Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Administration Efficiency (DOGE) has spent the first six weeks of the new Trump administration, turning the federal government upside down. It has moved from agencies to agencies, accessing sensitive data and payment systems, all in the audit of government and stopping fraud, waste and abuse. Doge has posted some “discoveries” on its website, many of which are errors.
However, two federal auditors with years of experience have conducted financial and technical audits for the government, saying Doge’s actions are the furthest to the actual audit. Both requested to speak on anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
“Honestly, comparing the real audit to what Doge does, no comparison,” said an auditor who spoke with Wired. “None of them are auditors.”
In a speech during the presidential campaign in September, candidate Donald Trump said he would establish a government efficiency task force led by Musk, which will conduct a “complete financial and performance audit” of the entire federal government. Musk initially said he wanted to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, exceeding the 2023 discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion. Musk has since eased his ambitions, saying his goal is to reduce government spending by $1 trillion. Still, he claimed that the money could be cut by determining waste, fraud and abuse, and continued to claim that Doge cuts agents and resources as part of the audit.
While there are certainly government funds for fraud, the Government Accountability Office’s research published an estimate in 2024 that the government lost between $233 billion and $521 billion in fraud every year, and even if all expenditures are recovered, it will not make all expenditures impossible to cut from the budget.
The auditor who spoke with Wired claimed that not only was Musk’s claim not only wasn’t true, but Doge seemed to have completely avoided existing processes to actually eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
“Audiences that follow a universally accepted Government Audit Standard (GAGAS), also known as Yellow Book Audit, are conducted in accordance with standards issued by the U.S. Office of Government Accountability,” the first auditor said. “The audit can focus on the agency’s finance, compliance, or performance. “This is the gold standard for how you review the government.”
Auditors tell Wire: Plan, Evidence Collection, Evaluation, Reporting and Follow-up, there are usually five stages of Gagas audit. Auditors are committed to defining the scope of audits, identifying all applicable laws and standards, and proposing audit plans. Next, the auditor interviews employees, reviews financial records through data, reports and transactions, and records them all the time. From there, auditors will evaluate this information based on policy or procedure to find out if there is some kind of suspected waste, fraud or abuse, and send out a report detailing their findings and making recommendations. Often, these reports are made available to the public. After the audit, the auditor can follow up with the agency to ensure changes are made.
