Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) completed a thorough financial audit displaying transparency, accountability, and success in ensuring effective use of resources, 17 May.

For the last several weeks, Naval Medical Center San Diego has worked with financial experts from Defense Health Agency’s Financial Reporting and Compliance (FRC) team and other DHA representatives to prepare for an internal control walkthrough by the Independent Public Accountant, Kearney and Company.

Kearney is a certified public accountant firm that specializes in the federal government’s financial operations and compliance with accountability standards. This undertaking is designed to review business operations at selected DHA military treatment facilities to understand their impacts on the Fiscal Year 2024 DHP Financial Statement.

"In today’s dynamic environment, the significance of the audit process cannot be understated," said Cmdr. Jody Phillips, NMCSD Resource Management director. "The objective for financial audit is predetermined and not defined by the audit organization. The generic objective is to provide an opinion on whether the financial statements are presented fairly in all material aspects."

Audit requirements, policy, and guidance are issued by Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), OMB, and the President’s Council on integrity and efficiency. Specifically, standards for financial audits stem from the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) issued by the GAO, as well as GAAS’s issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

With these standards in mind, the site visit presents the hospital with the opportunity to showcase how well the execution of business processes align with these fiscal policies. The FR&C team has helped navigate this process to assess the current state of operations and to highlight areas for compliance improvement. After reviewing evidentiary matter and work products produced from the sessions, best practices will be shared with the rest of the DHA for reference and guidance.

"Besides reaching the intended goal of analyzing MTF level impact on DHP Financial Statements, the audit walkthrough process is important for other reasons," said Phillips. "At the forefront of the audit walkthrough is maintaining accountability to our stakeholders, taxpayers, and patients. As stewards of fiscal resources, it is increasingly important for DHA’s MTFs to maintain stringent adherence to fiscal standards. This process ensures NMCSD is doing its part to maintain effectiveness in business operations, maintaining high levels of accountability, and protecting funds from fraud, waste, and abuse. This process at the aggregate level ensures the efficiency and transparency of operations."

"Thanks to the hard work from NMCSD financial and logistics teams, in collaboration with the visiting groups from DHA and the IPA, this has been a successful evolution aligned with a high reliability organization," said Phillips. "NMCSD leadership is confident that the hospital is engaging in sound business practices to ensure optimal allocation of resources for its beneficiaries and taxpayers. NMCSD is thankful to all the participants for their dedication and professionalism in this endeavor and look forward to continuing partnership moving toward a clean financial opinion."

NMCSD's mission is to provide a superior experience for our staff, patients, and warfighters; and, to deliver exceptional care afloat and ashore while being the preferred choice and leader in compassionate and innovative healthcare. NMCSD employs more than 5,000 active duty military personnel, civilians and contractors in Southern California to provide patients with world-class care anytime, anywhere. (U.S. Navy story by Lt. Nathaniel Masson)

Story originally posted on DVIDS: Financial excellence, accountability demonstrated at NMCSD