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DOGE is not a group of auditors. If they had any use for auditors they wouldn't have eliminated all the Offices of Inspectors General where all the auditors rou

DOGE is not a group of auditors. If they had any use for auditors they wouldn't have eliminated all the Offices of Inspectors General where all the auditors routinely work to identify fraud, waste, and abuse of federal monies and programs. OIGs have the responsibility to audit their own agency's operations and results and to make changes to processes in their agencies that improve results. They also have responsibility to audit any individual or entity at any level that receives benefits from their agency programs to insure compliance and root out fraud, waste and abuse. They are the watchdogs that keep things honest and make sure the programs are working according to congressionally mandated guidelines. DOGE is complicit in fraud. They were never intended to root out corruption or fraud. They are a political tool of a corrupt administration. Once their usefulness has passed they will be tossed aside with few exceptions (those most loyal to the criminals) and offered as defendants in future prosecutions so that those who engineered this massive fraud can escape accountability using them as fall guys.

abhinai 2y ago
We don’t have to make this political.
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  I think you responded to the wrong post in the thread if you are concerned about someone making something political. EDIT: You may be able to read my other post on this thread. It was flagged almost immediately, probably by someone whose feelings were hurt. Maybe their self-confidence suffered, I don't know. The truth can be like that sometimes, really challenging everything you thought you knew. I come into the conversation from the standpoint of someone whose spouse is an auditor for an OIG in a federal government agency. Having spent several decades with an inside view, I have an understanding of how things work when they are done legally.
  - cudgy 2y ago
    Existing career auditors have been ineffective for whatever reasons. New people taking a look at things seems reasonable. Whether DOGE is part of the answer remains to be seen.
    - doodlebugging 2y ago
      Existing career auditors are not the problem. The problem is that changes in department audit priorities occur whenever a new department head comes aboard. That person, in many cases especially over the last couple decades, has no prior exposure to department programs, experience in that domain, and only received the appointment as a payback for their support of a candidate who ended up in a position to dole out perks to supporters. Check a few bios for department head appointees to any federal agency over the last few decades. These people come aboard with skillsets in different domains and need to be brought up to speed by the people that they are expected to lead in all the agency programs, directives, initiatives, etc and the rules governing each. They also are beholden to the one who appointed them and expected to prioritize the agency mission based on that benefactor's objectives for their own administration. Add to that the inevitable desire to put a personal stamp on an agency while you build your resume that you hope will place you in a situation where you can run successfully for an elected office now that you have built some name recognition. Your party needs you, blah, blah, blah. Career auditors know all the rules, regulations, congressional mandates and guidelines and if they are ineffective it is only because they are held back by those above them who have a different, variable agenda. If career auditors had full say over which audits to conduct, and if there was no one immune to the consequences of an audit, then we would not have the levels of fraud that are so easily documented and so rarely prosecuted. These people love their jobs and they take it all seriously. The only question DOGE is part of the answer to will end up being the question about who took the fall for all the criminality conjured by the current administration as they assisted in looting federal resources. EDIT: Remember that in order to become an auditor you need to reach a certain educational level, for example you need to pass the CPA exam and then hit all your training targets during the year to maintain that CPA status. They likely get training and certs as a CIA, Certified Internal Auditor. They may also be a CFE, Certified Fraud Examiner which also is a professional position requiring training and recertification. They also have to have ethics training to maintain their certifications. From current news reports, it sounds like DOGE got ethnics training which clearly is not the same thing.
- abenga 2y ago
  You are discussing government waste. Hard to imagine anything more political.

abhinai 2y ago

We don’t have to make this political.

doodlebugging 2y ago
I think you responded to the wrong post in the thread if you are concerned about someone making something political. EDIT: You may be able to read my other post on this thread. It was flagged almost immediately, probably by someone whose feelings were hurt. Maybe their self-confidence suffered, I don't know. The truth can be like that sometimes, really challenging everything you thought you knew. I come into the conversation from the standpoint of someone whose spouse is an auditor for an OIG in a federal government agency. Having spent several decades with an inside view, I have an understanding of how things work when they are done legally.
- cudgy 2y ago
  Existing career auditors have been ineffective for whatever reasons. New people taking a look at things seems reasonable. Whether DOGE is part of the answer remains to be seen.
  - doodlebugging 2y ago
    Existing career auditors are not the problem. The problem is that changes in department audit priorities occur whenever a new department head comes aboard. That person, in many cases especially over the last couple decades, has no prior exposure to department programs, experience in that domain, and only received the appointment as a payback for their support of a candidate who ended up in a position to dole out perks to supporters. Check a few bios for department head appointees to any federal agency over the last few decades. These people come aboard with skillsets in different domains and need to be brought up to speed by the people that they are expected to lead in all the agency programs, directives, initiatives, etc and the rules governing each. They also are beholden to the one who appointed them and expected to prioritize the agency mission based on that benefactor's objectives for their own administration. Add to that the inevitable desire to put a personal stamp on an agency while you build your resume that you hope will place you in a situation where you can run successfully for an elected office now that you have built some name recognition. Your party needs you, blah, blah, blah. Career auditors know all the rules, regulations, congressional mandates and guidelines and if they are ineffective it is only because they are held back by those above them who have a different, variable agenda. If career auditors had full say over which audits to conduct, and if there was no one immune to the consequences of an audit, then we would not have the levels of fraud that are so easily documented and so rarely prosecuted. These people love their jobs and they take it all seriously. The only question DOGE is part of the answer to will end up being the question about who took the fall for all the criminality conjured by the current administration as they assisted in looting federal resources. EDIT: Remember that in order to become an auditor you need to reach a certain educational level, for example you need to pass the CPA exam and then hit all your training targets during the year to maintain that CPA status. They likely get training and certs as a CIA, Certified Internal Auditor. They may also be a CFE, Certified Fraud Examiner which also is a professional position requiring training and recertification. They also have to have ethics training to maintain their certifications. From current news reports, it sounds like DOGE got ethnics training which clearly is not the same thing.
abenga 2y ago
You are discussing government waste. Hard to imagine anything more political.