Over the last two years, auditors have checked capital assets against the information in Accountable Property Systems of Record (APSRs).
Unfortunately, auditors consistently find serial numbers on equipment that don’t match the serial numbers in the property book.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is since Army equipment is regularly operated, inspected and serviced, these discrepancies are easily avoided. Chapter 9 of DA PAM 710-2-1,
Using Unit Supply System (Manual Procedures), Dec 16
, provides detailed guidance, but Soldiers should confirm serial numbers are correct when:
- serial numbered items are received from the Supply Support Activity (SSA) or a program manager
- equipment is issued on a hand receipt or sub-hand receipt
- change of hand receipt holder, annual, cyclic or by exception inventories are conducted.
- property Book Officers (PBOs) change while there is unissued property.
- filling out maintenance management forms and records.
- adding equipment to maintenance automated systems.
If the responsible party does identify a minor error, the unit identifies the error to the PBO by submitting an Administrative Adjustment Report on DA Form 4949. Before processing the adjustment, the PBO will conduct causative research and determine the cause of the error.
The PBO cannot do a simple adjustment if the research shows the difference in serials wasn’t due to an obvious error; the change involves more than two characters on a sensitive item; or there’s a possibility of substituting one item for another.
In those cases, a Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss is required. Another problem the auditors found is units’ difficulty providing prompt provided by client (PBC) packets containing ownership documents for issued equipment.
PBOs should build PBCs for capital assets that include the following documents:
- Picture of equipment data plate
- DA Form 3161, Request for Issue or Turn-in; DA Form 1348, Issue Release/Receipt Document; or DA Form 2765-1, Request for Issue or Turn-in
- GCSS-Army screenshots showing that the asset is on the commander’s hand receipt.
- Primary hand receipt including the page that the asset is on and the signature page
If the asset isn’t available because it was laterally transferred or turned in, the unit’s PBC packets should include:
- a DD Form 1348-1a, Issue Release/Receipt document.
- a Proposed Sourcing Decision (PSD) from the Decision Support Tool (DST). The PSD shows the orders issued that outline what should be turned in for disposition.
- a DA Form 3161, Request for Issue or Turn-in, to show ownership or movement if the asset have been transferred to another unit.
Audits are here to stay, so it’s smart for units to prepare ahead of time. Ensuring your equipment is mission ready also ensures it’s audit ready.