Eu accounts clean - MOD misplaces 6.3 Billion

[jake-the-peg]

Now that the EU accounts have a clean bill of health

http://europa.eu/rapi...?reference=IP/10/1480
(can't find the story in the Express for some reason)

And the MOD has lost track of a small fortune
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14018288

Should we recruit some of the Brussels bureacrats to run the MOD?

[Booldawg]

that reminds me. I must take back daughter cadet equipment now she's left. Its not like they've asked for it!

[jno]

goodness, all those europhobes complaining about EU accounts being not good enough for the auditors and yet this is the third year in a row they'e been approved.

I was surprised about the MoD, though. Are they somehow like the police, entitled to anything they want and no questions asked?

[VHG]

>>>Should we recruit some of the Brussels bureacrats

Do you mean the same EU bureacrats that run the EU where the auditors have refused to sign off the accounts for 16 years running?

http://www.dailymail....xteenth-year-row.html

[jno]

VHG, how does that tally with jake's first link?

[VHG]

Note that the Europa report linked to in the original post above does say:

"As for payments, the Commission managed for the first time to bring down the overall error rate for EU spending below 5%".

Note this is 5% of BILIONS of pounds, so it is not exactly anything to be proud of.

[jno]

I agree, but I'm asking whether the accounts have been signed off for the last three years or not? These reports seem to be in direct conflict. I would naturally tend to suspect the Mail of lying; but feel free to convince me it's not.

Also, any comments on the MoD misplacing billions?

[jake-the-peg]

Sounds like a way better job than the MOD is doing and they're just one department of one country!

If I were an EU accountant I think I might well be sending my CV to the MOD!

[VHG]

The Europa report above does seem to indicate that the auditors have gien the accounts a "clean bill of health" but still refused to sign them off.

See here.

http://www.theparliam...clean-bill-of-health/

[jno]

"true and fair" but not signed off? That seems a bizarre fudge, but I think you're right, VHG.

[VHG]

>>Also, any comments on the MoD misplacing billions?

The problem is the MOD probably have millions of items stored away in warehouses all over the world.

As things get moved around from warehouse to warehouse or country to country it is probably too easy to put a load of boxes in the corner of a warehouse and then "forget" they are there (or not update paperwork).

So many of the "lost" items might actually be in their possession, they just dont know WHERE.

I remember reading years ago about a large railway company in the USA who decided to computerise their system and put all their trains and rolling stock in a computer database.

As they went round and did a "stock check" they found trains and carridges in sidings all over the USA that they had totally forgotten about. Some had been there years.

I guess the same can happen with the MOD.

Mind you the MOD do seem very inefficient and I am sure a lot of stuff finds it way out the "back" of warhouses and is sold to all sorts of people.

[jake-the-peg]

The thing is that trying to get any national or international size organisation "signed off" by accountants is a huge attempt.

The UK government wouldn't even try

For all the reasons that VHG calls out and more.

What is amusing is the efforts in his post to excuse the accounting issues at the MOD he'd never offer in defense of the EU!

In the final analysis the EU's accounts have been held to be "True and Fair" for 3 years.

So before we have anymore rubbish abbout "The corrupt EU not getting it's accounts signed off" - let's see the MOD meeting the "true and fair" hurdle first!

A level playing field doesn't seem to be too much to ask does it?

[R1Geezer]

is this tha same EU accounts that have not been signed off for somthing like 18 years or is it just a set that suits your purposes in this case?

[Quizmonster]

As Sergeant Bilko once said, "Military equipment is never stolen; it just gets moved around!" Thus, all the stuff they can't quite lay their hands on has not disappeared, it has simply gone elsewhere.
I wonder, for example, how many more helicopters are now in service in Afghanistan than there were when the Tories in opposition were whining about the disgrace of how few there were.

[Gromit]

If £6.3billion of equipment and assets are 'missing' you have to asked whether it was ever needed in the first place. If the equipment is lost, and we are managing without it, then the original spend seems hard to justify.

MoD precurement has been a shambles for 3 decades. Things got worse under the last Government because bad management hid the overspending and secrecy hid the scandal of £millions wasted on equipment that didn't work.

I hope the Coalition Government do sort out the MoD. Unfortunately Cameron seems to be doing a Blair and getting us involved in conflicts that do not concern us. The Libyan adventure will cost £1billion before the end of the year for what benefit to our country.

The EU finally seems to be getting its accounting in order which is a good thing. Part of its problems is its scale and the number of languages involved.

[youngmafbog]

You forgot the vast corruption Gromit.

Still not signed off though.

[Gromit]

youngmafbog

I am sure there are hundreds of scams, but not vast corruption. Having worked on a few EU projects, the bureaucracy involved to get paid is a job in itself.
The accountants could not proclaim the accounts "true and fair" if there was vast corruption..