Time’s Up: DCAA’s Renewed Focus on Incurred Cost Submissions
Free Webinar | May 1, 2013 | 11am Eastern
DCAA has made it clear to Congress that one of their top priorities will be addressing the extensive backlog of Incurred Cost Submissions (ICS). This news further emphasizes how important it is for government contractors to stay on top of DCAA requirements.
For example, are you aware that DCAA has a newly updated submission? Do you know if you have a requirement to file an Incurred Cost Submission? Do you understand the DCAA Adequacy Checklist? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, join Aronson LLC’s government contracting experts on May 1st for an informative webinar where we will guide you through deciding if an Incurred Cost Submission is required, what is involved to prepare an adequate Incurred Cost Submission, and how best to prepare for an uncomplicated audit.
Topics will include: Continue reading »
Grant Thornton’s Survey on the Government Contracting Industry – Were Your Predictions Right?
Results of the widely known and anticipated 18th Annual Grant Thornton Government Contractor Survey were recently released, offering both surprising and presumably expected insights. Julian Rosenberg, government contract advisory leader at Grant Thornton reported some noteworthy takeaways from the survey in the areas of cost accounting, company relationships with the DCAA, revenue, profit, win rates as well as indirect cost rates. Highlights from the survey also supplied interesting information on M&A activity.
Fringe Benefits are Increasing
In a time of fierce competition within the government contracting industry, accounting practices related to indirect costs and direct labor can be critical factors. According to the survey, Continue reading »
ACI’s Government Contract Cost & Pricing Conference
Thursday, April 18, 2013 at Hilton Crystal City, Arlington
Following extensive research with industry stakeholders and outside advisors, American Conference Institute has, once again, assembled a sophisticated program and multi-dimensional speaker faculty, who will discuss the most complex, pressing cost or pricing compliance issues affecting your business. Each year, industry and private practice professionals attend this event to hear the latest, cutting edge strategies for meeting heightened DCAA and DCMA compliance expectations. Continue reading »
Preparing for DCAA Incurred Cost Submissions
Live Webinar | Thursday, April 04, 2013 | 1PM Eastern
DCAA has made it clear to Congress that one of their top priorities will be addressing the extensive backlog of Incurred Cost Submissions. This news further emphasizes how important it is for government contractors to be aware of DCAA requirements.
Are you aware that DCAA has a newly updated submission? Do you know if you have a requirement to file an Incurred Cost Submission? Do you understand the DCAA Adequacy Checklist? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, this webinar will guide you through deciding if an Incurred Cost Submission is required, what is involved to prepare an adequate Incurred Cost Submission, and how best to prepare for an uncomplicated audit.
Learning Objectives Continue reading »
Yes, That is DCAA’s Website!
At first glance I thought I had accidentally gone to DCMA’s website instead of DCAA. It has a similar feel and look to DCMA’s website; however, it is just DCAA’s new look. This updated version is user friendly with the drop down tabs at the top and quick links. They organized all the checklists and Incurred Cost Submission model all under the new Checklist & Tools tab. The Guidance tab leads you directly to all of DCAA’s Audit Guidance Memos, the CAM, and a link to the FAR just to name a few. I also enjoy the Locator feature which allows contractors to find who their cognizant DCAA FAO is by CAGE code, DUNS code, or ZIP. Continue reading »
The Dreaded Incurred Cost Submission (ICS) Audit Backlog Receives Publicity Once Again
It is the same story played out over and over again at contractor sites, especially those considered “non-major” (less than $100 million in flexibly priced work), the dreaded open years of incurred cost submissions.
The Controllers “dream” about how they will have to pull data from seven or more years ago by digging through records of the organization that were prepared and filed in a “logical” manner by their predecessor to ultimately survive the audit. The dream is stressful with a constant search for the documentation to support an expense incurred in some cases seven years ago. The receipt is found stapled to the voucher but it has faded with age and is no longer readable. The audit starts and stops for months and years with auditors coming and going; either leaving the agency or being reassigned to another priority. With each new auditor and each delay in the work, inefficiency is the result not an audit report. I could write a book about the stories I have heard and experienced in my contractor base. The time and resources expanded preparing for such an audit are considerable even though contractors and the government have some of the same end goals; complete the audit, finalize the rates, close-out the year, and close out the old contracts! Continue reading »
Reports, Audits, and Delays Oh MY! DCAA’s Report to Congress on FY 2011 Activity has Been Released!
The results are out and the statistics tell the story. DCAA had a workforce of 4,225 auditors as of September 30, 2011 and released 7,390 audit reports, so let’s do the math: each auditor released less than two audit reports. Well, that’s impressive – no wonder those incurred cost audits are still open! Only 349 incurred cost reports were release in FY2011. How many do you think were submitted in 2011? My guess is a lot more than 349. The average incurred cost audit took 965 days from the start of the audit to the release of the report. YES, contracting community, I feel your pain and the statistic confirm that we have a problem. DCAA claims the lack of incurred cost audits and the time lag in the release of reports was due to a lack of staffing and inadequate incurred cost proposals by contactors – yes, that means you.
DCAA has a plan to “resolve each outstanding incurred cost submission by 2016.” That is a bold statement and, based on 2011’s results, there is a lot of work to do. Their plan includes the following: Continue reading »
Recent DCAA Guidance (MRD) Part 3: DCAA Revises the Treatment of Proposal Preparation and Negotiation Support Costs
In March 2012, DCAA issued guidance in the form of Memorandums for Regional Directors (MRD). This blog post is the third in a three-part weekly series discussing these MRDs.
Memorandum for Regional Directors (MRD) 12-PAC-008(R) conveys the information from a Director of Defense Pricing, Shay Assad, memorandum issued on November 10, 2011, regarding the direct vs. indirect treatment of proposal and negotiation costs. Continue reading »
Recent DCAA Guidance (MRD) Part 2: New DCAA Audit Guidance on the Business Systems Rule
On March 28, 2012 the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) issued Memorandum for Regional Directors (MRD) related to revising audit guidance based on the finalized DFARS Business Systems Rule (MRD 12-PPS-009(R)). This blog post is the second in a three-part weekly series discussing these MRDs. Check back next week for part three.
The final Business Systems Rule was issued on February 24, 2012 and applies to contractors and solicitations covered by the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). This MRD issues revised guidance for the DCAA audits of Continue reading »
Still Time to Register: “Is Your Accounting System Making the Grade?”
Failure to maintain an accounting system that lives up the federal government’s standards could spell big trouble for government contractors. The Interim Business System Rule, released in 2011, establishes a detailed set of criteria for business systems. A failed review could result in payments being withheld and/or disapproval of your system.
Join Aronson LLC on April 26, 2012 for a free webinar, presented by our contracting compliance experts that will give you valuable insight into what constitutes an “acceptable accounting system” in the eyes of the government. With more than 18 stipulations in the rule, compliance can be tricky Continue reading »
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- A Marriage of Inconvenience: GSA Schedule Contracts & The Contractor Code of Business Ethics & Conduct Clause
- Emerging Small Businesses: To Grow Your Business, You Must Plan For Growth
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- The GSA Schedule: Your Ticket to the Federal Market (May 2010)
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- The Seven Deadly Sins (of contract compliance)