A Guide to Incurred Cost Submissions

Obtaining a contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) can be a great win for any business. When you do have a contract with the DoD, you can typically expect that it will be long-lasting and provide you with a good revenue stream. As part of signing any DoD contract, you will need to fully understand your requirements for seeking reimbursement for costs. Part of this can include knowing how to follow the proper protocol for incurred cost submissions.

Why Do You Need to Submit Incurred Costs?

The DoD frequently has contracts with companies that will provide a reimbursement for costs incurred by the company. This can include wages, benefit allocations, material and inventory costs, and other expenses related to providing the product or service. Due to the size of the DoD, they frequently partner with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) for routine and targeted audits. These audits will seek to ensure that the incurred costs were filed properly and accurately. This is why companies who work on government contracts must ensure that all processes remain DCAA compliant, in the case that an audit is performed.

What Are Examples Of Incurred Costs?

When you are going to submit an incurred cost report, it is important to know what costs are frequently included. In general, incurred costs should be any costs that were necessary for you to provide the DoD with the agreed products or services. These can include direct costs such as labor, benefits, and materials. It can also include indirect costs such as allocation of overhead spending, security, and administration. The programs offered by Hour Timesheet can help you better understand what your incurred costs are, by making it easier for employees and contractors to track the proper time. Plus, Hour Timesheet integrates directly with QuickBooks , Gusto and ADP, to make payroll and accounting processes more efficient.

Who Is Required To Submit An Incurred Cost Submission?

An incurred cost submission is generally required for any vendor that performs services for the DoD. There are carve-outs for this requirement that could change your requirement based on the type of contract that you have in place. Most of the time, you will need to have these reports sent in by June 30 following the end of the prior fiscal year.

What Needs To Be Included In The Submission?

The purpose of the submission is to ensure that you are reimbursed for any costs that you incurred for providing the service to the DoD. You should always include all direct costs and provide any information that you have to support your expenses. This typically will largely include receipts from inventory suppliers as well as payroll registers. The products and services offered by Hour Timesheet can help make it easier to keep records and stay DCAA compliant while ensuring the right information is included in your cost submission.

There are also going to be indirect costs that can be harder to allocate. For these, it is important to list all of your indirect costs and also complete any supporting schedules that are needed to validate the costs you incurred as well as the fair amount to have reimbursed for the DoD.

What Happens If I Am Audited By The DCAA?

The DCAA frequently audits vendors. These can be random, targeted, or completed on vendors that have not gone through the process in a while. A large part of the process for a DCAA audit will aim to verify that the internal cost submissions were fair and accurate. To ensure that you are prepared, you should always keep your records and supporting schedules handy so you are able to answer any questions that can arise. Completing your own internal audits can also help with overall preparation. If you’re not sure your company meets DCAA compliance requirements, Hour Timesheet offers resources to help.

Ultimately, having a contract with the Department of Defense can be a great deal for any business. While there are a lot of opportunities to grow with the DoD, the contracts can be complicated and often require that you send in an incurred cost submission at least once per year. This will be a large factor in determining the revenue you receive as part of the contract. When you need help with your incurred cost submissions or any other support with your DoD contract, contact Hour Timesheet to learn how we can help your company with DCAA compliance.

Hour Timesheet Tracking Software and The Staffing Industry

The responsibilities of a staffing firm go beyond the fulfillment of job orders. As a staffing firm, you will be charged with ensuring that your client is looked after and that you retain your best candidates. To enable you to do so will include having timekeeping software, such as Hour Timesheet. Using electronic timesheets will speed up the invoice process and streamline your payroll process. But it will also offer several other benefits, including the following. Continue reading to find out why Hour Timesheet is the perfect fit for firms looking for a Timekeeping Software designed for the staffing industry.

Straight-Forward Entry & Corrections

Hour Timesheet features a highly user-friendly format for any user to input their name and hours for each client. This is designed to be done with minimal interaction or navigation. Our mobile app helps employees easily track time while working, whether at home, in the office, or at the client’s location. Once the time is entered via the Hour Timesheet Mobile app, it’s available on any web-browser for your review.

Making corrections is straightforward with Hour Timesheet. Staffing agencies need software and a mobile app that allows the user to make corrections quickly. Additionally, when the correction is made, there needs to be a complete audit trail for reconciliation purposes, precisely what Hour Timesheet offers.

