Departmental Accountable Officials: What Federal Law Says About Personal Liability

Last reviewed: October 3, 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice. Agency regulations add detailed procedures, so check your agency's financial management regulation and talk to your finance or legal office about your own appointment.

If you've been asked to sign an appointment as a departmental accountable official, or you're answering a DoD financial management training question, the key idea is that federal law can make you personally responsible for some payment mistakes. That sounds alarming, but the rule is narrower than many people fear.

Short answer: under 10 U.S.C. § 2773a, the Secretary of Defense may designate DoD employees and service members who provide information, data or services that a certifying official directly relies on to certify payments. These departmental accountable officials may be held pecuniarily (personally, financially) liable for an illegal, improper or incorrect payment, but only if the payment resulted from the information, data or services they provided and was the result of their fault or negligence.

Who counts as a departmental accountable official

Under § 2773a(b), a person can be designated if they:

1. are responsible, in their duties, for "providing to a certifying official of the Department of Defense information, data, or services that are directly relied upon by the certifying official in the certification of vouchers for payment"; and
2. are "not otherwise accountable under subtitle III of title 31 or any other provision of law" for payments made on those vouchers.

The test is about the role, not the job title: what matters is whether a certifying official directly relies on what you provide when certifying a payment. DoD's Financial Management Regulation sets out the detailed appointment procedures, so check the current version or ask your finance office.

How DAOs fit with certifying officers

Federal payments run on a chain of accountability. The certifying official signs off that a voucher is correct and legal. Under 31 U.S.C. § 3528(a), a certifying official is responsible for the information on the certificate and voucher, the computation, the legality of the payment, and repaying payments that are illegal, improper or incorrect because of an inaccurate or misleading certificate, prohibited by law, or not a legal obligation of the fund.

Certifying officers can't personally check every fact behind every voucher, so they rely on others. Section 2773a lets DoD place matching accountability on those people. Section 2773a(d) defines "certifying official" by reference to § 3528(a).

The fault or negligence requirement

A DAO is not automatically liable just because a payment turned out to be wrong. The Secretary must determine that the payment resulted from information, data or services the DAO provided, that the certifying official directly relied on them, and that the error was the result of the DAO's fault or negligence. Honest mistakes caused by someone else's bad data, or by a system you didn't control, are a very different situation.

Relief from liability

Accountable officials aren't left without a remedy. Title 31 sets out relief standards for different kinds of accountable officials:

• Certifying officials (31 U.S.C. § 3528(b)) may be relieved if the certification was based on official records and they couldn't have discovered the correct information with reasonable diligence, or if the obligation was incurred in good faith, no law specifically prohibited the payment, and the government received value.
• Accountable officials generally (31 U.S.C. § 3527) may be relieved of physical losses or deficiencies that were not the result of their fault or negligence, and disbursing officials may be relieved of improper payments that were not the result of bad faith or lack of reasonable care.

GAO's Principles of Federal Appropriations Law (the "Red Book") has a full chapter on the liability and relief of accountable officers, which agencies and lawyers use as a reference.

Practical tips if you are designated

• Read your appointment carefully, and ask what exactly you are certifying or providing.
• Get training on the rules for the payments you support, such as travel or contract payments.
• Keep records of what you checked and the sources you relied on.
• Speak up when data looks wrong. Raising a problem before payment is the best protection for you and the public purse.
• Ask for help early if you are notified of a possible liability. Your agency's finance and legal offices can explain the relief process.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 2773a, Departmental accountable officials: Cornell LII
• 31 U.S.C. § 3528, Responsibilities and relief from liability of certifying officials: Cornell LII
• 31 U.S.C. § 3527, General authority to relieve accountable officials and agents from liability: Cornell LII
• GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law (Red Book): gao.gov