WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) delivered opening remarks at today’s hearing on “DOW Financial Management: Examining Progress and New Audit Approaches.” In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Sessions emphasized the need for the Department of War to be financially transparent and accountable, since the agency is responsible for nearly half of the federal government’s discretionary spending. He also highlighted DOW’s efforts to implement a new audit approach aimed at achieving a clean financial audit opinion by December 2028.
Welcome to today’s hearing on updates on the Department of War’s progress towards achieving a clean audit opinion and their new audit approach.
As you know, DOW is statutorily mandated to achieve a clean audit opinion by December 31, 2028.
In September of 2024, we developed a scorecard to track DOW’s progress towards achieving a clean audit opinion.
With each iteration of the scorecard, the results remained the same—DOW was making some progress but not enough to move the needle to meet the statutory goal.
Progress was made but not enough to ensure full financial transparency and accountability.
Financial transparency and accountability are core principles of good government.
DOW is responsible for nearly half of the federal government’s discretionary spending so it’s especially important that they demonstrate financial transparency and accountability.
With that said, the audit isn’t just a financial exercise.
There are real, positive, operational impacts that can be realized once sound financial management practices are in place.
Yesterday in my meetings with witnesses prior to the hearing, I was told that an audit was knowing what you have, where you have it and what condition it’s in.
This translates to ensuring that you have the information necessary for decisionmakers responsible for protecting our nation.
Last year we heard from the Marine Corps about how they achieved their success.
We commended them for their progress but raised concerns about the sustainability of the approach.
Achieving a clean audit opinion for a third time demonstrates that though this approach is time and resource intensive, it’s sustainable—at least for now—if it is funded.
In March 2026, DOW unveiled a new refined audit approach aimed at achieving a clean opinion by December 2028.
This approach will use a similar hands-on audit strategy that proved successful for the Marine Corps.
I was pleased to see leadership commitment setting the tone at the top that achieving a clean audit opinion is important.
This shows that the Department is taking this seriously, and in no small part due to our oversight efforts.
I’m encouraged by this approach but still have questions about how sustainable this approach is for the entire Department and how the Department will prioritize high risk areas that need attention
The goal shouldn’t be to just achieve a clean audit by December 2028.
It should be to implement financial management practices that allow the Department to meet this goal, and continue to meet this goal year after year.
Correcting balance sheets can net some positives but I’d like to hear more about how the Department will address the most critical financial management weaknesses that will ultimately better position it to be well-informed of what is needed on a tactical and strategic level.
I’m looking forward to a robust discussion today and want the witnesses to know that not only do we want to hear about the audit approach, we are also interested in discussions about what parts of the audit just don’t make sense.
This isn’t about moving the goal post; it’s about understanding if we’re assessing the right items to promote financial transparency and accountability and increasing quality information necessary for decision-making.
I want to thank Ranking Member Mfume for the continued bipartisan support on this issue.
