text: Chapter 1
  MANAGEMENT INTERNAL CONTROLS
  1-23. Managers’ internal control program provides reasonable assurance that establishes
  accountability and control procedures to comply with applicable laws and regulations. In accordance
  with Army Regulation (AR) 11-2, Managers’ Internal Control Program, all commanders and managers
  have a statutory and inherent responsibility to establish and maintain effective management controls, assess
  areas of risk, identify and correct weaknesses in those controls and keep their superiors informed. Financial
  managers coordinate management controls throughout the unit. The MICP provides reasonable assurance
  that established accountability and control procedures comply with applicable laws and regulations. As it
  pertains to FM, the MICP provides reasonable assurance that obligations and costs comply with applicable
  laws, funds are protected, payments are properly disbursed, and proper accounting is kept of all
  expenditures (stewardship). The MICP must be established as soon as possible, but not at the expense of
  operational or tactical considerations.
  1-24. With the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, Congress mandated that all federal agencies produce
  auditable financial statements. All federal agencies, except the DOD, have been able to produce auditable
  statements. In order to focus the DOD efforts, The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
  (OUSD(C)) outlined the Department of Defense (DOD) priorities for improving financial information and
  achieving financial statement audit readiness. The 11 August 2009 OUSD(C) memorandum directs DOD
  Components to improve budgetary information, as this is the information most useful to the Department's
  decision makers. Specifically, DOD Components should focus on improving budgetary processes and
  information to obtain an unqualified audit opinion on the Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR).
  Financial Managers document and communicate key controls to process owners in support to audit
  readiness. See chapter 7, Management Internal Controls, for more information.
  THE FISCAL TRIAD
  1-25. The fiscal triad, depicted in figure 1-3, illustrates the legally binding process that governs the
  critical path between contracting and financial management for acquisition management, internal
  controls, and fiscal law prescribed for the procurement process. FM, contracting and legal counsel
  (staff judge advocate (SJA) fiscal lawyer) comprise a system that fulfills required fiscal support, from the
  acquisition and certification of funds, to the legal review of the proposed contracting action, to the
  contracting for goods and services, and finally to the disbursing and accounting of public funds. At the
  center of the Fiscal Triad is the unit commander, who generates mission requirements, and initiates the
  process. This illustration emphasizes that the process exists solely to satisfy the unit commander’s mission
  requirements. All elements of the Fiscal Triad must coordinate to conform to existing policies, regulations,
  and laws to prevent fraud, waste and abuse of government funds. To ensure separation of duties, each
  element of the triad is independent, yet each element works closely with the other to obtain products or
  services to meet the commander’s needs in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. See chapter 3,
  Banking and Disbursing Support, for more information.