95th Comptroller Squadron bids goodbye to fiscal 2008

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  As the clock struck at 12 a.m. Oct. 1, the 95th Comptroller Squadron here ended fiscal 2008 and welcomed fiscal 2009. 

The 95th CPTS personnel worked non-stop to wrap up financial accounting for the end of the fiscal year, in time for 2009. 

A fiscal year is a 12-month period, often referred to as a tax-year, said Margarita Hoffman, 95th CPTS budget analyst. It is used to determine annual financial budgets for businesses and other organizations. It was established specifically not to coincide with a calendar year but to allow organizations to close their books at a time most convenient for them. For the federal government, the fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30. 

"Basically what we have to do at the end of the fiscal year is finalize the execution plans that organizations developed months in advance in order to accomplish their mission requirements," Ms. Hoffman said. "A successful end of year closeout depends on the coordinated efforts between the resource advisors, the contracting community, (Defense Financial Accounting Service) and the comptroller squadron."

That means balancing Air Force Flight Test Center's obligation authority of about $ 1 billion from Air Force Materiel Command throughout the fiscal year. 

"We have to work through that incrementally," said Sandi Perry, 95th CPTS deputy comptroller. "There's just a lot of balancing act we have to do behind the scenes. The AFMC wants all the money to be obligated before the end of fiscal 2008." 

The 95th CPTS has various types of funds they have to balance to ensure they have enough funding to back up the contracts. This fiscal year, Edwards received $51 million for additional authority for Global War on Terrorism projects. 

"We had some quality of life money, and processing those takes time," Ms. Perry said. "We have to find out who is going to do the requirements and get the money to them. They have to issue a funding document, and the contracting have to work with the vendors." 

In addition, the 95th CPTS has to ensure any outstanding travel orders and government purchase cards were closed out. 

Working through midnight and beyond, they also met challenges, one of which is the DFAS system. 

"We were having system issues," said Ms. Perry. "The contracts weren't interfacing with the finance system. We have to print out the copy, take them to contracting officers, have them signed and fax them to DFAS. Normally, that is an automatic interface." 

However, the biggest challenge they faced was the continuous pouring of money from AFMC. 

"At 11:30 in the evening, we were still getting money from the command, and they want us to obligate them," Ms. Perry said. "Because we are the last AFMC base in the time zone, money falling through from other bases eventually comes to us. They were pulling these resources to us before midnight. But we got it done." 

According to her, the 95th CPTS won't be able to accomplish their mission without the support and help of all Edwards organizations. 

"We can't do our job without them," she said. "We are like the middleman. We are sending the money out, and we are getting the requirements, trying to get the documents from contracting and getting all the sources obligated. This year, I cannot think of a single person on base who hasn't been touched by the funding we have for this year. I am appreciative of that."