A Guideline To Becoming DCAA Compliant

By Jeffrey Burns


If your company has been lucky enough to win a contract with the government, you should be able to comply with the Defense Contract Audit Agency. If you comply with this agency, you will continue winning more contracts, and your company will grow. More so, you will not face any compliance issues. For your company to show compliance, it has to have procedures and policies that are documented and strictly followed. Also, you must have a system that will help you to track your labor charges per hour. There are critical steps you should follow to ensure that you and your company are DCAA Compliant to avoid problems during auditing.

Time tracking is the first thing that you should do. DCAA provides guidelines that should be followed by all companies to track time. No company is an exception to this. Thus, employees should always clock in and out. Additionally, all the projects should be allocated the correct hours and unpaid time to be recorded. More so, there should be a record showing that all employees are aware of everything.

Secondly, you should avoid cutting corners. Thus, you must always be straightforward and make sure that everything is clear. All people are important when it comes to time tracking. This includes the managers, foremen, as well as the supervisors. Also, all the timesheets should be legible and accurate. It is advisable to use digital means to ensure that records are clear.

Additionally, you should be in control of the labor costs. This is not like buying materials where there are receipts. Paying people is different, and it should be kept under control. Therefore, the logs should be accurate. To do this, it is wise to have daily reminders and ensure that every entry that is made is logged automatically and stamped. This is inclusive of revisions.

More so, you are advised to use digital filing means instead of the traditional ones. This will keep your information safe and easily accessible. The old filing system is also effective, but there is a higher chance of misplacing documents. Thus, to ensure that there are easy retrieval and safe storage of information, use digital means to do the filing.

Also, it is advisable to note all the hours that your employees take in, including the overtime hours. Thus, track all the hours that your employees work every day, whether they are paid for or not. Auditors calculate the project cost based on all the hours that your team has worked, including overtime. These are referred to as uncompensated hours.

Additionally, ensure that you have synced the timesheets and payrolls. Before you start to work in any government contract, make sure that your accounting system is up to date. If you have no idea how to sync the payrolls and timesheets, you should get advice from the experts.

Also, you must always ready yourself for inspections. You cannot avoid inspections by the agency. Thus, you should be ready all the time and ensure that your documentation is accurate and updated. Being prepared for inspection will keep you away from compliance issues.




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