Financial management holds a three day "Mini Top-Dollar" exercise

  • Published
  • By Megan Crusher
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  The 452nd Air Mobility Wing Financial Management Office conducted an exercise dubbed "Mini Top-Dollar" June 8-10 to train and prepare their Airmen for the 2012 Operational Readiness Inspection and real world contingency operations.

The Mini Top-Dollar exercise is based on an exercise the Air Force formerly conducted called Top-Dollar and is now termed contingency training. It's a team building concept in preparation for exercises and any type of financial management readiness situation, said Senior Master Sgt. Cynthia Cropper, deputy dispersing officer

Mini Top-Dollar was beyond an ordinary exercise because it was also a competition. Senior members of FM placed Airmen into two teams of five - Team A and Team B - who tried to outdo each other when creating their financial operations.

To add realism and a sense of urgency, the exercise took place in tents and critiquing began as soon as each team started setting up their offices. Customer service, teamwork, organization and the ability to perform their jobs in a contingency environment were key factors in assessing the effectiveness of each operation.

Both teams brought in tables, chairs, laptops, cash registers and play money to simulate a bare-base environment. Teams counted their cash reserve, balanced their registers and took care of customers who were portrayed by two evaluators.

"What we do is take different scenarios and we put them together to plan and prepare for any of the situations that are going to happen," said Sergeant Cropper.

Team B posted office hours, the commander's policy on travel advances and the current exchange rate for local currency. Airmen performed normal day-to-day operations including military pay and travel vouchers and also functions pertaining only to a deployed location, such as safeguarding funds, bank visits and contracting coordination, said Sergeant Cropper.

Using cash is one of the biggest differences between the two environments and poses a real danger to financial personnel, said Donna McNaught, 452 AMW comptroller. Finance personnel can make several bank runs a day and can be carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash they are responsible for.

In addition to working with and safeguarding cash, they prepare briefings for the commander, provide financial guidance, work with contracting and must understand financial rules and regulations.

"It's not just a matter of whether you have money, it's a matter of is this authorized for us to even buy," said McNaught. "It's very complex and it's a lot of training."

The experience and knowledge the Airmen acquired during the exercise doesn't only pertain to contingency operations. The customer service skills are used everyday right here at March, which is the largest financial operation, with the most work, in Air Force Reserve Command, said McNaught.

The 452 AMW Financial Management Office is also one of the most efficient organizations, paying their members well under the Air Force standard time frame of five days and processing an average of 200 orders a day, said McNaught.

"We deal with Fourth Air Force, we take care of Hickam and Guam, and have detachments in Altus," said McNaught. "Most people don't realize that. They have no idea how far reaching we are with what we do here."

Team B had the best operation and won the competition because of how they set up their work center and organized their program.

"I think (both teams) did great, I'm real proud of all of them," she said.

There was no trophy given to the best team, but two individuals were recognized as the superior performer and outstanding new performer. The superior performer was Senior Airman Jack De Lara, travel pay technician. The outstanding new performer was Senior Airman Terri Baker, travel pay technician.

FM plans to conduct the Mini Top-Dollar exercise annually and would like to invite other bases to compete against them.