The irony is just too much. The Government Accountability Office has found that material weaknesses in the Securities and Exchange Commission's internal controls identified in an audit of the SEC's 2004 financial statement, were still there when the government-watchdog audited the SEC's 2005 results. The damning report pulls no punches.


"Key causes of material weakness in SEC's financial statement preparation and reporting processes are that SEC did not have (1) finalized, written, comprehensive policies and procedures for several significant accounts and processes; (2) an adequate audit trail between the financial statements, the general ledger, and supporting subsidiary schedules; and (3) an integrated system for disgorgement and penalty transactions."


All up, the SEC which is in charge of enforcing standards for financial reporting by public companies, comes out looking very sloppy. As The Wall Street Journal noted: "If the Securities and Exchange Commission were a company, the SEC might not be happy with itself"