An expense limitation  is the financial authority issued by a major claimant or subclaimant to an intermediate  level  of  command,  An  example  of an  intermediate  level  command  is  the  type commander   (TYCOM),   COMNAVAIRLANT   or COMNAVAIRPAC. A field  (shore)  activity,   for  purposes  of  the RMS, is a shore station that is issued an operating budget. It could be issued this operating budget by  a  major  claimant;  subclaimant,  or  expense limitation   holder,   depending   on   who   has   im- mediate  responsibility.  Because  it  is  issued  an operating  budget,  it  is  also  a  responsibility  center. A  major   claimant   (or  operating   budget grantor)   is   a   bureau,   office,   or   command designated as an administering office under the Operations  and  Maintenance,  Navy  (O&MN) (regular and reserve) appropriations listed in the NAVCOMPT    Manual,    volume   2,   chapter   2. Major  claimants  receive  operating  budgets  directly from  the  Chief  of  Naval  Operations  (CNO). Obligation authority  is the budgeted amount within  an  operating  budget  approved  in  a  fixed amount  for  incurring  obligations  or  unfilled orders. An operating budget is the annual budget and financial  authority  of  an  activity  or  command  that contains the resources to perform that activity’s mission. An operating target (OPTAR) is an authoriza- tion  of  funds  subject  to  administrative  control issued to a level below the responsibility center. The  recipient  of  an  OPTAR  is  referred  to  as  an OPTAR  holder. A responsibility  center   is  an  organizational unit  headed  by  an  officer  or  supervisor  who  is responsible for the management of all resources within  the  unit,  and  who,  in  most  cases,  can significantly  influence  the  expense  incurred  within the unit. Resources  consist   of   military   and   civilian personnel;  material  on  hand  and  on  order;  the entitlement to procure or use material, utilities, services  required  for  performance  of  the  basic mission of the responsibility center; and work or services  to  be  performed  for  others. Ship  Operating  Forces  include   active   fleet ships, amphibious battalions and units, staff and commands, and   certain   designated   shore activities, Threshold is an administrative money ceiling established  by  the  fleet  commander.  With  Op- TAR accounting, aged unfilled orders below the established  threshold  are  authorized  to  be  ad- ministratively   cAncelled,   and   OPTaR   funds reclaimed.  By  the  same  token,  unmatched expenditures below the established threshold are authorized  by  the  FAADC  to  be  threshold charged  by  the  fleet  to  the  OPTAR  without detailed  review  by  the  OPTAR  holder,  thereby reducing  available  OPTAR  funds. An unfilled  order,  for   accounting   purposes, is a general term used to describe a request docu- ment for material or services that has been entered in  the  OPTAR  log.  Untilled  order  documents (chargeable)   are   assembled   and   forwarded   to the  FAADC  by  the  OPTAR  holder  when  the procedures require the chargeable unfilled orders to be matched against expenditures submitted by issuing and paying activities. A work unit is a unit of measurement such as documents  processed,  tonnage  moved,  students trained,  or  gallons  processed.  The  term  is  used to  provide  quantitative  information  of  the physical output applicable to a subdivision in the operating  budget. BACKGROUND Under  the  procedures  in  effect  before  im- plementation of the RMS, financial management of naval activities was restricted to the materials and  services  that  resulted  in  expenditures  of appropriated  funds  granted  to  those  activities. Little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  other  costs  such as military services, material issued at no cost (free issue),  or  material  or  services  charged  to  open allotments. These costs were considered as other resources.  In  this  situation,  the  responsible commander  was  only  controlling  a  small  per- centage  of  his  or  her  operating  costs.  The  RMS was  designed  to  correct  this  deficiency  by providing   the   responsible   commander   with   a budget that included all cost incurred instead of allotments to cover only limited portions of those costs.  The  DOD  determined  that  management would be improved significantly if the financing of an activity was related to the total expense of the task or mission assigned and if the expenses were  recognized  and  recorded  against  the  OPTAR at  the  time  they  occurred  instead  of  when  they were requisitioned or when payment was made. The  responsible  commander’s  flexibility  to  shift resources  to  meet  these  changing  demands  is greatly increased by the fact that his or her budget will   contain   additional   resources   that   were previously  provided  by  individual  allotments. 2-2