In coming weeks the Department of Defense (DOD) will issue the results of a comprehensive financial statement audit. The effort has been described by Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist as “the largest ever undertaken.”

Defense Department accounting and financial reporting issues have been the principal reason the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has delivered a disclaimer (flunking) opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the federal government every year for the last two decades.

Trillions of dollars later, we may actually be making some progress in this area, though that is a matter of debate.

For anyone who wants to get up to speed on understanding the issues involved, one of the barriers to an informed debate and discussion is the bewildering array of acronyms and special terms attached to DOD audit issues.

As a small step toward trying to help inform that debate, following is a list of 45 acronyms used to describe various entities, concepts and laws relating to DOD accounting and auditing, together with links to descriptive websites.

For further background on the audit and the reasons why it matters, and remains worth monitoring, see “Auditing the Defense Department: A Primer,” a blog post I wrote back in May.

Best of luck on your mission.

 

AFR	Agency Financial Report
CAP	Corrective Action Plan
CFOA	Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990
CIGIE	Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
COP-OCO	Comprehensive Oversight Plan -- OCO
CRM	Contract Resource Management
CRS	Congressional Research Service
DCAA	Defense Contract Audit Agency
DFAS	Defense Finance and Accounting Services
DHA	Defense Health Agency
DHP	Defense Health Program
DII	Defense Industry Initiative
DISA	Defense Information Systems Agency
DLA	Defense Logistics Agency
DMRDP	Defense Medical Research and Development Program
DOD OIG	Department of Defense Office of Inspector General
ERP	Enterprise Resource Planning
FASAB	Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
FCRA	Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990
FFRDC	Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
FIAR	Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness
FMFIA	Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act of 1982
GAGAS	Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards
GAO	Government Accountability Office
GF	General Fund
GFEBS	General Fund Enterprise Business Systems
GMRA	Government Management and Reform Act of 1994
IPA	Independent Public Accounting Firm
JFMIP	Joint Financial Management Improvement Program
MHS	Military Health System
MICP	Managers' Internal Control Program
OASDHA	Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
OCO	Overseas Contingency Operations
OMB	Office of Management and Budget
PAR	Performance and Accountability Report
SFFAC	Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Concepts
SFFAS	Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards
SIGAR	Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
SRO	Self Regulatory Organization
USACE	United States Corps of Engineers
USC	United States Code
USDC	Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller)
USSGL	U.S. Standard General Ledger
USSOCOM	United States Special Operations Command
WCF	Working Capital Fund

 

 

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