David Walker is on a mission.

He has been for a couple of years now, in fact. As comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office, he was the highest-ranking CPA in the land from 1998 to 2008. He’s now president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, an organization that’s dedicated to “increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of several key challenges that threaten America’s future.”

As such, Walker is telling anyone who will listen that the United States is on a path to financial ruin, and if changes aren’t made quickly, it will bankrupt the country. He calls the decisions that have been made by lawmakers in recent years fiscally irresponsible at best and morally reprehensible at worst, given the fact that our children and grandchildren are going to inherit this mess.

The word has been getting out. He was the focus of a segment on “60 Minutes” in 2007, and this year he was featured in a film called “I.O.U.S.A,” a documentary that outlines the causes and possible consequences of the nation’s financial failings. That documentary, by the way, is on the short list for an Oscar nomination.

Now, in the wake of a credit crunch, a housing meltdown, multi-billion-dollar federal bailouts, a recession and the impending inauguration of a new president, it seems as good a time as any to reassess Walker’s take on our country’s financial future, and that reassessment … isn’t good.

• Listen to what Walker has to say in this “CPA Spotlight” podcast.
• Subscribe to our free podcasts here, or open your copy of iTunes and search for “CPA Spotlight.”

In the interview, Walker says individuals can lead our country’s fiscal resurrection through a combination of personal responsibility and legislative advocacy. What are you doing to help turn our nation’s financial woes around?