A startup in the aerospace industry using Acumatica for its ERP system won its first cost-plus government contract but needed to overhaul its data structure to comply with contractual requirements and ultimately pass a government audit. As a government contractor, the company is required to clearly allocate expenses by project and type—what’s often called a work breakdown structure (WBS)—but the lack of granularity in their account structure prevented them from being able to accurately categorize and track costs in a detailed way. Moreover, the system they were using—underpinned by an overly simplified data structure—hindered their ability to accurately forecast and bid on contracts and manage project costs. They also needed greater cost transparency and detail so they could justify cost overruns to the government and seek additional payment.
We worked with the company to define the critical master data elements required to be in contractual compliance, while allowing for coding combinations and future cost pools. After reconfiguring the data structure in Acumatica, we exported and reclassified 12 months of transactional data—totaling more than 100,000 transactions. Using a translation table, we mapped historical transactions to the new data structure and created a documentation model for the new allocation methodology. Finally, we posted each month of reclassified entries and validated them against the trial balance.
The transformation of the company’s master data structure enabled easy compliance with their contract and prepared them for a successful first-time Defense Contract Audit (DCA) for DCAA compliance. Moreover, the enhanced cost transparency and detail gave them greater confidence in the accuracy and transparency of their contract cost forecasting and billing to the government.