United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-03-06 monographic deposited born digital 21 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-497T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T P0b002ee180391af8 f:d02497t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T GAO-02-497T Financial management Performance measures Accounting Computer networks Federal agency reorganization Best practices Financial statements Internal controls Defense Business Operations Fund DOD Corporate Information Management Initiative Testimony A02862 The Department of Defense (DOD) financial management problems are pervasive, complex, long-standing, and deeply rooted in virtually all its business operations. DOD's financial management deficiencies, taken together, represent the single largest obstacle to achieving an unqualified opinion on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements. To date, none of the military services or major DOD components have passed the test of an independent financial audit because of financial management systems, operations, and controls weaknesses. These problems date back decades, and previous attempts at reform have been unsuccessful. DOD continues to rely on a far-flung, complex network of finance, logistics, personnel, acquisition, and other management information systems for financial data to support day-to-day management and decision-making. This network has evolved into the overly complex and error-prone operation that exists today, including (1) little standardization across DOD components, (2) multiple systems performing the same tasks, (3) the same data stored in multiple systems, (4) manual data entry into multiple systems, and (5) a large number of data translations and interfaces, which combine to exacerbate problems with data integrity. There are several key elements that collectively will enable DOD to effectively address its long-standing financial management problems. Actions on many of the key areas central to successfully achieving desired financial management and related business process transformation goals--particularly those that rely on longer term systems improvements--will take a number of years to fully implement. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T.pdf GAO-02-497T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-497T Testimony GAO-02-497T; DOD Financial Management: Integrated Approach, Accountability, Transparency, and Incentives Are Keys to Effective Reform; Financial management Performance measures Accounting Computer networks Federal agency reorganization Best practices Financial statements Internal controls Defense Business Operations Fund DOD Corporate Information Management Initiative