Language in the Senate’s version of the defense authorization bill would put more pressure on the Pentagon to achieve a clean audit by 2017, GovExec reports.
Charles Clark writes the bill would require the Pentagon to appoint a chief management officer responsible for fixing problems with financial management, business transformation and information technology if the department cannot meet the 2017 deadline.
The bill is currently being reconciled by a joint House-Senate Committee.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the agency responsible for the department’s payments, would have that function moved over to the Treasury Department, Clark reports.
A group of senators including Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced the amendment in August in an attempt to create standards for the Pentagon’s financial functions.
