The Department of Defense (DoD) has made progress in reducing costs associated with improper payments through the Advana centralized data and analytics platform, but the agency continues to struggle with some financial IT systems, the agency said. Officials from the Government Accountability Board said this in House testimony. This week’s MPs.
In written testimony to the House Subcommittee on Government Operations and Federal Employees, Asif Khan, GAO’s Director of Financial Management and Assurance, highlighted some of the challenges the Department of Defense continues to face with legacy IT systems. while also acknowledging the benefits achieved through the Advana system.
Despite accounting for about half of the federal government’s discretionary spending, the Department of Defense remains the only major federal agency that does not have an unrevised or “clean” audit opinion on its financial statements. are.
Khan pointed out that Advana enhances financial data by linking non-financial data sources, standardizing DoD data and helping address past financial management challenges.
“We estimated savings associated with the Department of Defense’s ability to identify and avoid improper payments through expanded use of this system in 2023 and 2024. We estimate that we have saved at least $5.5 billion by avoiding improper payments that were not made to the United States,” Khan told lawmakers.
The Department of Defense began using Advana in 2017 when the Office of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and the Defense Financial Accounting Agency began building a transaction universe to support financial statement audits across the Department.
Khan said that while leveraging Advana is a step in the right direction, the Department of Defense should act on existing GAO recommendations to modernize legacy IT systems if it wants to make further financial progress. I emphasized that it is necessary.
To improve the Department of Defense’s financial management, departmental auditors have issued thousands of notices of findings, recommendations, and material weaknesses. In response, the Department of Defense identified priority areas and developed strategies, plans, and roadmaps.
“While these steps are important, the Department of Defense faces challenges in meeting its target remediation deadlines, and the Department’s use of aging legacy financial systems continues to hinder its efforts,” Khan said. said. Khan said that by addressing outstanding GAO recommendations, the Department of Defense can “track audit remediation efforts, avoid system migration delays, modernize financial systems, and obtain a clean audit opinion.” said.
