Comptroller of the United States Army

The Comptroller of the Army has General Staff responsibility for independent review and analysis of Army programs, and analysis of major Army commands; finance and accounting, fiscal, audit, budgetary, progress and statistical reporting, reports control, cost analysis, and management analysis activities of the Army; legislative policies and programs pertaining to appropriation acts; management systems of the Army; overall management improvement; and analysis of Army organization, functions, and procedures. He exercises General Staff supervision over Chief, United States Army Audit Agency. The Comptroller of the Army is under the direction and supervision of, and is directly responsible to, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management), for financial management matters, by delegation of the Secretary of the Army, with concurrent responsibility to the Chief of Staff. The Comptroller of the Army's relationship to the Chief of Staff corresponds to that of a Deputy Chief of Staff.[1] The last person to hold this position was Lt. Gen. Merle Freitag until his retirement in 1994. After his retirement, the office was abolished and the position was combined with the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management). After that, the position was renamed the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller).