Welcome to the Finance AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in the Finance career field and current officers in Finance. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Questions
Cadets, post questions here as comments on this post that you'd like to see turned into new threads for discussion.
Long Version-- I'll start by explaining what a typical "finance" office is made up of at a base. The squadron is called the Comptroller Squadron. The comptroller is the commander of the squadron and reports directly to the wing commander. The comtroller squadron is basically broken down into 2 parts: the finance office and the budget office. These are the 2 main areas a LT will work.
Finance Office: The finance office is where all military and civilian employees would go to have pay issues resolved, get paid for travel, etc. As a LT you might be in charge of this entire office (15-50 people) or supervise just a portion of it. You may get lots of random jobs from your commander, work complex pay problems/issues that come up that a typical airmen can't get fixed, respond to taskings from the MAJCOM, provide pre-deployment and re-deployment information to large groups if your base deploys often, report to your commander on whatever questions he might have, and lots of other random things that no one else is responsible for and you get to do just because you are the LT.
Budget Office: I haven't worked here yet, but basically the budget office controls the money that the base operates on. The budget officer will usually be at least a 1Lt. A 2Lt in the budget office will probably be doing the same work as any NCO. The money you work with here is much larger values than what you will work with in the finance office and it gets more attention because of it. The majority of the work here comes in phases based on when the money has been passed down from Congress to the AF and finaly to the bases. You gets lots of face time with squadron/group/wing commanders depending on what area you are working and this can be good if you want to make a name for yourself.
The nice thing is that you do many different things everyday and you aren't just pushing paper all the time, but the majority of your work is done either on the computer sitting at a desk or on the phone.
Short Version-- So what does a finance officer do? Learn your job well so that you can give the right answers when you need to (not very hard usually) and also keep your NCOs happy so that they make you look good and take care of you.
I probably should have introduced myself in my first post.
My name is Rick Fry, class of 2005. I am from Yorba Linda, CA (Orange County area) and I am currently assigned at Ellsworth AFB, SD. I got married in July 2005 to Annie and amazingly enough we have found a way to enjoy SD. Ellsworth is just outside of Rapid City, SD. It is the sort of town that grows on you, but not enough to make me want to stay here longer than I have to.
Is this interesting and hands on to an extent or just pushing papers?
I actually enjoy my job and find what I do interesting. I might be in the minority on this so don't take my word for it. I wouldn't say it is paper pushing, but 90% of it is a desk job.
What does the job entail and is it good for joint spouse?
My wife is not military so I can't comment from personal experience, but I would think this job would be good for joint spouse. There is a comptroller squadron or at least some form of a finance office at every base so you would be able to go wherever your spouse went. The hardest part would be your tech school and your spouses tech school or pilot training the first couple years since they would likely be in different locations
What kind of leadership lattitude are you given when you're in charge of the 15-50 person office? Do you have to run things the way they've always been run?
Are there any finance jobs working specific programs, like the F-22 or F-35?
What kind of leadership lattitude are you given when you're in charge of the 15-50 person office? Do you have to run things the way they've always been run?
I would say this really depends on the success (or lack of) the office is achieving when you arrive and the lattitude your boss gives you. When you first come in you'll be the new LT on the block and honestly you won't know anything even after you have gone to your finance tech school and ASBC. If you tried to change things right away because you think it would be a good idea, you would have about as much success as Dr. Green would have trying out for the Lakers. Before you do much of anything to change things, you need to learn your job and prove yourself as a good lieutenant so that your NCOs will trust you. After several months you'll start to understand how things really work, the politics of the office, etc. and you'll be more equipped to exercise your leadership capability.
Are there any finance jobs working specific programs, like the F-22 or F-35?
Developing weapons systems like these fall more into the acquisitions side of finance. You can get into this area, but it will probably down the road and not your first assignment.
6 comments:
Is this interesting and hands on to an extent or just pushing papers?
What does the job entail and is it good for joint spouse?
What exactly does a finance officer do???
Long Version--
I'll start by explaining what a typical "finance" office is made up of at a base. The squadron is called the Comptroller Squadron. The comptroller is the commander of the squadron and reports directly to the wing commander. The comtroller squadron is basically broken down into 2 parts: the finance office and the budget office. These are the 2 main areas a LT will work.
Finance Office:
The finance office is where all military and civilian employees would go to have pay issues resolved, get paid for travel, etc. As a LT you might be in charge of this entire office (15-50 people) or supervise just a portion of it. You may get lots of random jobs from your commander, work complex pay problems/issues that come up that a typical airmen can't get fixed, respond to taskings from the MAJCOM, provide pre-deployment and re-deployment information to large groups if your base deploys often, report to your commander on whatever questions he might have, and lots of other random things that no one else is responsible for and you get to do just because you are the LT.
Budget Office:
I haven't worked here yet, but basically the budget office controls the money that the base operates on. The budget officer will usually be at least a 1Lt. A 2Lt in the budget office will probably be doing the same work as any NCO. The money you work with here is much larger values than what you will work with in the finance office and it gets more attention because of it. The majority of the work here comes in phases based on when the money has been passed down from Congress to the AF and finaly to the bases. You gets lots of face time with squadron/group/wing commanders depending on what area you are working and this can be good if you want to make a name for yourself.
The nice thing is that you do many different things everyday and you aren't just pushing paper all the time, but the majority of your work is done either on the computer sitting at a desk or on the phone.
Short Version--
So what does a finance officer do? Learn your job well so that you can give the right answers when you need to (not very hard usually) and also keep your NCOs happy so that they make you look good and take care of you.
I probably should have introduced myself in my first post.
My name is Rick Fry, class of 2005. I am from Yorba Linda, CA (Orange County area) and I am currently assigned at Ellsworth AFB, SD. I got married in July 2005 to Annie and amazingly enough we have found a way to enjoy SD. Ellsworth is just outside of Rapid City, SD. It is the sort of town that grows on you, but not enough to make me want to stay here longer than I have to.
Is this interesting and hands on to an extent or just pushing papers?
I actually enjoy my job and find what I do interesting. I might be in the minority on this so don't take my word for it. I wouldn't say it is paper pushing, but 90% of it is a desk job.
What does the job entail and is it good for joint spouse?
My wife is not military so I can't comment from personal experience, but I would think this job would be good for joint spouse. There is a comptroller squadron or at least some form of a finance office at every base so you would be able to go wherever your spouse went. The hardest part would be your tech school and your spouses tech school or pilot training the first couple years since they would likely be in different locations
What kind of leadership lattitude are you given when you're in charge of the 15-50 person office? Do you have to run things the way they've always been run?
Are there any finance jobs working specific programs, like the F-22 or F-35?
What kind of leadership lattitude are you given when you're in charge of the 15-50 person office? Do you have to run things the way they've always been run?
I would say this really depends on the success (or lack of) the office is achieving when you arrive and the lattitude your boss gives you. When you first come in you'll be the new LT on the block and honestly you won't know anything even after you have gone to your finance tech school and ASBC. If you tried to change things right away because you think it would be a good idea, you would have about as much success as Dr. Green would have trying out for the Lakers. Before you do much of anything to change things, you need to learn your job and prove yourself as a good lieutenant so that your NCOs will trust you. After several months you'll start to understand how things really work, the politics of the office, etc. and you'll be more equipped to exercise your leadership capability.
Are there any finance jobs working specific programs, like the F-22 or F-35?
Developing weapons systems like these fall more into the acquisitions side of finance. You can get into this area, but it will probably down the road and not your first assignment.
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