Integration with Payroll Systems

Staffing companies often look for payroll and accounting systems that can integrate with their timesheets. Hour Timesheets embedded payroll feature saves a significant amount of manual rekeying overhead, which adds cost and risk.

Configurable Approval System

An efficient time tracking software program should include a function where managers receive an email every time a timesheet is submitted for approval. Or they should be able to choose daily consolidated updates for larger volumes. This way, they are prompted automatically for approvals. With Hour Timesheet, when they login to the portal, the approval or denial process for timesheets is accessible with just a click. Managers can add notes where needed.

The approval needs of staffing firms will change depending on the size of their workforce. That is why a configurable approval system is essential. As an example, a staffing firm with a large workforce will have several approvers at several different levels; the timesheet solution should be customizable to meet their needs and ensure automated and seamless steering at each stage. Hour Timesheet offers this kind of customizable software.

Timesheet Software and the Staffing Industry

Time tracking software is essential. It shows employers how long it takes to complete tasks and allows you, the manager, to monitor projects. Yet, with so much choice of time tracking software currently available on the market, the responsibility falls on the manager to find the right product that suits their needs and helps their staffing agency grow. Hour Timesheet’s configurable, user-friendly software is the ideal solution. For more information, contact us today. We’d love to offer you a FREE 30-day trial of our software, because we know you’re going to love it!

DCAA Compliance Checklist for Time Tracking

Government contract work can be lucrative and fascinating work. Navigating the government contract process can be very tricky. It’s important to stay up to date on Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) compliance regulations. It’s also critical to ensure you meet DCAA timekeeping requirements if you want to work with any federal government organization. Hour Timesheet does our best to explain DCAA compliance and we offer a product that is always up to date with regulations. The DCAA will run a pre-award audit in order to award any government contracts. You should prepare for this audit and create a list of compliance regulations for the DCAA.

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What is DCAA compliance?

The DCAA was established in the 1960s to normalize the government’s contract auditing process, and to ensure the American taxpayer was getting good value for its money.

Initially, the DCAA was originally overseeing military and intelligence contracts for the U.S. Department of Defense. Later, it oversaw many other kinds of labor and service contracts that the federal government signs with commercial suppliers.

If and when you win a government contract, the DCAA timesheet compliance rules will apply to everyone in your company. Regardless of the size of your organization, this can be a big task with many training implications. It’s worth your while to make DCAA compliant time tracking as straightforward as possible. Do your research ahead of time, and try to create a DCAA compliance checklist.

Suppose the DCAA were ever to audit you. In that case, they would check three main areas to see if you comply: how accounts are established, the flow of transactions in accounting systems, and the computations derived from them.

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1. How Accounts are Established

A DCAA Compliant Chart of Accounts

You will need to separate which financial transactions are direct, indirect, and unallowable. The DCAA will also examine your Chart of Accounts to ensure you’re adhering to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Having Accounts Payable, Prepaid Expenses, and Unearned Revenue will indicate that you’re accounting for cost and revenue on an accrual basis.

2. The Flow of Transactions in Accounting System

Trial Balance Hour Timesheet will allow you to print a Trial Balance that summarizes your accounts’ debits and credit balances. The latter will reveal details such as the opening balance, transactions, transfers, and closing balance. The former will summarize the debits and credit balances on each of your accounts.

General Ledger Detail The general ledger detail within the Hour Timesheet software will be able to provide you with the beginning balances for each government contract over a limited period.

3. Cost & Reporting

The DCAA will audit processes used for allocating revenue and costs to projects, in addition to the way you calculate indirect rates. Many companies use QuickBooks for most of their accounting, and Hour Timesheet makes sure this doesn’t have to change. We can help make your QuickBooks DCAA complaint, ensuring it follows the rules laid out so far, and the following rules about computing revenue and expenses.

Loss & Profit by Job An essential requirement highlighted in the pre-award survey is your accounting system’s ability to accumulate costs by project. Loss & Profit by Job reports gives assurance that this can be done accurately when they agree with the standard Profit & Loss statements. Hour Timesheet also integrates directly with ADP and QuickBooks. This will help lessen manual data entry across platforms.

