DCAA compliant time tracking software

TimeCamp makes sure your business meets the DCAA regulations-compliant timekeeping requirements.

What Is The DCAA?

Signing a contract with a government organization is always a big deal. Cooperation with someone so important brings many benefits, also financial, to the business. However, when deciding to work with government organizations, you need to make sure you and your employees are following DCAA requirements.

So what is DCAA and why is it so important to comply with its timekeeping requirements? DCAA is Defense Contract Audit Agency, a part of FAR. It was established in 1965 and it performs audits of contracts of DOD (Department of Defense). Some government organizations may have their own internal agencies for performing audits but others may also use DCAA to check if their contractors time tracking policy meets FAR timekeeping requirements.

Following DCAA compliant rules is crucial when working on government contracts. It helps to keep your business from failure and make sure things are buttoned up.

DCAA timekeeping requirements are part of the DCAA guidelines so if you want to know more, visit the official website of Defense Contract Audit Agency or read the Information for Contractors.

Let TimeCamp take care of your DCAA timesheet requirements!

What Is DCAA Compliance?

If you're a government contractor, you should be particularly interested in DCAA compliance. Being DCAA-compliant means that your company is following guidelines and recommendations set by the United States Government. It is required in order to avoid fraud in terms of worked hours and to make sure taxpayers' money is spent in a proper way. It's all about legitimate financial management.

These are the specific key requirements and they concern accounting and timekeeping rules. In general, it means that your company has all the financial documentation and reports. These may include financial statements, contracts, employees timesheets, tax returns, invoices or any other data that is necessary for DCAA compliance. So when DCAA sends its agents for an audit, they can clearly see based on daily time tracking records how your employees perform their work duties and how the money is being spent.

It's extremely important because being DCAA compliant and passing specific supervisor approvals means the Agency has a proof of your activities and can see that your company's procedures and policies are coherent and well-established.

DCAA Audits

Since as a government contractor you're working with the taxpayers' money, you have to be able to easily control and monitor how it is used under the contract. That's why you need to have all the information in the form of reports. Also, you'll need extensive reporting for audit purposes.

DCAA audit trails may happen at any time, even when you least expect them. Audit's main goal is to check all the costs involved in your work. For more information on DCAA audit trails, you can visit DCAA official Contract Audit Manual.

There are various types of audits but the two most likely to happen are Pre-Award Survey, which aims to demonstrate that you meet the criteria for working for the government, and the Floor Check, during which an Agent will check if everything works according to the requirements of accurate timekeeping and labor distribution.

You can find all the information about DCAA compliance and audits on DCAA official website.

DCAA Timekeeping Requirements

To be DCAA compliant, you must be sure that your company is following DCAA timekeeping and financial requirements. At TimeCamp, we are aware of the fact that some of our users are government contractors. For that reason, TimeCamp is a software that enables you to be compliant with the DCAA timekeeping requirements.

DCAA compliant timekeeping software with features which not only can help you in managing timesheets but also in creating accurate financial reports.

But having the right software doesn't mean you're DCAA compliant. See our guide below on how to actually be compliant with the DCAA timekeeping requirements.

Every requirement on the following list includes TimeCamp's features appropriate for the particular guideline. Make sure to check our guide to ensure you have the full documentation. This will help you be ready for an unexpected audit and help pass every single audit trail.

1. Everyone must be familiar and up to date with timekeeping procedures

Every employee in your company has to know timekeeping procedures and be able to outline all the rules. They should know why and how you are using time tracking software.

Not only is this helpful in maintaining order in reports and documentation but it is also necessary for unexpected audits.

Timekeeping in TimeCamp is really easy and your employees don't need any training. All you have to do is set clear and strong rules on how to use the software, and make sure they're followed by the entire organization, not only a company's system supervisor.

2. All employees have to track time

It's obligatory that everyone tracks time. DCAA regulations clearly state that they apply to every employee. There are no exceptions. Thus, all employees need to follow the rules and track time as this gives the government important insight into how long and on what people worked.

However, manual timesheets are outdated and using them carries out a high risk of cheating or misinterpretations caused by human error. In TimeCamp, you can see which of your employees record the time of their work. They can also use the desktop app which automatically tracks their time and assigns the time entries to appropriate projects and tasks.

3. Overtime hours must be recorded

Overtime is part of labor cost which means it needs to be included in reports. TimeCamp allows you to set a specific budget or time for tasks and projects so you don't exceed the estimates. You can monitor the progress and get informed whenever employees start working overtime.

Uncompensated overtime must also be registered; it's a situation when salaried employees' hours worked exceed the eight hours on a daily basis or 40 hours in a week. Unfortunately, it's often used by employers as a reason for frauds, so be sure this issue is appropriately addressed to avoid failing the steps of the audit trail.

4. Labor cost vs actual number of hours worked

When working in compliance with DCAA requirements, employees will get paid based on hours they actually worked, not the hours they get paid for.

