Yes, we need more auditors 

Career day in elementary school was a bit awkward. I was accustomed to blank stares from folks, kids and adults alike, when I responded to what my father did for a living. I could recite that he was “the Assistant Regional Audit Director for Health and Human Services.” For much of my childhood I had no idea what that title meant either.

I can recall my Dad trying to explain it to my sixth grade class. “I’m an auditor.” More blank stares.

Other parents had more relatable jobs. We, of course, living in Fayette County, had a Delta pilot. I’m pretty sure we had a fireman. My Mom was a nurse. Dad did his best to explain his role.

Adults always had an easier time mis-understanding what Dad did. “An auditor? With the Federal Government? I always file my taxes on time!”

No, he wasn’t “that” kind of auditor. He focused on government agencies, internally, for 22 years.

Dad switched his major to accounting when an injury cut his football career short. He went to work for the U.S. Government right out of college. 

In those days, those younger and single got sent on longer travel assignments. Dad got to spend about 6 months each in Alaska, then Hawaii, then Puerto Rico, with a significant amount of time traveling within the Pacific Northwest, auditing local Authorities receiving money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Alaska was his favorite.

By the time I came along, he was doing much shorter trips and only when necessary. I can recall him spending quite a bit of time going back and forth to Columbia South Carolina. He was the Government’s expert witness in a prosecution of someone who had been misappropriating funds. 

In later years, I recall a few stories about that trial and a couple of others. He was fully familiar with the role of someone who had to bring the receipts, literally, to show malfeasance.  

He was also well versed in the arts of defense attorneys who would try to obfuscate the issue and/or throw him off his game. He looked at that as a challenge just as much as he did when he had suited up to football. He understood the importance of game day.

Those he worked with were a close knit group. My middle name is from his boss who had become a father figure after his own dad had died. One of them was an “uncle”. I am honored to have known quite a few of them.  

I miss being taken to dinners when they got together to reminisce and tell old war stories. To a person, they were honorable. They defended the government’s money as if it were their own, because it was. They understood that stealing from the government was stealing from taxpayers – Stealing from us.

Dad loved his job until he didn’t. The last few years were challenging. 

Expectations and workloads increased. The tools to do the job became more scarce. Competence in those newly hired was lacking, but those folks got promoted just the same. All those factors and more increased stress levels. 

One of those in Dad’s inner circle had a breakdown. Others had severe medical issues. Dad ultimately decided instead of trying to hang in eight more years to reach retirement that life was too short. He spent the next decade owning a hardware store.

When Dad left the government’s employment in the early 1980’s, the public was still capable of being outraged over spending scandals. Those my age or older can remember news stories about $600 hammers and $7,000 coffee pots. The backlash was real, even if the cost accounting was just sloppy.

By the time I did a stint in a government contracting role about two decades ago, a procurement scandal involving tens of millions in documented fraud, waste, and abuse could barely get anyone’s attention. I know this, because I spent almost two years trying to escalate the problem within proper channels. It was viewed as just the cost of doing business.

A couple of budget cycles ago, one of the priorities was to give the IRS enough additional funds equivalent to the cost of hiring 87,000 additional auditors. The stated goal was to make sure the right amount of money was being taken from us to give to the government. 

The American people are now coming to the realization that systematic fraud has been occurring throughout the federal government. Those who have spent careers believing the “Defense Industrial Complex” is the only place money can go to be misdirected into private profits are enduring a huge wakeup call as to the size and scope of where our tax money is actually spent. It appears states are not just complicit, but actively engaged in expanding the theft.

If we were to actually add 87,000 federal employees anywhere, I would agree that they should be auditors – just not those on the side of collecting the funds. The American people need to have assurance that when their hard earned tax dollars are paid, they go to where they were intended- and achieve promised results. We need more competent and honorable people on the inside, doing that job again.