# Defense Finance and Accounting Service The Pentagon's paymaster — the [[Department of Defense]] agency that handles military and civilian pay, contractor payments, and DoD accounting. DFAS is the major exception to centralized civilian disbursement: while the [[Bureau of the Fiscal Service]] pays for nearly everyone else, DoD disburses for itself under separate authority (see [[How Federal Money Moves]]). Established in 1991 to consolidate the services' finance centers; headquartered in Indianapolis. > [!note] Stub — fill out > Created 2026-07-03 during the money-pipeline buildout. To expand: the DoD > audit-failure streak and unaccountable balances, payment-system modernization, > role in [[National Defense]] outlay tracking. ## See Also - [[Bureau of the Fiscal Service]] · [[Department of Defense]] · [[National Defense]]