I was glad to see the Jan. 25 front-page analysis “DOD nowhere near ready for financial audit.” Getting the Defense Department’s financial house in order is everyone’s job, and getting that message out is one of our biggest hurdles to success. Being able to pass a financial audit means we have to be able to show a paper trail on every single transaction. With 3 million employees, some 5,000 locations, and $2 trillion in assets, that’s a big job.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has directed all hands to make this happen as soon as possible and has said, “I will engage in this effort personally — auditability is a goal that every commander, every manager, and every functional specialist must understand and embrace to improve efficiency and accountability at the DOD.”

Here’s how Stars and Stripes readers can help: Each command is issued a certain amount of funds. We need to provide support for the status of those funds. Just as we would expect to see maintenance records supporting the readiness of an aircraft, we need to see contracts, receiving reports, timesheets, invoices and disbursement records to support the status of these funds. We will achieve the secretary’s goal when we treat the control of money with even a fraction of the level of attention we give other important assets.

We’ve made a lot of progress; we can now audit a dollar amount equivalent to many other federal agencies, but we have more work to do. Everyone can help turn this around. We know that efforts to better control and use our financial assets have a major affect on mission success. As Gen. David Petraeus said, “Money’s the most important ammunition we have in this fight.”