**GAO-03-457**                      Published: Mar 28, 2003. Publicly Released: Mar 28, 2003.                  

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## Highlights

The Department of Defense (DOD) has historically been unable to accurately account for and record its disbursements. In March 2002, the DOD Comptroller cited metrics that showed dramatic reductions in payment recording errors (57 percent between October 2000 and October 2001), backlogs of commercial payments (41 percent between April and October 2001), and travel card payment delinquencies (34 percent for those individually billed and 86 percent for those centrally billed between January and December 2001). As a result, the Congress asked us to determine whether the cited reductions were (1) calculated using consistent definitions and methodologies, (2) properly supported, and (3) effective indicators of short-term financial management progress.

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## Topics

National Defense

Accounting errorsAccounting proceduresAuditing proceduresInternal auditsInternal controlsReporting requirementsRecords managementPerformance measuresData errorsFinancial management