Contract Close-Out Process – Part 3 | PNWC’s Government Contracting Update

Back in the old days, DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) audited final vouchers (or completion vouchers). These were not “audits” in the true sense of the word but auditors would trace direct costs back to contracts’ job cost records and ensure that the contractor applied the appropriate indirect rates for each year. They would then check to see what the contractor had already been paid to date to ensure the difference between incurred and billed equaled the amount of the final voucher. DCAA would then issue a report to the ACO (Administrative Contracting Officer) stating that the amounts claimed on the final voucher agreed with the contractor’s books and records and it was up to the ACO to perform all of the other administrative closeout tasks, the most difficult usually being the reconciliation with Government disbursement records. Back then, Government finance records at anything below the contract level (e.g. CLIN, ACRN, etc) were notoriously inaccurate.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Contract Close-Out Process – Part 3