One month, one function: the financial execution of the armed forces

In operations, the financial support of the forces is ensured by the interarm support administration center for operations (CIAO), the chief financial officer of expenses on behalf of the joint chiefs of staff. The CIAO provides financial support for the forces in external operations, operational missions, inter-services and inter-allied exercises, elements of national support integrated into NATO/EU staffs, and French Navy ships and Air and Space Force aircraft on foreign stopovers.

The financial support provided by the Commissariat des armées for operations is based on vectors adapted to operational needs: acquisition settlements on quotes or formalized in the form of orders or provision of cash advances allowing soldiers to have liquidity when deployed in the field. To ensure this financial support, the CIAO provides resources at all times and in all places, relying on a comprehensive range of means: purchase cards, centralized payment, link to embassy cash desks, provision of funds, etc. The objective? To meet the operational needs of the forces and ensure the strength of military administration.

Another key player in the financial execution of the armed forces: the interarm support center for third-party support and internal control (CIMCI), responsible for third-party support in the finance and asset accounting domains carried out by the 18 executing services of the Commissariat des armées, Commissariat Support Groups (GSC), 58 military treasuries, which it manages, 275 sub-military treasuries, and 38 cash desks, and acts for their benefit as an expert. The CIMCI thus implements regulations and exploits feedback by disseminating directives, handbooks, operating procedures, and best practices. It closely supports the actors, preparing them particularly before their deployment or overseas transfer, through video conferences and interviews in Rambouillet.

In support of the central directorate, it coordinates and ensures the management, within the SCA, of the ministry’s financial policy. As a functional expert in the finance domain and the managing director of purchase cards and business cards for the Commissariat des armées, the CIMCI conducts studies, provides opinions, deploys financial modernization programs, and supports network structuring. It designs and monitors performance indicators. Also functional project manager, it ensures the development of the interministerial accounting information system Cristal-NG used by military treasurers and managers of the SCA, the national gendarmerie, the adapted military service, and units of instruction and intervention of the civil security (UIISC).

The CIMCI also carries out annual budget programming, participates in the construction of multi-year budgeting, identifies the needs of the organizations of the Commissariat des armées, determines their budgets, and monitors their execution.