The Department of Defense has awarded contracts to independent public accounting firms to conduct audits of current year appropriated funds, or what has been referred to as the schedule of budgetary activity (SBA) for all of the military services. The contract for the audit of the Army was awarded to KPMG on Dec. 1. The contract for the audit of the Air Force was awarded to Ernst & Young on Dec. 2, and the contract for the Navy audit was awarded to Cotton & Company on Dec. 3. Details are available on our regular contract information website. The firms will commence these SBA audits in January 2015 following an initial planning period with final audit results not expected until November 2015. This is a current year funds audit and not a full budgetary statement audit; but along with other ongoing audit efforts this will bring over 90 percent of the department's general fund fiscal year 2015 dollars under audit. There is much left to be done, but this level of rigor will help the department focus on those areas that require the most attention. While these audits were originally announced in September, the awarding of these contracts is another milestone towards the department's ultimate goal to achieve full audit readiness by the end of fiscal year 2017. Subsequent contracts will be required as the scope of coverage expands to meet this goal.