A Guideline To Becoming DCAA Compliant

By Jeffrey Burns


If your company has been lucky to secure a contract with the local government, you must ensure that you comply with the contracting agency to avoid facing compliance issues. The Defense Contract Audit Agency requires that all companies should abide by the policies they set. This way, you will not run into any trouble with them. Therefore, you must ensure that your company has documented policies as well as procedures that everyone will follow. More so, the company should create a system that will track all hourly labor charges. The following are some of the steps you have to follow to make sure that you are DCAA Compliant.

The first thing you should do is to track your time. The DCAA requires that all the companies follow its guidelines during time tracking. This does not matter whether you have a government contract or not. Therefore, all employees should have daily time entries and projects should have correct hours allocated to them. Also, there should be a record of unpaid time, and evidence that employees are aware among other guidelines.

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.

More so, you should always be in control of all labor costs. Labor costs are different from buying materials where you will get receipts. This is because paying employees is different and should be controlled. Therefore, all logs should be clear and accurate. If possible, there should be daily reminders. Also, all entries should be automatically logged and stamped, including 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.

Always keep an eye on overtime, especially if you are working on a government contract. Make sure that you track all the hours that employees put in their work. This is critical whether they will be paid for the extra hours or not. This is because the agency calculates the cost of the entire project based on the total number of hours you and your team work.

Moreover, you must be able to sync your payroll with your timesheet. This is a necessity if you have taken up a contract with your local government. Thus, it is critical to see to it that your accounting system is updated. You can also get some training in case you do not know how to sync.

Additionally, always stay ready for inspections as they can come at any time. Sometimes the agency may announce their coming, but this may not happen all the time. Thus, always be prepared and make sure that all your documents are updated. This will help you to avoid any issues of noncompliance.




About the Author: