Process improvement

Every organization is a unique collection of personnel, management techniques, and history, all of which contribute to the organization’s internal processes.  These internal processes become established procedures through evolutionary processes which can result from a number of factors ranging from the identification of the initial functional need all the way through to a requirement that arises from some system failure such as not recovering an allowable direct cost. 
 
As your organization’s processes evolved, have they remained efficient?  Are they capturing all of the compliance requirements that the federal and some state governments require?  Here’s an example.  One client of CPFF Contracting Support had an “extreme” outside auditor assigned to perform an audit of the organization.  This auditor required seven verifiable back ups for each transaction.  Yes, SEVEN.  These included the following:  1. Original receipt, 2. internal log of expenditure, 3. expense authorization, 4. payment method trace to the general ledger, 5. proof of payment with trace to the general ledger, 6. documentation on the organization’s transaction list leading to the general ledger, and 7. easy tracer methodology from the general ledger to the organization’s financial statement and Incurred Cost Submission (ICS).  Any of the firm’s transactions not having these seven tiers were considered a “questioned cost”. 

Would your firm meet the “Seven Tier Test”? 

Also of importance, are you inadvertently leaving "money on the table" -- legitimate costs that you should be recovering but are not?

If you tried to implement such a system, would the benefits outweigh the costs or the costs outweigh the benefits? 
 
CPFF Contracting Support can assist you in designing or improving upon systems that can get you through even an “extreme” audit while making sure the “Back Office” is keeping pace with the “Front Office”. Five, ten, fifteen, even twenty years later, will your internal process support the test of time from an “extreme” auditor?  CPFF Contracting Support can help.