Labor Distribution Report Labor distribution is the process of allocating and measuring labor costs both direct and indirect to the total time recorded on timesheets. Hour Timesheet allows you to directly tie both direct and indirect hours to the accounts within your accounting system. DCAA needs to see that labor costs are equally distributed among customers, both government and commercial. They want to know that no one is favored or has received a cost subsidy.

Contract Backlog Report This type of summary allows you to see the percentage of work completed. It also shows the remaining cost to complete each job in your backlog. This type of report indicates how much money is left on a contract, as well as potential contract overrun. It also shows if there are corrective actions required as a result.

Direct Vs Indirect Labor Tracking Contract employees must consistently track both direct and indirect costs. A direct cost is identifiable to one and only one cost objective. It is normally required or necessary for contract performance. Cost objective is a regulatory term that can include a contract, a project, a task, a contract line item.

To be compliant, government contractors must accumulate costs into indirect cost pools. This can be things such as a bid and proposal or an independent research and development project. Hour Timesheet allows a contractor to track time and keep track of all accumulated costs. This is all costs related to hours worked, such as direct costs, any unallowable costs, or indirect costs. Indirect costs are all costs that are not identifiable or incurred for the benefit of one cost objective.

There are many tasks involved in preparing for DCAA auditors to analyze your accounting functions. It can be helpful to create a compliance checklist for government contracting work. Especially if you’re business is receiving government funding, such as through the SBIR and STTR programs. It’s vital that the companies participating remain DCAA compliant in order to receive their funding.

Overall, it’s important to maintain audit trails and detailed reports for all employee timesheets and time accounting. Also, make sure to always use a DCAA compliant time entry.

Hour Timesheet and DCAA Compliance Resources

Achieving DCAA audit compliance takes effort, time, and specialist knowledge. Even if you understand the regulations, you’ll also need to arrange your Chart of Accounts and configure Hour Timesheet accordingly. Having a DCAA timecard audit checklist can help you achieve DCAA compliant timekeeping, without all of the confusion. Even better, choosing a timekeeping system with DCAA-compliant features will help you in the long run.

Contact us today for a free, no commitment, 30-day trial of our software. With our years of experience, we can help you avoid potential DCAA compliance issues before an audit begins.

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Hour Timesheet’s Leave Management Feature

With the arrival of Covid-19, the past twelve months have seen unprecedented requests for time off throughout corporate America and worldwide. Whether it has been appeals to use accrued vacation time or questions about what qualifies as sick time, managers have been bombarded with questions like never before. At Hour Timesheet, our leave management feature makes tracking any type of absence easy and straightforward. And in the current environment, our feature is needed by managers like never before.

How To Manage Paid-Sick Leave?

A paid sick- leave can take many different forms depending on what part of the country you live in. At Hour Timesheet, our software is able to manage the differing demands of sick leave. However, as a manager you’ve got to be clear what your local laws stipulate. Local paid sick leave can quickly become an administrative headache for employers who run companies in multiple counties and states. The most difficult issue for employers is trying to develop policies when the local law does not match the state law. In some states there is no statewide law, but there are local laws for paid sick leave. This is the case in states like Texas. You can see how it can get very confusing fast!

The easiest approach for employers who are operating in different jurisdictions is to conduct an audit of their paid sick leave benefits. This is the surest way to ensure they are in compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction in which they operate. A complete audit will provide valuable information that will guide the employer to make decisions about paid sick leave. These decisions will then ensure he or she is in compliance with the patchwork of state and local paid-sick leave laws.

How To Manage Paid-Time Off With The Family Medical Leave Act

The Family Medical Leave Act or FMLA allows all employees time off from their job to bond with their children, care for ill family members or recover from their own serious health problems, all without fear of losing their jobs. This act, which became law across the country in 1993, entitles employees a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for any of the following:

The birth of a child and to care for the child after birth;

The placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care;

To care for the spouse, parent or child of the employee who has a serious health condition

The Employee’s own serious health condition; and

A qualifying military exigency.

There are many details to the FMLA, such as you’re not allowed to make your employees work while on FMLA leave. Yet, you do have the right to contact them on occasion for small details such locating missing files or updates on projects the employee was working on prior to their leave. As an employer you can’t be expected to memorize all of the finer points of this act. The beauty of software such as Hour Timesheet is that it can help you track and manage FMLA to ensure you’re adhering to the law. One less thing to worry about!

