Financial Management: Opportunities to Strengthen Management of the Defense Business Operations Fund

GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) progress in implementing and operating the Defense Business Operations Fund. GAO noted that: (1) DOD has initiated the Corporate Information Management project as a long-term strategy to improve DOD systems; (2) the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) has overall responsibility to provide uniform accounting policy guidance, establish requirements for financial systems, provide finance and accounting services, and prepare financial statements; (3) DOD has acknowledged that the Fund's systems are inadequate, but it has not developed a comprehensive cash management policy for the Fund; (4) DOD has established a goal of maintaining a working capital level of $1 billion; (5) billings to customers for services provided by the Fund have not been timely; (6) 11,019 inventory items with understated prices have been identified in an Army financial statement audit; (7) the Fund's financial reports do not accurately reflect the Fund's financial condition; (8) in fiscal year 1992, DOD began issuing activity-based unit cost budgets to the Fund's business areas; and (9) DOD has selected the Defense Business Management System to support the Fund's implementation without evaluating the system's benefits and technical risks or defining all of the features needed.