NASA seems to have “overlooked” a little over a half billion in taxpayer funds. Chairman Sensenbrenner wasn’t happy:

“I’m deeply disappointed that the agency that could send a man to the moon now can’t even balance its books to the nearest half-billion. Inattention to details such as using English or metric units, or making $590 million accounting errors indicate significant management problems continue to bedevil NASA.”

Of course, it’s not like NASA accounting disasters are news, but what was really interesting and topical was this little tidbit:

The error, detected by the House Science Committee, went unnoticed by auditors at Arthur Andersen LLP, the independent accounting firm hired to examine the space agency’s financial books.

Yup, look for the Big Five to become the Big Four any day now…