Army Regulation AR 735-5 Property Accountability Policies 22 August 2013

Product Information

The FLO should include evidence of who is responsible in the FLIPL process. These documents can take the form of relevant primary and sub-hand receipts. The primary hand receipt holder is usually the company commander. Sub-hand receipt holders are responsible for a portion of the commander's hand receipt. This responsibility is further delegable from sub-hand receipt holders to the end users.

Change of hand receipt holder inventories often occur at the platoon and squad levels. The incoming platoon leader or noncommissioned officer (NCO) inventories all property signed down to them from the commander. The incoming sub-hand receipt holder is responsible for ensuring 100 percent accountability of all items, including BII and COEI. Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss, or FLIPL, is the procedure the Army uses to recover the cost of lost or damaged property. Under Army Regulation 735-5, financial liability ordinarily will not exceed one month?'s base pay. However, in certain cases, such as the loss of personal arms or equipment, or damage to government housing, a Soldier can be held liable for the entire loss. In addition to counseling sub-hand receipt holders, the unit commander should not sign primary hand receipts until all sub-hand receipt holders have signed their hand receipts. This ensures that all property is assigned and reduces the threats of liability and negligence. UPDATED PUBLICATIONS. The supply section should have the most recent TMs and supply catalog publications on hand during the inventory. To find the most recent publications, the supply section looks at the primary hand receipt, obtains the relevant NSN, NIIN, or LIN for the property, and looks them up in GCSS-Army.FLOs look for four elements in a FLIPL: responsibility, negligence, proximate cause, and loss. Negligence, arguably the most important, must be present before a hand receipt holder can be liable for property loss. FLOs submit the completed FLIPL to the JAG office, which performs a legal review to confirm or refute findings of all four elements. Hand receipt holders, FLOs, and JAGs can benefit from understanding what types of evidence supports the four elements of a FLIPL. The commander and supply section should maintain copies of all property-related actions in both their offices and residences and keep this documentation for at least two years after a change of hand receipt holder inventory. Next, the appointing authority forwards the FLIPL, along with their recommendation, to the approving authority, usually a colonel or above. The approving authority approves or disapproves the recommendation to assess liability, but before making the decision, he or she receives a legal opinion that the findings and recommendations are legally sufficient and that the FLIPL was completed in accordance with AR 735-5. TA-50 is commonly stolen from closets and from cars because it has a high resale value to local pawn shops, so be sure to store TA-50 in a secure location.

Property often has components, which require component hand receipts for accountability. Copies of these hand receipts are available from the unit's supply section, property book office (PBO), or the primary, sub, and end-user hand receipt holders. FLOs should ask for hand receipts from the unit's supply section before reaching out to other parties. When you get a hand receipt, do not lose it; the hand receipt is the piece of paper that tells the unit not just what you have, but also what you do not have. Sensitive-item inventories are conducted every month by an NCO or officer. These inventories account for all equipment deemed sensitive on the hand receipt, which is normally everything contained in an arms room to include communications equipment.

Commanders must conduct inventories for changes of command, changes of hand receipt holder, cyclic accountability, sensitive-item accountability, and when units conduct field exercises or deploy. Not conducting required inventories increases the likelihood of a finding of negligence due to poor accountability. The FLO must include evidence that an inventory occurred properly or improperly. The FLO should obtain a copy of the change of command inventory schedule. The FLO must also obtain a copy of the relevant component listings for any lost, missing, or damaged equipment. However, the most important evidence the FLO must obtain is anything developed by the hand receipt holders during the inventory process. These documents include all relevant administrative adjustment reports and any photographic evidence.

INVENTORY RECORDS. Recording every step in the inventory is an essential factor to reduce the possibility of negligence. The paper trail should start on day one of the inventory. Current and future hand receipt holders should bring a tape measure, digital camera, pen, and paper. Using a digital camera creates a photographic record of property, identifies features and serial numbers, and creates evidence that can help defeat a claim of negligence, provided the date-time stamp option is on.The FLO's job is to determine if negligence is involved, who caused the property loss, and the amount of the loss," explained Daniel Haws, attorney-advisor, Administrative Law Division, Staff Judge Advocate Office. "If the FLO recommends liability against a Soldier, that individual has seven days to submit a rebuttal explaining why the liability is not appropriate based on the standards for FLIPL." If the Soldier does not contest liability they may voluntarily sign a Department of Defense Form 362, or Statement of Charges/Cash Collection Voucher. While DD Form 362 is an admission of liability for the lost or damaged property and an agreement to pay for it, the Army uses FLIPLs in situations where responsibility for the loss is in question, or where the amount to be charged is in dispute. Both FLOs and SJAs need to understand the definitions of several different aspects of Army property, beginning with the types of responsibility. There are five types of responsibility used to determine who is responsible for the loss, destruction, or damage to government property: command, supervisory, direct, custodial, and personal.

NSNs are 13-digit numbers for materiel and are listed in technical manuals (TM) and often on property data plates. NSN nomenclature contains the basic noun that describes the property and identifies the make, model, size, and related information to distinguish NSN item types with the same generic nomenclature. A NIIN is the last nine digits of an NSN.Financial liability investigations for property loss (FLIPL) often occur during changes of command. When officers are about to take command, they are thrown into the confusing world of supply and the change of hand receipt process. In a perfect world, all runs smoothly; the outgoing hand receipt holder is present, all hand-receipted property is immaculate, and all sub-hand receipt holders are available. Before a FLIPL investigation begins, SJAs provide FLOs with a legal briefing. Responsibility and its differing types and applications must be presented in the briefing. The SJA also briefs the FLOs on the different types of property and how to identify the property on a hand receipt. SJAs should remember to brief FLOs on required inventories and how these inventories appear on component hand receipts. Counseling sub-hand receipt holders in writing reduces the possibility of sub-hand receipt holder negligence. Before sub-hand receipt holders sign for property, the commander needs to provide them with a written counseling. The expectations of the commander should be clear and provide guidance about CSDP, inventory procedures and basic supply accountability. This written counseling statement serves as a training aid by passing along best practices to junior leaders. Direct responsibility obligates a person to ensure property they signed for is properly used, cared for, and kept safe.