[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        THE AUDIT WILL CONTINUE

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, we had the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse 
do an audit of the House books. When I say we, I mean House 
Republicans. We had promised as a matter of the Contract With America 
that the first thing that we would vote on on the first day was to have 
an audit of the House books that have not been audited as far as I know 
of in history on an exterior basis. We have never had an external audit 
of the House books. We did that.
  They published their audit just yesterday. I want to read three lines 
from it. First of all, they say: The House lacks the organization and 
structure to periodically prepare financial statements. The methods of 
accounting was simplistic and ill-suited for an organization the size 
of the House. And in conclusion, because the House's accounting and 
reporting methods were outdated and of limited utility, we do not 
express, we cannot express an opinion on the accompanying consolidated 
financial statements.
  What they are saying is our books are such a mess that they cannot 
even render a financial opinion. We promised that we could fix this. We 
did the audit. We will continue to do the audit. We will bring the 
reforms and make good on the promises that we made.

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