Global InformationDefense Finance and Accounting Service information
 Official seal | |
 Official logo | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Employees | >12,000 |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent department | Department of Defense |
| Website | www.dfas.mil |
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The DFAS was established in 1991 under the authority, direction, and control of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer to strengthen and reduce costs of financial management and operations within the DOD. The DFAS is responsible for all payments to servicemembers, employees, vendors, and contractors. It provides business intelligence and finance and accounting information to DOD decisionmakers. The DFAS is also responsible for preparing annual financial statements and the consolidation, standardization, and modernization of finance and accounting requirements, functions, processes, operations, and systems for the DOD.[2]
One of the most visible responsibilities of the DFAS is handling military pay. The DFAS pays all DoD military and civilian personnel, retirees and annuitants, as well as major DoD contractors and vendors. The DFAS also supports customers outside the DoD in support of electronic government initiatives. Customers include the Executive Office of the President, Department of Energy, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of State, U.S. Agency for Global Media and Foreign partners.[3]
The DFAS is a working capital fund agency financed by reimbursement of operating costs from its governmental customers (mostly the military service departments) rather than through direct appropriations. The DFAS remains the world's largest finance and accounting operation.[4]
In FY 2019, the DFAS:[5]
- Processed 140.8 million pay transactions (~6.5 million people/accounts)
- Made 6.2 million travel payments
- Paid 15.1 million commercial invoices
- Maintained 98 million General Ledger accounts
- Managed $1.17 trillion in Military Retirement and Health Benefits Funds
- Made $558 billion in disbursements
- Managed $616.6 billion in Foreign Military Sales (reimbursed by foreign governments)
- Accounted for 1,349 active DoD appropriations
- ^ DFAS Leadership
- ^ Office of the Federal Register. (n.d.). Defense Finance and Accounting Service. In the United States Government Manual. Accessed on April 11, 2017.
- ^ "Defense Finance and Accounting Service". www.dfas.mil. Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
- ^ Defense Finance and Accounting Service. (2016, December 21). Agency Overview. Accessed on April 11, 2017.
- ^ "FY18 Agency Financial Report". www.dfas.mil. Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Retrieved April 6, 2019.