Dod Accounting Systems - Efforts to Improve System for Navy Need Overall Structure: Aimd-96-99 (Paperback)

GAO reviewed the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's (DFAS) efforts to reduce the number of Navy accounting systems and to enhance and implement a Navy-wide system to account for general fund operations. GAO found that: (1) DFAS selected the Navy's Standard Accounting and Reporting System (STARS) to serve as the Navy's system for general fund accounting; (2) although believed to be the newest, least deficient, and most advanced of the Navy's 25 existing general fund accounting systems, STARS still has serious shortcomings; (3) savings will accrue as a result of eliminating duplicate and inefficient accounting systems, but could be diminished by the need to provide additional training and technical support; (4) STARS was selected without the benefit of an established architecture, and the lack of a target systems architecture will make it difficult to guide STARS enhancement efforts, estimate enhancement costs, and evaluate alternatives that may be more effective or less expensive; (5) the STARS Plan of Action and Milestones did not include several key analysis tasks and accounting requirements, and several instances of incomplete planning and slipped milestones strongly suggest that STARS enhancements will not meet Department of Defense (DOD) requirements; (6) this piecemeal approach to STARS enhancement could result in costly and time-consuming redesign efforts; and (7) implementation of STARS at field-level activities was not completely successful, since DFAS provided limited training and insufficient technical support.