What is the role of a Departmental Accountable Official?

The role of a Departmental Accountable Official primarily involves ensuring the accuracy of travel expense reports. This responsibility is crucial because accurate reporting is essential for maintaining financial integrity and accountability within the department. By verifying these reports, the Accountable Official helps ensure that all expenditures related to travel are documented correctly, aligned with policies, and justifiable. This scrutiny is vital in preventing errors and potential misuse of funds.

While managing travel budget allocations, overseeing compliance with travel policies, and approving travel requests are significant tasks, they do not specifically encompass the primary responsibility of verifying expense report accuracy. Instead, these tasks may be part of broader roles related to budget management or compliance, which are essential in their own right but distinct from the core verification function.