United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-01-29 monographic deposited born digital 47 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-99-44 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44 P0b002ee18037aee5 f:ai99044 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44 AIMD-99-44 Financial management systems Federal agency accounting systems Strategic planning Data integrity Accountability Internal controls Systems compatibility Joint Financial Management Improvement Program DOD Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan DOD Defense Procurement Payment System Letter Report AIMD Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan to determine whether: (1) the concept of operations included the critical elements necessary for producing sustainable financial management improvement over the long term; (2) the transition plan provided a strategic-level road map from the current environment to DOD's planned future financial management environment; and (3) the implementation of the department's future financial management environment is practical, cost-effective, and feasible.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) in developing this overall concept of its envisioned financial management environment, the DOD has taken an important first step in improving its financial management operations; (2) the department's Biennial Plan also represents a significant landmark because it includes, for the first time, a discussion of the importance of the programmatic functions of personnel, acquisition, property management, and inventory management to the department's ability to support consistent, accurate information flows to all information users; (3) in addition, DOD's Biennial Plan includes an impressive array of initiatives intended to move the department from its current state to its envisioned financial management environment; (4) while the initiatives discussed should result in some improvements in DOD's financial management operations, the department's Biennial Plan lacks critical elements necessary for producing sustainable financial management improvement over the long term; (5) specifically, the Plan's discussion of how DOD's financial management operations will work in the future--its concept of operations--does not address: (a) how its financial management operations will effectively support not only financial reporting but also asset accountability and control; and (b) budget formulation; (6) in addition, the transition plan, while an ambitious statement of DOD's planned improvement efforts, has two critical flaws: (a) links are not provided between the envisioned future operations and the over 200 planned improvement initiatives to determine whether the proposed transition will result in the target financial management environment; and (b) actions to ensure feeder systems' data integrity are not addressed--an acknowledged major deficiency in the current environment; (7) without identifying specific actions that will ensure feeder system data integrity, it is unclear whether the department will be able to effectively carry out not only its financial reporting, but also its other financial management responsibilities; (8) additional detailed information would be necessary to determine whether implementation of the department's future financial management environment is practical, cost-effective, and feasible; (9) such details are appropriately not included in the strategic financial management improvement plan that DOD was asked to provide; and (10) DOD officials have stated that they recognize that additional information will be necessary and that they are developing further details on these issues. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44.pdf GAO/AIMD-99-44 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-99-44 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-99-44; Financial Management: Analysis of DOD's First Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan; Financial management systems Federal agency accounting systems Strategic planning Data integrity Accountability Internal controls Systems compatibility Joint Financial Management Improvement Program DOD Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan DOD Defense Procurement Payment System Public Law 105-85 Public Law 105-261