Organizing for Army Financial Audit Success
Steering Army Organizations Toward Financial Audit Success
ResearchPublished Dec 10, 2024
The U.S. Army has been working toward achieving a clean financial audit for decades but has yet to show significant progress in doing so. RAND researchers conducted a study of Army financial management organizations to identify opportunities for adjustments—both strategic and smaller practical changes—that could be implemented to help improve the Army’s financial audit performance.
The U.S. Army has been working toward achieving a clean financial audit for decades but has yet to show significant progress in doing so. The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller (ASA [FM&C]) asked RAND Arroyo Center to (1) conduct a study of ASA (FM&C) and related organizations and their capabilities and (2) identify ways of conducting organizational change to enable the Army to receive an unmodified (clean) financial audit opinion.
The authors of this study aimed to identify adjustment—both strategic and smaller practical adjustments—that ASA (FM&C) could implement to help improve the Army's financial audit performance. To support this goal, the authors first document a baseline by examining the history of financial audit efforts and the difficulties that the Army has faced in becoming auditable. The authors then describe the Army's existing and emerging approaches to financial audit improvement and offer recommendations to leverage these efforts to address challenges and achieve a clean financial audit opinion.
Key Findings
- Army leadership's increasing focus on and commitment of resourcing toward achieving near-term financial audit improvements and ambitious goals have created an expectation of success from both Congress and the public.
- The Army's renewed financial audit efforts are addressing years of under-resourcing that likely precluded success, but these efforts do not guarantee financial audit success.
Recommendations
- ASA (FM&C) needs to coordinate efforts throughout the Army to achieve financial audit success.
- The Army needs to show some quick wins while ensuring that financial audit success is sustainable.
- The Army should prioritize transformational organizational change to achieve financial audit success and business process improvement.
Topics
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Year: 2024
- Print Format: Paperback
- Paperback Pages: 163
- Paperback Price: $22.00
- Paperback ISBN/EAN: 1-9774-1441-9
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA2409-1
- Document Number: RR-A2409-1
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Warren, Drake, Maria McCollester, Katharina Ley Best, Frank Camm, Ryan Consaul, Sandra Kay Evans, Paul W. Mayberry, Lewis Schneider, Nathaniel Edenfield, and Sheervon Husband-Clarke, Organizing for Army Financial Audit Success: Steering Army Organizations Toward Financial Audit Success, RAND Corporation, RR-A2409-1, 2024. As of April 8, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2409-1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Warren, Drake, Maria McCollester, Katharina Ley Best, Frank Camm, Ryan Consaul, Sandra Kay Evans, Paul W. Mayberry, Lewis Schneider, Nathaniel Edenfield, and Sheervon Husband-Clarke, Organizing for Army Financial Audit Success: Steering Army Organizations Toward Financial Audit Success. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2409-1.html. Also available in print form.
Research conducted by
This research was prepared for the United States Army conducted within the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program of RAND Arroyo Center.
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