About DLA Finance
The Department of Defense’s Senior Leadership expects their logistics teams to provide the right item, to the right person, in the right place, and for the right cost. To meet this expectation the Department of Defense consolidated Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps major logistical activities into a single consolidated entity: Defense Supply Agency in 1961 and the forerunner to our current Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). As America’s premier logistics agency we hope to accomplish economies of both scope and scale to help our National Security team. DLA J8 Finance assists in those efforts by responding to all our customers with varied, robust, and current financial data and analyses. In other words, the DLA budget and accounting Finance (J8) personnel are required to use their expertise as a tool to provide analysis and guidance to the Agency’s Senior Leadership.
DLA J8 operates in 7 CONUS locations, encompasses over 700 personnel, and ensures the following occurs:
- DLA financial compliance is maintained across several DLA and non-DLA owned systems
- Obtains and oversees execution of $1.2B of Total Obligation Authority (TOA) for 6 appropriations
- Manages DLA Enterprise Sales / Revenue $45.2B (Supply Chain Management $32.3B, Energy $12.6B, and Document Services $306M)
- Maintains sufficient cash balances within the approved operating ranges
- Partners with Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) to support our warfighters with financing and resourcing end-to-end supply chain material which contributes to the readiness of the Military Services.
DLA Finance is further refined by operational processes which each division provides oversight of and can be viewed from four aspects: Command and Control operations, Budget and Resource Management operations, Finance and Accounting operations, and business/field activity operations.
Command and Control
Predominantly, guidance-instructions and other command and control functions is handled by the Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer and assisted by the DLA Finance Human Capital Office director and other relevant Finance leadership upon request. The Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer also help represent Finance issues to DLA senior leadership governance bodies and also bring back operational issues which are of DLA operational concern.
Resource Management
The budget and resource management division and branches help support the planning, programming, and budget execution of DLA’s fiscal budget. This division also serves as the member of enterprise Integrated Acquisition Review Board (IARM). They are responsible for overall direction and guidance for the development and submission of the DLA’s Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF), DLA’s Strategic Materials program and this includes programming, budget justification, presentation and execution. The budget and resource management elements are also responsible for administration of the Defense-Wide Working Capital Fund (DWWCF) cash account to include monitoring outlays, assessing impact, reporting monthly status to OSD, and recommending improvement actions. This division is also responsible for the Capital Investment Program, to include all programming, budgeting, and execution.
Accounting and Financial Operations
The Accounting and Financial Operations Divisional elements are responsible for providing agency oversight on all accounting and financial services operations. Tracks and reports on agencywide accounting metrics. They are also the primary liaison with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for Accounting Operations and Agency Reporting. This division certifies funds for the agency at the appropriation level; additionally, they develop, implement and integrate DLA’s CFO reporting efforts to include the submission of DLA financial statements.
Major Subordinate Commands (MSCs)
The major subordinate commands (MSCs), or business units, have financial personnel assigned to work at each of the various sites. They are responsible for the administration of financial resources and implementation of financial management policies including planning, programming, budgeting, funds control, unit cost, pricing, financial performance analysis, financial services, and financial process management. The site Comptrollers are the principal advisor on financial management, resource allocation and the budget for a multibillion-dollar worldwide logistics mission. Each site works closely with Headquarters Budget and Resource management to ensure adequate financing is available for multiple Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF) business areas.