Potential Improvements in Defense Commisary Agency (DeCA) Decision Making if Grocery Industry Financial Reporting Formats and Methodology is Utilized.

The Defense Commissary Agency DeCA holds a unique position within the Department of Defense DoD by being the only agency that runs a self-sustaining operation. As such, its operations run closely to that of the private sector, in particular the grocery industry. DeCA currently utilizes a standardized federal reporting format for its three principal statements, per Office of Management and Budget guidelines. The Statement of Cash Flows is the only statement of the three whose format is conducive to providing beneficial information to an external user Congress, citizens, etc.. The Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Position formats, on the other hand, provide useful information to the Office of Management and Budget, but not to the external user. This thesis examines DeCAs financial statements, and discusses the shortcomings of the two statements formats. It further proposes new formats which are more aligned with grocery industry formats, and conducts comparative analysis with two grocery firms and the grocery industry as a whole.