Question: Did you hear about the $16 muffins at a Dept of Justice conference way back in 2011? Here is an example of an audit gone wrong. I have noted some links to an article on this below and you can find others.
I have a colleague who works for the FBI in the contract division. He was involved in purchasing the food service for this conference. He gave me the background story of the audit. The government did not pay $16 per muffin. This was the cost of breakfast per person which included many food and beverage items including muffins. Most of us would agree that this is not an extravagant price per person.
He explained to the Dept of Justice auditor that they did not pay $16 per muffin but $16 per person as noted above. The auditor refused to listen and verify the accuracy of this fact. The whole incident wasted a lot of time and caused unnecessary news coverage and discussion in Congress. Bill O'Reilly also had a segment on this for Fox News.
What does this say about the auditor's responsibility to check facts and evidence before reporting results? What does this also say about the reputation of an audit organization when something like this happens?
Articles: 1. The Great $16 Muffin Myth (By KEVIN DRUM)
2. $16 muffins -- or incomplete invoices? (By Angie Drobnic Holan)