Posted on 05/03/2017 7:45:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Q: Did Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson find over $500 billion in accounting errors while auditing HUD’s financial statements?
A: No. The errors were discovered and published by HUD’s independent inspector general before Carson became secretary.
Is it true that Dr. Ben Carson has found a half trillion dollar error from the Obama administration since he has taken office?
Readers have repeatedly asked us if Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson initiated an audit of HUD’s financial statements and found more than $500 billion in accounting errors made by the Obama administration.
That may be because an article published April 6 by the conservative Daily Wire, and republished or cited by other websites, wrongly credited Carson with uncovering the accounting mistakes.
Actually, the errors were discovered during an annual audit started in 2016 by HUD’s Office of the Inspector General, which has been headed by David A. Montoya since December 2011.
According to its website, the OIG, which has a separate budget from HUD, works independently from the department in an effort to “promote efficiency and effectiveness in programs and operations; detect and deter fraud and abuse; investigate allegations of misconduct by HUD employees; and review and make recommendations regarding existing and proposed legislation and regulations affecting HUD.”
President Donald Trump nominated Carson, a former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate, to serve as HUD secretary in December, but the Senate did not confirm Carson to the post until March 2 — one day after the OIG published an updated report providing the total value of the errors.
“HUD reissued its fiscal years 2016 and 2015 (restated) consolidated financial statements due to pervasive material errors that we identified,” the report said.
“The total amounts of errors corrected in HUD’s notes and consolidated financial statements were $516.4 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively.”
But, as the report noted, the OIG first notified HUD officials last year of issues it found during a routine review required by federal law. That was long before Carson became secretary.
HUD OIG, March 1: On November 15, 2016, we issued an independent auditor’s report stating that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was unable to provide final fiscal years 2016 and 2015 consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in a timeframe that would allow us to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to determine whether they were free from material misstatement. We also reported on the delays encountered in the material weakness, Weak Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting Led to Errors and Delays in the Preparation of Financial Statements and Notes. …
Despite having to disclaim on HUD’s fiscal years 2016 and 2015 financial statements and notes, we continued our review of the financial statements. Our review identified material errors and misstatements in the financial statements and notes. The results of that review are contained in this report (see Material Weaknesses section) and update the material weakness, Weak Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting Led to Errors and Delays in the Preparation of Financial Statements and Notes, reported in Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit reports 2017-FO-0003 and 2017-FO-0004.
We notified HUD management in early December 2016 and requested that it perform its own review. HUD concluded its review and agreed with us that the pervasiveness and scope of the errors contained in the financial statements justified the need to reissue the statements to correct the errors. HUD withdrew its AFR [agency financial report], and on December 28, 2016, HUD’s Acting Chief Financial Officer notified the Inspector General that HUD had requested from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) an extension for submitting its AFR from November 15, 2016, to March 1, 2017.
For example, the OIG said at least $119 billion in errors were due to incorrect rounding.
“We found several instances in which rounding was performed to the nearest billion and hundred billion, while OMB Circular A-136 requires the highest level of rounding to be at the nearest million,” the report said.
In conclusion, the report said “HUD was able to make revisions to correct the errors identified and make other corrections that were later identified by OCFO,” or the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. “OCFO reissued its financial statements, which included corrections totaling $516.4 billion to its notes and $3.4 billion to its financial statements.”
The report refers to the total as an “absolute value.” That’s because some of the errors were positive figures and others were negative. In all, there were nearly $520 billion in changes.
However, in a Feb. 24 memo from Deputy Chief Financial Officer Courtney Timberlake, HUD said, “Overall, the combined adjustments to the consolidated financial statements resulted in a net adjustment of $3 million, but no change in HUD’s financial position or impact on our programs.”
The OIG didn’t dispute HUD’s response, but called it an attempt by the department to play down “the severity of the condition and impact of the errors identified.” The report said: “While the errors identified may not have changed HUD’s financial position, as HUD states at the bottom of its financial statements, ‘The accompanying notes are an integral part of these statements.’ These notes contained errors of $516.4 billion.”
The bottom line: the OIG, not Carson, was responsible for the audit that led to the correction of over $500 billion in bookkeeping errors by HUD during the Obama administration. Carson wasn’t in office when OIG initiated the audit and the secretary has no authority over the independent IG office.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “HUD’s Fiscal Years 2016 and 2015 (Restated) Consolidated Financial Statements Audit (Reissued).” Audit Report Number: 2017-FO-0005. 1 Mar 2017.
Curl, Joseph. “Ben Carson Finds $500 Billion (Billion!) In Errors During Audit Of Obama HUD.” DailyWire.com. 6 Apr 2017.
Carter. “MSM SILENT: Ben Carson Finds $500 BILLION in Fraud-Mismanagement in HUD Audit.” Gatewaypundit.com. 6 Apr 2017.
Domonoske, Camila. “Ben Carson Confirmed As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.” NPR. 2 Mar 2017.
Wright, David. “Trump taps Ben Carson for HUD secretary.” CNNPolitics.com. 5 Dec 2016.
Is this FAKE news?
