1
FC Principles: Stewardship
Alvaro Rosel
U.S. Army Finance and Comptroller School
FC BOLC 02-2022
April 22, 2022
2
In the Army, stewardship is the principle of taking care of soldiers and civilians and
ensuring that military resources are used correctly. Soldiers and military leaders need to be
stewards of the Army to establish mutual trust and earn the support of U.S. citizens. In FM
operations, FM leaders need to be stewards of essential resources since legislation allocates
them annual funds.
FM 1-06 states that stewardship “is the Army’s responsibility to the American people
to manage and properly utilize the resources provided to the Army in a manner that reflects
and matches the trust and confidence in which those resources are given” (pg. 1-2).
Therefore, FM leaders are responsible for creating and enforcing internal controls so that
resources are properly recorded and used. For example, a brigade S8 needs to have
procedures in place to track invoices, good receipts, and verify that funds are available to pay
vendors/contractors. It is the S8s job to properly record the resource (funds), so that units are
confident they can manage funds correctly. The Army entrusts us (Commanders and FM
leaders) to manage the funds we receive through appropriations, so we are stewards of Army
dollars.
In addition, FM 1-06 states for FM leaders to maintain stewardship, they need to
“improve financial reporting to achieve auditable financial statements and build a competent
and trained FM workforce for the future” (pg. 7-3). This is important since the Army is
subject to audits every year, and the public can see the financial statements online. For
example, during the past couple of years, the Army has received a disclaimer of opinion,
which displays that the auditor wasn’t able to obtain sufficient auditable evidence. FM
leaders failed to maintain stewardship since they didn’t maintain an audit trail of quality
records of transactions and payments. Although there are not consequences for receiving a
disclaimer opinion, Americans lose trust in the Army using their tax dollars appropriately.
3
After reading and researching the other five FC principles, I decided to write about
stewardship because of my background in accounting and auditing. Stewardship in Army
finance is comparable to what I was taught in my undergraduate accounting classes, and to
what I continue to build upon in my civilian job as an accountant. For example, as a cost
accountant in the industry, I practice stewardship every day when I post journal entries from
cost centers to internal orders or vice versa. I take screenshots before and after posting the
transactions, and I document any emails as sufficient evidence. This allows our internal and
external audit teams to have full visibility of our accounting procedures, and it leaves an audit
trail to make it easier for auditors to conduct their yearly audits. The internal conduct I
conduct in my job build stewardship because I’m ensuring that we are managing the
companies cost correctly similar to how FM leaders use GFEBS to manage cost for their
units.
In addition, I chose stewardship because I feel like it is the most important principle
since it directly involves building trust with the American people. The civilian sector is
constantly monitoring how much federal spending is allocated to the military yearly, so we
need to ensure that we are using our budgets appropriately since it comes from taxpayer
dollars. As soldiers and FM leaders, it is not only our job to win wars, but we also must
minimize costs while doing so. FM 1-06 states, “FM leaders must understand that
effectiveness describes how well consumed resources achieve the desired outcome or end
state. Efficiency speaks to the manner in which those resources are consumed in order to
produce the maximum amount of output with the least amount of input, regardless of whether
the output achieves the desired outcome – ‘doing things the right way’” (pg. 1-2). Although
our primary focus as soldiers is to complete the mission, as FM leaders we must keep in mind
efficiency is vital to our operation as well.
4
The biggest takeaway I gained from my research on stewardship is to not only
demonstrate the principle itself, but I also need to remind NCOs and junior enlisted soldiers
the importance of stewardship. Since a unit is mostly ran by NCOs and junior enlisted
soldiers it is important for finance officers to demonstrate how stewardship looks and instill it
every day. For example, in a disbursement office the lower enlisted soldiers have hands on
cash throughout the day and are making the transactions. It is vital for them to be stewards of
the cash they disburse or receive. If they lack the principle of stewardship, then money can be
mishandled, and the FM leader will have issues closing out business at the end of the day.
A key takeaway I gained from the principle is to also remind my fellow lieutenants to
be stewards of government resources. When I was on state active duty in the Texas Army
National Guard, there were lieutenants that would use government vehicles at their own
leisure instead of using them for the mission. For example, one lieutenant made the news for
driving a government vehicle intoxicated while on mission. This situation not only makes the
individual look bad, but it also makes the National Guard look like they are not using
taxpayer dollars correctly. In my opinion, reminding lieutenants about the principle of
stewardship, and the consequences we may face if we lack that principle, ensures that
resources will be used correctly. It also ensures that the American people can trust that we’re
using their tax dollars for mission essential tasks.
In conclusion, stewardship is the most important principle in FM operations because it
ties civilians and soldiers together. Stewardship ensures that the Army and civilians entrust
each other, so the military can be complete missions. As FM leaders, we need to enforce
internal controls in our daily FM operations, so we can minimize our costs in garrison and
down range. Furthermore, a key takeaway that I learned from this principle is to ensure that
stewardship is displayed in all ranks in the unit, which is important to the perspective of how
civilians view the military.
5
Reference
Headquarter, Department of the Army (April 2014). FM 1-06 Financial Management
Operations (pg. 1-2 & pg. 7-3). https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/fm1_06.pdf