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FROM THE CSM OF THE CORPS

Finance & Comptroller Teammates,
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As we navigate a period of continuous transformation across the Army, the
Finance Corps stands at a pivotal juncture. The winds of change are blowing,

not as a storm to weather, but as a current to harness, propelling us toward a
more agile, lethal, and data-centric future. From the resurgence of
competency-based assessments to the groundbreaking integration of our
systems, we are not merely adapting; we are leading the charge. This is a
moment to reflect on our legacy of precision and integrity as we embrace the
innovations that will define the next generation of financial warriors.
CSM Rodland
Many of our seasoned NCOs will recall the Skill Qualification Test (SQT) of the past, a rigorous
measure of a soldier's ability to perform their job under pressure. We are now seeing a return to
this fundamental principle with the Army's new focus on competency assessments. This initiative
is a welcome one, shifting the focus from simply knowing the material to demonstrating true
mastery of our craft. For the Finance Corps, this means a renewed emphasis on the practical
application of all our skills, ensuring that all NCOs who transition from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant
and Staff Sergeant to Sergeant First Class, are masters of their trade, ready to provide accurate and
timely financial support in any operational environment. The Finance & Comptroller School is
currently piloting the new competency assessment with Advanced Leaders Course (ALC) and
Senior Leaders Course (SLC); the Army is anticipating full implementation by fiscal year 2027. The
future use of this competency assessment is to validate an NCO’s technical knowledge before
getting selected to attend professional military education (PME); there are also discussions about
changing promotion policies to make passing this assessment a pre-requisite for the promotion
board. We are continuing to refine the test questions to ensure they are appropriate and fair based
on the next skill level before these ultimately get transferred to the education centers where they
will be conducted via a proxy.

The future of enlisted PME, specifically ALC and SLC, is undergoing significant and necessary
evolution, driven by Army senior leaders’ (ASLs) vision for a more adaptable and strategically
minded NCO Corps. This reform emphasizes the principles that define the difference of what is
expected from institutional training versus what Commanders are responsible for in the operational
force. The institutional training from the schoolhouse will focus on educating and validating our
NCOs at echelon on critical tasks that the operational force is not required to train and certify. The
operational forces remain unchanged in that Commanders are responsible for training and
certifying their formations. The other factor being looked at is ensuring NCOs are not receiving the
same training from one level of PME to the next. Army senior leaders also directed a reduction of
all ALC (-3 weeks) and SLC (-2 weeks) PME down to three weeks, with the only exceptions apply to
those specific branches that teach a certification during PME. An example of this is the
Transportation Corps which is responsible for the US Army Maritime licensing program. Our
training department has already created the new lesson plans, and we will pilot the first iteration of
this reduced PME to our last class in fiscal year 2026 before going live March of 2027.

The transition of the military pay mission to the Human Resources community, facilitated by the
Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A), represents one of the most significant
changes to our Corps in decades. This move streamlines countless processes, integrating
personnel and pay actions into a single, transparent system. Currently IPPS-A has only integrated
10 format identifiers (FIDs) and 27 transaction identification numbers (TINs). The Finance Corps is
ensuring responsibility of military pay until all FIDs and TINs are fully implemented into IPPS-A and
the Adjutant General Corps has implemented the appropriate training. The Army Military Pay
Offices (AMPOs) are primarily conducting all the Army’s military pay transactions, with a few
exceptions to include our deployed areas of operation. It is imperative that our Finance soldiers
and NCOs maintain proficiency with military pay operations for contingency purposes.

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