I just don’t recall Ben Carson making any claim to uncovering HUD Fraud.
Oh, well in that case, I guess half a trillion dollars in waste ain’t so bad, huh?
RE: Actually, the errors were discovered during an annual audit started in 2016 by HUD’s Office of the Inspector General, which has been headed by David A. Montoya since December 2011.
1) The ERRORS EXISTED. That cannot be downplayed.
2) The title should have been this to be more accurate: “It was not Ben Carson who discovered HUD errors”
The headline if read by a careless reader, would give the impression that there were no HUD errors at all. There seems to be a sly attempt to downplay the severity of this accounting scandal.
1) The ERRORS EXISTED. That cannot be downplayed.
2) The title should have been this to be more accurate: “It was not Ben Carson who discovered HUD errors”
The headline if read by a careless reader, would give the impression that there were no HUD errors at all. There seems to be a sly attempt to downplay the severity of this accounting scandal.
I like Dr. Ben Carson. He should assist that agency in a steady and good way.
He will of course follow up on problems that happened before his arrival.
“A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.”
William Blake
Yea, cause we all thought Dr. Carson was a forensic accountant in his spare time
So the head of HUD was using monies from HUD to help fund ObamaCare you will probably find out...
OH, and don't try to ‘smear’ Dr. Ben Carson's name, what he will do with HUD will made a College Professor look like a First Grader!!!
Fact Check: FactCheck.org is a joke.
RE: Yea, cause we all thought Dr. Carson was a forensic accountant in his spare time
Joking aside, I take issue with the title of this fact Check piece: “Ben Carson Didn’t Find HUD Errors”
A quick glance by someone would give the FALSE impression that there were NO HUD ACCOUNTING ERRORS.
The article in fact tells us that it was NOT CARSON who found the errors.
OK, but so what? The SCANDAL STILL EXISTS!
We ought to audit every single Federal Government department ( let’s start with the IRS ) to find similar errors.
I bet you will find them in EVERY department.
Why are liberals so intent on down playing this?
Simple: THEY WANT MORE MONEY FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and they are afraid that scandals like this will give good reason to SLASH the Federal budget ( which we should ).
Fact check my butt -
This report would not have been released if Ben Carson wasn’t there.
Liberals are prohibited by the US Code of Liberals and Extremists section 502.1 from crediting Carson with any accomplishment. Doesn’t fit the meme that he is to be ridiculed (see SNL) and is not suitable to do the job.
Officials at HUD fixed $3.4 billion in errors from its 2015 books and $516.4 billion in errors from its 2016 books after the IG in December was unable to issue an opinion on either year's financial statements and highlighted 11 material weaknesses, seven significant deficiencies and five instances of failure to comply with laws and regulations.These same problems have been reported for three straight years by the IG.
After Carson released the audit, a number of rightie bloggers credited Carson.
MSM SILENT: Ben Carson Finds $500 BILLION in Fraud - Gateway Pundit (Hoft)
Ben Carson Uncovers Massive Fraud at HUD...It's Bad - The Washington Feed
WOW: With Ben Carson At HUD, Billions Of Obama Fraud Uncovered - American Lookout
The OP is three-weeks old news too. Tempest in a teapot. Righties fake news too, duh.
Regardless of who found what, does anybody doubt that, under a Dem administration, the report would have been buried?
This was a preemptive "finding".
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Dr. Ben Carson Finds Half TRILLION Dollars in Errors While Auditing Obama’s Housing Agency
hannity.com ^ | 4/6/2017 | unknown / FR Posted by rktman
Dr. Ben Carson has discovered over $500 billion (that's with a 'B') in errors and accounting mistakes during his audit of the Obama administration’s Housing and Urban Development budget. One of Dr. Carson’s first orders after being confirmed as the Secretary of HUD was a thorough audit of the agency, which has been accused of fraud and over-budgeted projects throughout the entire Obama administration. What did the auditors find? Over $520 billion in budgetary mistakes and clerical errors. (Excerpt) Read more at hannity.com ...
cont
The spin was errors discoversed shortly after Carson took over. I remember reading it and lots og winning posts were made. I don recall Carson making that claim for himself.
Obama Siphoned off GSE Dividends To Prop Up OBAMACARE
ZeroHedge ^ | April 2, 2017 / FR Posted on by Zakeet
Earlier this month, Harvard Ph.D. Jerome Corsi of InfoWars (@jerome_corsi) and a CPA "who worked for two years for a major U.S. accounting firm as an outside auditor for Freddie Mac," confirmed a 2012 scheme hatched by the Obama administration.
The audacious looting involved funnelling hundreds of billions in dividends from Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prop up the failing Obamacare program - by paying subsidies to insurers to remain in the system. [Snip]
The conclusion reached by Corsi and others is that this was probably illegal. In fact, House Republicans actually sued the Obama Administration in 2014 over the fact that the subsidies to insurers weren't appropriated by congress and won, which the Obama administration appealed.
Zerohedge and the Atlanta Journal Constitution pointed out last week, the Trump administration has until May 22nd to decide whether or not to pursue the appeal: (Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
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