Cultivating a Strong Team Culture at FIAR

In this episode of the "All Things Financial Management" podcast, presented by the Society of Defense Financial Management (SDFM) and Guidehouse, Calandra Layne, Director of Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation at the Office of the Undersecretary of the Defense Comptroller, sat down with host Tom Rhoads to discuss top of mind issues in the financial management community. The pair discuss Calandra Layne’s career journey to her current role, her work towards creating a positive and nurturing team culture as a critical leader, how this supports the DoD and FIAR mission, advice for breaking into the industry and more. Listen to this new episode to gain valuable insight into changing the way people think about annual financial statement audit efforts.

Calandra Layne's Story

Tom Rhoads: If you wouldn't mind just sharing with us your background and what brought you to your current position as the Director of Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller. And I guess in other words, would you mind sharing with us your story?

Calandra Layne: Sure. My journey started many, many years ago. Surprisingly, when I first graduated high school, I thought I was going to pursue a career in theater. Yes, believe it or not, I thought I was going to be on stage performing. And after talking to my parents, my dad questioned, “Hey, how are you going to make money acting?” Little did we know then I could have. But nonetheless, I started researching what kind of careers make a lot of money? And again, granted, this was back in '96, '97, I remember accounting coming up on the list. And at the time, the salary for an accountant was $50,000. So with that, my mind was made up. I pivoted to a major in accounting. I went to George Mason University here in Fairfax. Upon graduating, I started my career initially as an auditor. I was conducting both financial statement audits and performance audits.

My clients at the time were federal government organizations as well as some state organizations. After a few years in audit, I shifted to consulting, internal controls, enterprise risk management, some policy, and then a lot of work in audit remediation. And again, still servicing the federal sector primarily. And after 15 years or so supporting the government on the private sector, a job with DoD came open. Someone asked if I'd be interested in working for the government. At the time, honestly, I did have a little bit of apprehension because I had enjoyed a career of supporting government from the outside. I'd never really thought about a career in how I could support from the inside. So it was with that ask that started my initial interest in the government. And I remember interviewing one cold day in January 2019. I interviewed for the position; again, I went into it with, I love the job that I have, but why not? I can try. I can check it out.

I didn't hear anything from the government for about seven or eight months. I'd totally forgotten about the interview. I said, “Oh, okay. I guess things didn't work out.” So I'm continuing busy myself with the career I had at the time in private sector. And then randomly, I received an email again about eight months later with an offer. And at the time, I had started to rethink what I wanted to do with my career. I had been in private sector for all of my career. I was beginning to think, what's the next chapter? How do I get there? So I was in a space of being open to opportunity when that offer came. So I had the wonderful opportunity of joining DoD within the Office of the Comptroller in September 2019. And when I took that first job, it was as the Program Manager for the Risk Management and Internal Controls program for those that have been around for a while formerly the MICP program.

So that was my first role as a GS15, as program manager for RMIC. And then eight or nine months later, through some shifting and attrition, I had the opportunity to become the DoD-wide consolidated audit liaison. So that was role still within the FIAR directorate, but I went from supporting internal audit, internal evaluation to working directly with the Office of Inspector General as the audit liaison for the Department. And I was in that role for about eight or nine months or so before an opportunity came up for the FIAR Director. So I applied, and this is the current position that I occupy as a Director of Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation, which is a part of the senior executive core. So that's the job I'm in today. And that's a little bit about how I got there.

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About SDFM: The Society of Defense Financial Management is the nonprofit educational and professional organization for individuals, military, civilian, corporate, or retired involved or interested in the field of defense financial management. SDFM promotes the education and training of its members and supports the development and advancement of the profession of defense financial management. The society provides membership, education and professional development and certification programs to keep members in the overall financial management community abreast of current issues and encourages the exchange of information, techniques, and approaches.

Disclaimer: This podcast and related materials do not constitute an endorsement of Guidehouse Inc. or any other non-federal entity. The opinions, anecdotes, and any other comments made by the presenter or interviewee do not represent any position of the United States Government, the Department of Defense, or other components of the United States Government whether official or unofficial. Any opinions, anecdotes, and any other comments made by the presenter or interviewee are their own and are made in their personal capacity alone.

Cultivating a Strong Team Culture at FIAR

Featuring Calandra Layne, Director, Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller

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