it is noted the new one is the replacement for the old one, with the turn-in paperwork for the old one maintained as proof.

Suddenly the old one is off the books, new one isn't on it. Huh, that's odd... So you go to the records office and get the new serial number added to the system. You're done, right? Not necessarily. Just because locally it is fixed, doesn't mean it is in the centralized database.

Accountability of high value items is a pain, and in my case it was left to someone that had 2 years in the army and took a 40-hour class in security and record keeping.

3