DOD Financial Management: Continued Actions Needed to Address Congressional Committee Panel Recommendations

Abstract : A congressional panel examined the capacity of DOD's financial management system for providing timely, reliable, and useful information for decision making and reporting. The panel, in its January 2012 report, included 29 recommendations addressed to DOD in four areas: (1) FIAR strategy and methodology, (2) challenges to achieving financial management reform and auditability, (3) financial management workforce, and (4) enterprise resource planning systems implementation. GAO was asked to review the status of DOD's actions to implement these recommendations. This report examines the extent to which the recommendations have been implemented. GAO reviewed pertinent legislation, including the National Defense Authorization Acts for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2015 as well as the department's FIAR Guidance and FIAR Plan Status Reports. GAO analyzed relevant information and interviewed officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military departments, and two service providers. Using the three status categories developed for GAO's high risk work- met, partially met, and not met- GAO determined the extent to which DOD implemented the panel's recommendations. GAO is recommending that DOD reconsider the status of three panel recommendations that it determined to be met but that GAO determined to be only partially met. DOD concurred with the recommendation and described planned actions to address it.