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Air Force Audit Agency: Helping Fairchild, 1 Audit at a time

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Larry Carpenter
  • 92nd ARW Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines audit as "a formal examination of an organization's or individual's accounts or financial situation," but the Air Force likes to see an audit as an opportunity to help. 

In order to understand how an audit agency can help, there must be a basic understanding of what the audit agency is and what it does. 

The Air Force Audit Agency has a very straightforward misson. It accomplishes the internal audit requirements of the United States Air Force and provides timely, value-added audit services to all management levels. 

"We are the only authorized internal audit function in the Air Force," said Luis E. Correa Jr., Fairchild's AFAA team chief. 

The AFAA at Fairchild is responsible for conducting two types of audits: operational and financial. 

The operational audit is associated with such things as economy, efficiency and readiness, while the financial audit deals with the verification of financial data, said Mr. Correa. 

The AFAA's headquarters, headed by a civilian auditor general, is located at the Pentagon and is responsible for audits that involve the Air Staff. 

One would think that with the scope of the AFAA's responsibilities, they would have a rather large shop, but such is not the case. 

The AFAA office here consists of just six personnel who balance the workload for the base audit mission and the associated National Guard. 

"In addition, we are responsible for similar functions at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mo., which we take care of with temporary duty assignments and excellent lines of communication," said Mr. Correa. 

Audits are planned centrally by three major production centers which are located at Brooks AFB, March Air Reserve Base and the third located at Wright Patterson AFB. When need be, commanders can ask for a management requested audit which will be accomplished based on available resources, such as manpower. 

"The commander will come to the agency and identify the problem they are having and ask us to take a look," said Mr. Correa. 

During an audit, both the auditor and the audited organization will be able to identify opportunities for cost-saving measures that will benefit the wing and the Air Force, said Mr. Correa. All requests through the agency are prioritized, with locally scheduled audits having precedence over management-requested audits said Mr. Correa. Once again, the reason for this is available manpower. 

As the Air Force puts more emphasis on the fraud, waste and abuse, the AFAA does their part through audits. 

"In accordance with audit standards, the agency is supposed to look for fraud, waste and abuse and take appropriate actions once identified," said Mr. Correa. Suspected fraud cases are then coordinated with Air Force Office of Special Investigation. 

Contrary to popular belief, the AFAA accomplishes very few surprise audits, and this happens for a reason. The agency is simply trying to identify problem areas so that the organization can fix the problem before the issue gets escalated, said Mr. Correa.
"The organization is a given every reasonable chance to make necessary corrections during the audit," said Mr. Correa. 

Also, the audit agency does not go into an audit blind and simply "look at ever minute aspect of an organization under a microscope," said Mr. Correa. There is rigorous planning and research that goes into an audit to define objectives before auditors even arrive. 

Under the current circumstances, each organization is not necessarily fully audited every year. Instead they will have an annual risk assessment to identify problem areas. 

"With the manning of the agency the way it is, it would be unrealistic for every organization to have a full audit accomplished," said Mr. Correa. 

The results of all the risk assessments are compiled into one document called the End Result Annual Audit Plan, which is distributed to all concerned parties. 

So, in layman's terms, what does the AFAA do? 

"The audit agency provides an independent, objective evaluation of Air Force operations," said Mr. Correa. "In the end, this helps add credibility to the Air Force."