Financial Management

This is the second of our planned reports on the qualifications and experience of DOD'S financial management workforce. It contains information we obtained on key financial managers in the Department of the Air Force. We recently issued our report on key financial managers within the office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and we plan to issue individual reports on the Departments of the Army and Navy. In agreement with DOD representatives, our reviews of the Air Force, Army, and Navy are confined to comparable organizations and financial management positions in the services. These positions most often include comptrollers, deputy comptrollers, and budget officers located at operational and training commands and their installations. We also plan to issue a report to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service on the data we are collecting on its key financial managers. These reports can help Defense agencies in shaping their plans to enhance the qualifications, such as education and training, of their financial management workforce, as necessary. In addition, the reports provide baseline information that can be helpful in monitoring progress. Our final report in this series will discuss the qualifications of personnel serving in key financial management positions across DOD and in private sector companies and large state governments. We will also identity those steps DOD has taken.