Timekeeping deficiencies are themost common DCAA finding.They are also entirelypreventable — by architecture.

DCAA examiners pull system-generated entry timestamps for a sample of time entries and compare them to the work dates charged. Entries where the entry timestamp is more than 24 hours after the work date (without a documented exception) are flagged as non-contemporaneous. The examiner then determines whether the non-contemporaneous entries are isolated exceptions or a systemic pattern. A systemic pattern produces a timekeeping adequacy finding that requires a corrective action plan and may trigger a formal system deficiency determination.

Administrative LCAT validation checks whether the employee's HR job title matches the LCAT code being charged. It does not evaluate whether the employee meets the qualification requirements defined for that LCAT in the specific contract being charged. Contract-specific LCAT validation checks the employee's actual qualifications — education level, years of experience in the required discipline, technical competencies, and clearance level — against the requirements defined in the governing contract's LCAT matrix. Only contract-specific validation satisfies the adequacy standard. Administrative validation produces a system that passes its own checks and fails DCAA examination.

Yes — but only when the correction system satisfies the audit trail requirements. The correction must preserve the original entry value, require a written justification, capture the correction timestamp separately from the original entry timestamp, enforce SoD (different users making and approving the correction), and produce an immutable record of all of the above. A well-documented correction with a complete audit trail is not a finding. A correction that overwrites the original entry or lacks justification is a finding regardless of whether the corrected entry is substantively accurate.

Automatic labor distribution means the system allocates labor costs to direct cost objectives and indirect cost pools based on rule-defined criteria derived from the time entry content — without any manual allocation decision. DCAA cares because manual labor distribution introduces the possibility of deliberate or inadvertent misallocation that is difficult to detect and reconstruct. Automatic, rule-based distribution produces a traceable allocation that DCAA can verify against the firm's CAS Disclosure Statement. Manual distribution produces an allocation that DCAA must verify against individual allocation decisions made at the time, which is both burdensome and unreliable.