1. (a) Audits Required.— For purposes of satisfying the requirement under section 3521(e) of title 31 for audits of financial statements of Department of Defense components identified by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under section 3515(c) of such title, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense shall obtain each year audits of the financial statements of each such component by an independent external auditor.
2. (b) Selection of Auditors.— The selection of independent external auditors for purposes of subsection (a) shall be based, among other appropriate criteria, on their qualifications, independence, and capacity to conduct audits described in subsection (a) in accordance with applicable generally accepted government auditing standards. The Inspector General shall participate in the selection of the independent external auditors.
3. (c) Monitoring Audits.— The Inspector General shall monitor the conduct of all audits by independent external auditors under subsection (a).

4. (d) Reports on Audits.—

   1. (1) In general.— The Inspector General shall require the independent external auditors conducting audits under subsection (a) to submit a report on their audits each year to—

      1. (A) the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) as the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Defense for the purposes of chapter 9 of title 31 and the Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense;
      2. (B) the Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management in the Office of Management and Budget;
      3. (C) the head of each component audited; and
      4. (D) the appropriate committees of Congress.

   2. (2) Appropriate committees of congress defined.— In this subsection, the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means—

      1. (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
      2. (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

5. (e) Relationship to Existing Law.— The requirements of this section—

   1. (1) shall not be construed to alter the requirement under section 3521(e) of title 31 that the financial statements of the Department of Defense as a whole be audited by the Inspector General or by an independent external auditor, as determined by the Inspector General; and
   2. (2) shall not be construed to limit or alter the authorities of the Comptroller General of the United States under section 3521(g) of title 31.

(Added and amended Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1002(e)(1)–(3), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1541, § 254; renumbered § 240d, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title X, § 1002(a)(1)(A), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1945.)

Codification

Text of section, as added by Pub. L. 115–91, is based on text of section 1005 of Pub. L. 114–92, div. A, title X, Nov. 25, 2015, 129 Stat. 961, which was formerly set out as a note under section 2222 of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1002(e)(4), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1541.

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 254 of this title as this section.

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(2)(B), struck out “, United States Code,” after “title 31”.

Subsec. (d)(1)(A). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(3)(A)(i), inserted “and the Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense” before semicolon.

Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(2)(A), struck out “, United States Code” after “title 31”.

Subsec. (d)(1)(C), (D). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(3)(A)(ii)–(iv), added subpar. (C) and redesignated former subpar. (C) as (D).

Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(3)(B), redesignated par. (2) as (1) and struck out former par. (1) which read as follows: “shall be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of section 1008 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107–107; 10 U.S.C. 113 note);”.

Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(3)(B)(ii), redesignated par. (3) as (2). Former par. (2) redesignated (1).

Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(2)(B), struck out “, United States Code,” after “title 31”.

Subsec. (e)(3). Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(3)(B)(ii), redesignated par. (3) as (2).

Pub. L. 115–91, § 1002(e)(2)(A), struck out “, United States Code” after “title 31”.

Transparency of Accounting Firms Used to Support Department of Defense Audit

Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title X, § 1006, Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1947, provided that:

“For all contract actions (including awards, renewals, and amendments) occurring more than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [

Aug. 13, 2018], the Secretary of Defense shall require any accounting firm providing financial statement auditing or audit remediation services to the Department of Defense in support of the audit required under

section 3521 of title 31, United States Code, to provide the Department with a statement setting forth the details of any disciplinary proceedings with respect to the accounting firm or its associated persons before any entity with the authority to enforce compliance with rules or laws applying to audit services offered by accounting firms.”