Dedicated team behind eFinance success

  • Published
  • By Lois Walsh
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Last week was a very good one for Master Sergeant Brian Cerney and the 96th Comptroller Squadron's Financial Services Flight.

Sergeant Cerney, the installation liaison with the Air Force's Financial Services Center, was one of 22 selected for promotion to the rank of senior master sergeant. He was also recognized by Col. William Porter, 96th Air Base Wing's vice commander, for making significant changes in the Air Force's web-based eFinance system.

Sergeant Cerney and his team review more than 1,500 travel vouchers a month, one of the largest volumes at any Air Force Materiel Command base. They noticed the center required members to provide itemized receipts for all expenses listed on Actual Expense forms when receipts are only required for items over $75. Eliminating the need for so many receipts has cut down on the number of times vouchers are sent back from the center.

It's simplified the process, and alleviated a hardship on members, retirees and dependents by not delaying their payment," he said.

Another suggestion was to add the capability for the finance office to upload additional documentation instead of sending it back to the customer for corrections.

"For instance, if members scanned in all the supporting documents but forgot to scan the back of orders, we had to send it back to them when many times we have the order on file. Now we can scan the document and add it to the voucher which minimizes the delay for the members," Sergeant Cerney said.

Colonel Porter said those types of initiatives are what needs to be done in the Air Force.

"We need to work beyond rigid bureaucracy," he said, "and keep customer focus at heart."

Sergeant Cerney counts heavily on his 28-person team to help him identify changes. He spent four years as a first sergeant and knows the input from those working the issues is critical to the flight's success. Voucher submitted using eFinance tend to get paid quicker than paper copies.

"Using this program is so much better for the members because they can maintain visibility of their document from when they submit it all the way through to the processing center," he said. "It helps us to maintain the accountability of their documents as well."

Financial Services Flight Chief Kelly Shubert said the flight continues to brief and provide training for customers on the eFinance system. She said the system is faster and it allows for the staff to focus on customer service for customers with more complex vouchers.

"We can spend more time with customers who are coming back from extended TDYs, be much more hands-on, provide better customer service and a better understanding of what their entitlements are to make sure we don't miss anything, it's important," Ms. Shubert said.

Ms. Shubert said most customers like to file their vouchers themselves.

"It's in their best interest when their voucher gets processed in a timely manner because it affects their government travel card, which is critical," Ms. Shubert said.

The financial services customer service section is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., but eFinance is open 24 hours a day.