DeCA continues run of efficient financial audits

You never write a check you cannot afford to cash. That’s the fundamental wisdom the Defense Commissary Agency has followed since 2002 as it continues to effectively account for its finances while serving millions of customers worldwide.

Independent auditors recently gave the agency an “unmodified” opinion for its fiscal 2017 financial statements, continuing a 16-year run of efficient audits. This level of accountability means a third-party examination found no substantial discrepancies in the agency’s finances.

“DeCA routinely demonstrates its ability to be responsible caretakers of the taxpayer funds appropriated to serve our military and their families,” said interim DeCA Director and CEO, retired Rear Adm. Robert J. Bianchi. “Our patrons can rest assured that their commissaries’ finances are in order as the agency delivers an efficient and effective benefit.”

Balancing the finances of an agency that received $1.2 billion in appropriated funding for fiscal 2017 can be a daunting task, said Larry Bands, the agency’s chief financial officer.

During that timeframe DeCA generated nearly $5 billion in annual sales and processed almost 83 million transactions in its stores, while delivering $1.5 billion in patron savings. Commissaries also redeemed both paper and digital coupons for additional customer savings of more than $56 million.

 “This is an achievement all our employees can be proud of because they impact our financial credibility every day whether it’s at the commissary cash register, accounting for equipment and property, or properly doing time and attendance,” Bands said. “Everything we do can be traced to funding. Therefore, our credibility as an efficient and effective agency is tied to us being thorough and transparent with our finances.”

For DeCA the road to an unmodified audit starts as auditors from the CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) auditing firm visit commissaries as well as the agency headquarters at Fort Lee, Virginia, diving deep into financial statements and all related internal controls and transactions.

The goal is to validate the financial data presented by DeCA’s accounting division, said Edna Willis, chief of the compliance and reporting branch in the resource management directorate. These accountants collect and process the information that CLA audits.

“CLA requests about 500 examples of work linked to our accounting process from our employees at various levels of the agency,” Willis said. “They interview them about these processes and observe them as they work. It’s the ultimate financial microscope when you look at it.”

It’s a necessary form of scrutiny, because like all government agencies, DeCA must still demonstrate its ability to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, Willis said.

“This unmodified audit provides a great deal of credibility to the agency,” Willis said. “For us it means we are putting our best financial foot forward as we deliver this valued benefit to our military and their families.”