THE EVOLUTION OF AUDIT IN THE ARMY The audit function has been an integral part of the Army from its inception. As you trace the audit function in the Army through the years, you can see the scope of the audit mission grow. The audit function began as a verification of vouchers prior to payment to full scope audits addressing program effectiveness and the economy and efficiency of operations. It also became apparent as the audit mission grew that the function needed to be more independent. The audit function moved from being a line function under the control of the finance department to an organizationally independent function reporting directly to the Secretary of the Army. A final trend you see throughout the evolution of the audit function is an effort to centralize the function to make it more cost effective and to eliminate duplication. In this article we will trace the audit function in the Army from its inception and show how the mission increased, and the function became more independent and centralized. Era of 100 percent Audits World War II Forces Changes to Audit Process The 1950's and 1960's Bring Significant Changes to Audit Process The 1970's Brings More Changes in the Audit Mission and Significant Organizational Changes Changes to the Audit Mission Continue in the 1990's Army Audit Agency Today Era of 100 percent Audits The auditing function has been an integral part of the Army's management control system from the very ...