With TimeCamp you can see exactly how many hours your employees worked. It is all visible in timesheets so you can present all the records during an audit.

5. Properly allocate employee time to tasks and projects

It's very important that every task and project have properly allocated time so that the government can clearly see how much time was spent on each activity. It's essential that you are able to show precisely what and for how long people have worked.

TimeCamp helps you allocate time to tasks and projects as it works in the real-time, is accurate to one second, and shows detailed information on tracked time - every activity, precise time, and all logs. Also, you can assign people to tasks and projects to be sure these are performed by appropriate people.

6. Time-off must be recorded

If you're paying your employees for holidays or sick leave time, you need to include that in your reports. DCAA requires you to keep precise records of paid time-off.

TimeCamp allows you to track time-off, no matter what type of absence it is. You can easily manage attendance in our software and later provide detailed records to the person performing an audit.

7. Have a clear approval process

When you have a clear timesheet approval process, you can save a lot of energy and sanity on paperwork. Such a process allows you to keep documentation and procedures organized and transparent.

TimeCamp has a feature of daily and weekly timesheet approval. Also, you can assign one specific person to approve timesheets. In that way, they can go through every timesheet and analyze whether all the data is correct. This will help solve any issues immediately.

Remember that if the person responsible for timesheets approval makes any change, they should inform the employee. And the employee should inform the system administrator (usually their manager) about his changes. That will prevent misinformation and ensure the accuracy of documentation that'll be displayed in the government contract audit log.

See our knowledge base to know more about timesheet approval in TimeCamp

8. Timekeeping and payroll should be managed separately

DCAA is very specific about timekeeping and payroll. They should be kept separately, "employee hours and payroll are not seen as being within the same internal function. Also, those that are in charge of payroll should have no control over employee hours."

TimeCamp allows you to keep timesheets in one place. If you want to manage payroll, of course, you can do it simply by creating separate reports. However, there is nothing wrong in using TimeCamp as software for managing both timesheets and payroll. Remember to keep these two areas separate. You can also integrate TimeCamp with payroll tools such as Quickbooks and use the two to create accurate reports.

9. Track ALL changes

Whenever you decide to introduce a change to your time records, it has to be justified and tracked. The government wants to know the reason for changes, when they were introduced and how.

If you need to change, add or remove an entry, you can easily do it in TimeCamp. However, remember to keep track of it to later be able to show the modifications during an audit.

10. Keep records accurate

Employees must record their hours worked to the appropriate job codes; they also need to be provided with proper knowledge about project numbers and their descriptions.

Moreover, DCAA needs to have all the information regarding your company actions and general ledger but it has to be accurate. That means all dates, work hours tracked, and budget must add up. The records have to include all the details because the government needs to be sure your data is up to date and integral.

When using TimeCamp, you can be sure all the data is always accurate and ready to be sent to the accounting system. It tracks work in real-time with the precision of up to one second. And if there's a need, you can manually create time entries and change the data to include all the information about work in the reports.

Be ready for a DCAA audit

DCAA audit or floor checks can happen when you least expect it. It may take the form of a call to one of your employees or a personal visit of the assigned person sent by the Agency. That's why you should always be ready for it.

Following points 1-10 can tremendously help you with that - treat it as a DCAA timecard audit checklist. Make sure all your employees know the rules and procedures to be ready for unexpected inspection. Everybody should know the procedures and be able to answer all questions related to them. Have all the reports, invoices, and other necessary documents prepared for examination. Keep them all in one place so they're easily accessible.

It will help you keep things organized and you will look credible in the Agency's eyes.

Advantages of DCAA Compliance in Timekeeping

Proper timekeeping is crucial in terms of DCAA compliance. Following the DCAA timekeeping requirements and the highest standards of time tracking service has only benefits.

Here's how TimeCamp can help you be a responsible government contractor:

• You can easily and quickly organize work.
• The procedures are clear for all employees of your company and followed every day (for example, thanks to the feature of daily timesheet approval or real-time automatic timekeeping system) so you are always ready for an audit.
• The software helps you gather the necessary documentation; every project name and charge codes, invoices, timesheets, reports, etc.
• It not only serves as time tracking software but also as attendance system, so as a data supervisor, you can be sure all the employee time and their absence, whether they're vacation hours or sick days, are safely stored in our tool,
• TimeCamp, a DCAA compliant timekeeping system, integrates with many other tools for project management and payroll, providing e.g. Quickbooks time tracking software service,
• Everything is tracked in real-time. The reports are always up-to-date and of highest accuracy.

No matter if you're a small business owner or run a big enterprise, government contractors must follow the rules of labor law. Maintaining compliance and choosing accurate DCAA compliant timekeeping systems from the beginning are essential to meet DCAA requirements easily and keep the highest compliance level of labor costs for future contracts.