Redstone Team

Recent Posts

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 406 – Cost Accounting Period

Comparison to FAR

Like CAS 401, CAS 402, and CAS 405, CAS 406 is part of modified CAS coverage and is one of the first CAS standards a company encounters. It likely will not call for any changes to the company’s cost accounting system if you are compliant with FAR 31.203(g)(2) (Indirect costs). FAR states that for contracts not subject to CAS:

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS)

The Debt Ceiling – What Does It Mean to Government Contractors?

Does a Government default due to the debt ceiling result in a Government shutdown? Well maybe. It all depends on how the Government reacts or directs its contracting officers to react. A default is different than the – shall we say itnormalyes, we said it – Government shutdowns we have been dealing with for the past decade or so.

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Topics: Government Shutdown, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 405 – Accounting for Unallowable Costs

Comparison to FAR

Like CAS 401 and CAS 402 (see previous blog posts on these CAS Standards), CAS 405 is part of modified CAS coverage and is one of the first CAS standards a company encounters. Compliance with this standard will likely not call for any changes to the company’s cost accounting system if the company is compliant with FAR 31.201-6 (Accounting for Unallowable Costs) because the FAR clause has more requirements than CAS 405.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 402 - Consistency in Allocating Costs Incurred for the Same Purpose

Comparison to FAR

Like CAS 401, CAS 402 is part of modified CAS coverage and is one of the first CAS standards a company encounters. It likely will not call for any changes to the company’s cost accounting system because Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 31.202 (Direct costs) and 31.203 (Indirect costs) give us words very similar to the CAS words.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 401 - Consistency in Estimating, Accumulating, and Reporting Costs

Many new government contractors are frustrated by being told they have a CAS 401 noncompliance, especially if they are not CAS covered. This is, of course, wrong terminology for non-CAS covered contractors, but is shorthand for saying the company is not estimating, accumulating, and reporting costs the same way. This is most frequently a difference between how a company estimates cost and then how the company accumulates and reports costs. This is not only important to the government, but to the company itself. A contractor cannot determine whether it is losing money on a contract if there is no way to compare what was bid to what was incurred. This is likely one of the first CAS standards a company encounters because even modified coverage calls this standard into play.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Writing a Convincing Labor Basis of Estimate

Oftentimes when supporting the production of cost volumes and pricing exercises for clients, we’re given a basis of estimate (BOE) that has been written by someone on the technical team. Even being a group of accounting and compliance professionals who know little in areas such as cyber, engineering, or other technical areas of the scope of work, we’re left scratching our heads. This usually leads to several back-and-forth discussions centered around gleaning enough information from the technical team to pass the proverbial government “sniff test”.

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Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, Small Business Compliance, Human Resources, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

The Incurred Cost Submission: What are Schedules O and the Supplemental A’s?

What is the Incurred Cost Submission? What is Schedule O? What are the Supplemental A Schedules? This VLOG will briefly explain the Incurred Cost Submission, how to complete Schedules O and the Supplemental A Schedules, and the importance of those schedules.

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Topics: Incurred Cost Proposal Submission (ICP/ICE), Vlog

The Incurred Cost Submission: Why are Schedules H and J Important?

Schedules H and J are some of the most important parts of the Incurred Cost Submission. This VLOG will briefly explain the Incurred Cost Submission, how to complete Schedules H and J, and the importance of each schedule.

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Topics: Incurred Cost Proposal Submission (ICP/ICE), Vlog

The Incurred Cost Submission: Why are Schedules B, C, D, and Fringe Important?

Schedules B, C, D, and Fringe are some of the most important parts of the Incurred Cost Submission. This vLOG will briefly explain the Incurred Cost Submission, how to complete Schedules B, C, D, and Fringe, and the importance of each schedule.

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Topics: Incurred Cost Proposal Submission (ICP/ICE), Vlog

2022 Redstone Edge Conference

Thank you to all of our sponsors and attendees for their support of the 2022 Redstone Edge Conference. All profits from the conference are being donated to Castin’ ‘N Catchin’.

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Topics: Redstone GCI, Vlog