Keepers of the 'CAN'T Manual': The Role of Financial Managers in Joint Operations

摘要

Financial Management (FM) is not often discussed as a warfighting function. Rather, in the few instances where one can find references to the FM community in academic military literature, it's generally cited as being obstructionist and unnecessarily inhibiting the commander's intent. This is complicated by a general lack of understanding on the part of the warfighter regarding the sources of funds, their restrictions, and the consequences of using them improperly. At the same time, the financial managers all too often retreat to being mere accountants and fail to proactively train to meet the needs of modern warfare. The future will require an expanded role for the financial management community; one that extends beyond navigating appropriation laws and instead reaches out to close the seams between the military, the interagency and the affected region's economic infrastructure. The Comptroller needs to become the Commander's financial expert who can connect commander's intent, economic forces, other governmental and non- governmental organizations and fiscal resources to successfully transition through the phases of modern warfare.