More and more solicitations have complex reporting and invoicing requirements. Being able to produce a volume of accurate reports consistently on time is a discriminator for your future proposals. In addition, your whole organization will be more efficient without adding more and more staff.
Read on to discover how the right financial and accounting technology can transform complex government contract and invoice reporting requirements into a more routine—and beneficial—part of doing business.
Accountability Is at the Heart
The potential profitability of serving government agency clients comes with a price—an alphabet soup of comprehensive reporting as defined in a contract and/or complex invoice requirements. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) rules are the most ubiquitous but far from the only ones. These regs require GovCon reporting compliance at a level that necessitates detailed and accurate records.
As onerous as reporting requirements can be, all that recordkeeping red tape is simply meant to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars get spent wisely. Believe it or not, with the right technology systems in place, you can not only meet the mountain of contract and invoice reporting obligations but turn them to your advantage. You’ll develop a reputation among target customers as a vendor that’s easy to do business with. Your firm will also have easier access to valuable financial and business data to support your strategic planning.
The Efficiency Factor Defines Success
Is it possible to remain compliant with contract requirements without hiring an army of accountants to track data and churn out reports?
Absolutely yes, if you have the proper technology in place. At CAVU, we can produce more than 400 complex financial/accounting reports in under five minutes. We make it possible through automating clients’ accounting systems to routinely pull required data on a repeatable basis.
Here are three examples of how technology lightens the burden of contract and invoice reporting requirements:
- Use of data scraping tools such as Refreshable Web Queries. These tools can extract information from databases, enterprise applications, or legacy systems and transfer large amounts of data into a program that integrates the information with your firm’s own systems.
- Rapid generation of multiple individual reports using Excel macros. If you’re still manually extracting Excel spreadsheet data to create required reports, it’s time to level up your technology. The same time-consuming chores can be done in seconds with Excel macros—essentially, mini-programs that automate repetitive tasks, freeing up staff time while increasing reporting accuracy.
- Inserting auto checks into any file to ensure data integrity. Reporting compliance and clean audits hinge on data that is accurate and complete. That can be a challenge as your firm increasingly relies on multiple data software systems siloed according to the specific needs of your various departments. Auto checks assure that data is integrated and validated across your multiple systems.
The right technology tools help ensure the accuracy and efficiency of your government reporting—with the bonus of better data for your firm’s financial and strategic decision-making. Contact CAVU to learn more about how our GovCon experts can help keep you compliant and free up more resources to focus on what you do best in the government marketplace.