posted on May, 15 2004 @ 08:13 AM
There are 'significant' errors in NASA's financial statements. As NASA sets course for the moon and Mars, the space agency's finances are being
reported to be in serious disarray. There were hundreds of millions of dollars of "unreconciled" funds and a $2 billion difference between what NASA
said it had and what was actually in its accounts, which are held by the Treasury Department, accounting firm 'PriceWaterhouseCoopers' said in its
report.
Source
Its former auditor says there are significant errors in its last financial statements and inadequate documentation for $US565 billion posted to its
accounts.
NASA's chief for internal financial management says the problem stems from a rough transition from 10 different internal accounting programs to a new
integrated one.
However, audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers notes basic accounting errors and a breakdown in NASA's financial controls.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and NASA parted ways earlier this year, according to the space agency's inspector general, Robert Cobb.
PricewaterhouseCoopers declined to comment, but a source familiar with the situation says the audit firm opted out of the contract because it was
unhappy with the relationship.
In a scathing report on NASA's September 30, 2003, financial statement, the audit firm accuses the space agency of one of the cardinal sins of the
accounting world: failing to record its own costs properly.
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[Edited on 15-5-2004 by Zion Mainframe]