Discover Stress-Free Leave Management with Hour Timesheet

Hour Timesheet offers free leave tracking setup assistance included with every account. The advantages of our leave management feature include the following:

Access to leave balance detail on the timesheet

24/7 access to leave information in the cloud

Enforcement of leave policies company-wide

Supervisors are alerted when employees request leave

Manual calculations of leave are no longer required

Paper-based leave request is eliminated

Annual carry-over values are system-managed

Our comfortable, user-friendly, and customizable leave management feature for your employees is also available as a free app download, available in the Android and IOS apps marketplace, along with your main software.

How To Keep Track Of Employee Time Off?

The Hour Timesheet leave management feature gives employees access to leave balance data, including current balances, accrual, carry-over values. Workers can submit an online leave request with a single click. Hour Timesheet can track and manage your paid time-off, vacation, sick, and holiday with ease. If you would like to learn more about how Hour Timesheet can help you track and manage your employee time off, click here. We’re here to help show you how our leave management feature can simplify your employees’ requests for time off.

The Best Time Tracking Apps for Small Businesses 2021

Suppose you are operating a business where your employees are still manually handing in their timesheets, completed in pen and paper. Or they fill-in their hours in a spreadsheet and then send it to you only once at the end of the month. It’s time to take a look at upgrading your time tracking system. To help with your decision, here are the five best time tracking apps for 2021.

The Top Time Tracking Apps of 2021

1. Hour Timesheet

This app has several different solutions depending on your objective for selecting a time tracking software solution. The Hour Timesheet app allows its users to track the progress, the cost, location, and the amount of leave of a job. The app also allows for payroll integration, tracking billable hours, and comparing those with non-billable hours. You have various clock-in and out options, as well as the capacity for third party approvals.

One of Hour Timesheet’s most important features is that it is DCAA compliant. This means that small businesses using Hour Timesheet are eligible to participate in any SBIR and STTR government programs. The Hour Timesheet software is designed to be easy to use, even while meeting DCAA compliance regulations.

Hour Timesheet’s time tracking app integrates with QuickBooks online and at a desktop. The app can also be used for custom integration with other third-party software options.

2. ezClocker

It is an affordable, simple, and easy to use time tracking app. EzClocker lets its employees clock-in or out from the mobile device. Thanks to a GPS stamp, you can verify that your employees have clocked-in or out from the correct locations.

Other ease-of-use features include employees being able to view their schedules and timesheets in real-time. In the event you need to export payroll data, ezClocker can email timesheets to anyone you need. It also provides an iPad time clock app where you limit employees to only one device for clocking-in or out. Employees can use either their Smartphone to view timesheets and schedules or their computers. Still, they can only clock-in or out using their iPad.

3. Deputy

The Deputy time card app comes with great features, including the ability to manage time attendance, tasking and team communication, and employee scheduling. Deputy also allows you to generate invoices based on activity, task, and hours worked per employee. Once they’ve been generated, you can send them straight to your preferred accounting software.

This time card app will also automatically allocate job codes, employees, and rates per invoice line. Other features include using dynamic reports to track timesheet costs, sales transactions, and other employee variables. All of these options ensure that you stay abreast of the most recent time tracking advances.

4. TSheets

TSheets allows employees to keep their existing smartphones to quickly and efficiently track their work time. This app provides handy reminders to clock-in and out when to take breaks and all sorts of other reminders. TSheets lets employees allocate time to specific projects, custom fields, or tasks. This time tracking app can also integrate with Quickbooks and several other popular accounting software applications.

5. Replicon

Replicon has created a failsafe system to prevent the infamous buddy punching in the time tracking world. This app, which can be used with a tablet, means you can take a photo whenever an employee clocks-in to work. They also offer visual-check-ins to scan timesheets and ensure that your employees aren’t trying to play the system. Replicon also allows employees to easily access their work schedule, find assigned shifts, and request time off.

Time Tracking Apps

Of the five-time tracking apps featured in this article, there are approximately 100 more currently available on the market. As evident, no two applications are the same. Each time tracking app comes with certain features and benefits. As an employer, you must choose an app that suits your specific business needs and employee situation. What app might work for one business might not work for another. Most importantly, choose a time tracking app that will provide you with the necessary tools to operate and maintain a successful business.