Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Redstone Team (4)

In my last blog post, I discussed whether you could have a DCAA Approved Accounting System with QuickBooks. If you read it, then you know the answer is definitely – yes. This begs the next question though: QuickBooks Online (QBO) or QuickBooks Desktop? One might think that they’re essentially the same with one just being a cloud version and the other a local install. That could not be further from the truth. The two products are actually very different in terms of functionality and capabilities. A couple of years ago, I would have told you that QBO was just not an option for a government contractor. Appropriate job costing just couldn’t be done. In recent years though, Intuit has focused a lot of their internal development on QBO, and the product has come a long way. In this article we’ll go over some of the key differences between the two QB options, and hopefully help you decide which is right for you. Note that this is NOT a fully comprehensive comparison of all the different features, but rather a focus on some of the primary differences that are most relevant for government contractors.

I talk with business owners all the time that are either just starting their business, or just getting their existing business into government contracting, and one of the questions we address almost weekly is – Which accounting software built for government contractors should I go with? The answer is, maybe none of them. While the popular govcon accounting software solutions are a really good option for many government contractors, you certainly aren’t limited to those. If you’re a relatively small government contractor, then other products such as QuickBooks might be a better software solution.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Redstone GCI

A special thanks to our charitable committee members for 2021 and to all of the organizations we've supported for their efforts in making the world a better place for everyone.

On October 4, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed an amendment to its Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement to support the HHS Electronic Invoicing Implementation Project and HHS’s transition to the Department of the Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform. This rule would add HHS Acquisition Regulation (HHSAR) Subpart 332.70 (which is comprised of HHSAR 332.7000 through 332.7003) Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests to provide policies and procedures for these requests.

Source: Deltek blog

A full DCAA Business System Audit can be the longest and one of the most difficult audits a government contractor can experience. To provide some perspective, at a recent audit of one of our clients, DCAA sent 15 auditors to perform the audit. In general, our experience is that these audits take 12 months to over 18 months for DCAA to perform.

In our last newsletter, we focused on some of the unnecessary obstacles small businesses face in the regulatory environment and areas where, in our opinion, Government auditors, particularly DCAA, misinterpret regulatory guidance in their efforts to question costs.

This is the second of a two-part blog series where we tackle small business joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program. In this blog, we will discuss small business joint ventures and how a government contractor can get involved in one.

Every month our team’s charity committee comes up with clever ideas centered around a truly important part of our organization: giving back to the community. In this month’s installment, they took it to the next level with the so called, "One Chip Challenge."

This is the first of a two-part blog series where we will tackle small business joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program. In this blog, we will discuss the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program.