WASHINGTON (AFNS) —
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) recorded significant audit achievements in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, securing remediations for all three of its audit roadmap targets, including two material weaknesses (MW) and one significant deficiency (SD).
“Our teams continue to make progress towards our audit goals,” said Carlos Rodgers, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller. “Their tenacity is inspiring.”
While the independent public accountant continues to issue a “disclaimer of opinion” for the general fund and working capital fund, the DAF fully closed the Military Equipment (ME) General Fund (GF) MW through the creation of a policy to accurately report and substantiate aircraft modification depreciation and improve oversight of aircraft and satellite valuation. From field level to headquarters, all involved organizations collaborated to improve these critical areas to remediate the ME MW, which represents roughly $114B of the DAF’s GF balance sheet. This closure, coupled with the historic GF Fund Balance with Treasury (FBwT) MW remediation in FY23, translates to roughly 70% of the DAF’s GF balance sheet now being auditable.
“Closing our Military Equipment material weakness represents years of hard work, dedication, and determined communication between the auditor and our teams,” said Rodgers. “This was a momentous win, and we are applying lessons learned across all our remaining material weaknesses and significant deficiencies to accelerate progress where possible.”
By working closely with and incorporating timely and interactive feedback from the auditor, the DAF Working Capital Fund (WCF) also fully closed its FBwT MW in FY24. Critical to success was developing and implementing key oversight controls that strengthened the FBwT process, as well as automating several manual processes that increased efficiency and improved data completeness and accuracy. In addition to the GF ME and WCF FBwT MWs wins, the DAF also closed its Contingent Legal Liabilities SD by demonstrating to the auditor that it can accurately identify, track, and account for its contingent legal cases.
These major audit wins come at a critical juncture as a renewed sense of urgency was placed upon the audit with the passing of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Congress has set the goal post: the entire Department of Defense must achieve a clean audit opinion by December 31, 2028. The DAF is positioned to meet the mandate and is continuing to develop solutions aimed at tackling some of the biggest remaining challenges (e.g., improving business processes, strengthening data, and enhancing systems’ security), ensuring the DAF stays true to the flight plan established within its Audit Roadmaps.
“As the Department of the Air Force reoptimizes for Great Power Competition, we recognize the importance of improving processes and systems to achieve audit goals,” said Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force. “Our progress in FY24 demonstrates that we are fully committed to this important priority.”
source: www.spaceforce.mil