The audits are required by law and are intended to keep better track of where government funds go and how they are spent in the department.“I wouldn’t say we will never get there, but I was disappointed we didn’t make more progress,” Under Secretary of Defense and Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord told reporters Tuesday about the audit.“We failed to get an A. It’s making us better, it’s just not making us better as fast as we want.”About 1,600 independent auditors were involved in the process and conducted 27 standalone audits across components of the department.The 2022 audit found three new material weaknesses in “interface controls,” “reporting entities” and “component-level accounts.”The Defense Department is often the most criticized Cabinet department because it’s the largest and receives the most tax dollars.To improve the department’s fiscal performance, the Pentagon said Tuesday that it’s increased the use of automated systems, which it calls “bots,” to handle some of the simpler tasks and free up managers to focus on more complex areas."