Timekeeping software and practical guidance for contracts, projects, and margin.
Timecard Lab connects recorded hours with approvals, budgets, labor controls, QuickBooks, and project economics. Explore source-grounded guides and calculators for government contractors, consulting firms, and engineering teams.
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DCAA timekeeping requirements: 10-control checklist
Understand the employee-owned daily timekeeping, correction, approval, and labor-distribution controls DCAA describes for government contractors.
12 min readFrom time entry to contract, project, and margin decisions.
30 articles available
Consulting project profitability: a practical operating guide
Calculate project margin from revenue, actual hours, loaded labor cost and delivery expenses—then use the result before a consulting engagement overruns.
Read the guideDCAA daily timekeeping requirements
Learn what daily employee-owned time entry means, how to handle missing hours and offsite work, and which records support a reliable labor-charging process.
Read the guideFixed-fee project profitability: protect margin without hiding hours
Calculate fixed-fee margin, effective hourly rate, forecast cost and hour variance while keeping actual consulting and engineering time complete.
Read the guideDCAA charge codes and work authorization guide
Build direct and indirect charge codes, control employee work authorization and prevent funding pressure from changing where labor is recorded.
Read the guideEngineering consulting timesheet software: what to evaluate
Choose timesheet software for an engineering consultancy using project phases, budget burn, utilization, rate history, approvals and QuickBooks reconciliation.
Read the guideDCAA timesheet corrections and audit trail
Correct late, submitted, or approved government-contract timesheets without deleting the original charge or letting managers silently rewrite employee time.
Read the guideDCAA timesheet approval requirements
Separate employee certification from supervisor approval and retain evidence when an approved government-contract timesheet changes.
Read the guideDCAA floor check checklist
Prepare for an unannounced DCAA labor floor check with employee interview questions, timekeeping records, payroll reconciliation and a mock-audit checklist.
Read the guideSF 1408 timekeeping requirements for contractors
Understand the SF 1408 timekeeping and labor-distribution criteria, the accounting-system scope around them and the evidence to prepare.
Read the guideDCAA labor distribution report guide
Build a labor distribution report that connects approved hours to direct and indirect labor, payroll, contract costs and the general ledger.
Read the guideQuickBooks DCAA timekeeping for contractors
Learn where QuickBooks supports GovCon accounting, which DCAA timekeeping controls need extra workflow, and how to reconcile labor and payroll.
Read the guideDCAA timekeeping policy and training checklist
Write a government-contract timekeeping policy employees can follow, train each role with practical scenarios and retain useful evidence.
Read the guideDCAA timekeeping software for small contractors
Compare DCAA timekeeping software by daily entry, corrections, approvals, labor distribution, QuickBooks integration, funding controls and evidence.
Read the guideFirst government contract timekeeping checklist
Set up timekeeping, work authorization, labor distribution, funding controls and employee training before your first government contract period closes.
Read the guideDeltek Costpoint alternatives for small contractors
Compare full GovCon ERPs with a lighter QuickBooks-based approach, and decide how much system your business actually needs.
Read the guideProject budget vs actual hours: a weekly control for services firms
Compare budgeted, approved, unapproved and forecast hours so consulting and engineering managers can act before an engagement overruns.
Read the guideRetainer profitability for consulting firms
Measure included capacity, over-service, unused hours, effective rate and delivery margin for recurring consulting and professional-services retainers.
Read the guideQuickBooks project profitability for consulting firms
Use QuickBooks Online Projects for financial truth while connecting approved consulting time, labor cost, budget forecasts and delivery exceptions.
Read the guideBillable utilization for consulting firms: formula and management use
Calculate consulting utilization with a clear denominator, set role-specific targets and connect capacity with demand, margin and complete timesheets.
Read the guideTimesheet software for consulting firms: a practical buying guide
Evaluate consulting timesheet software for daily entry, project budgets, rates, utilization, fixed fees, retainers, approvals and QuickBooks workflows.
Read the guideLate timesheets and revenue leakage in consulting firms
Separate billing delay, unallocated labor, write-offs and recovery workload created by late consulting timesheets—and fix the operating cause.
Read the guideProject cost rate vs bill rate for consulting firms
Define pay, loaded labor cost, bill and realized rates correctly so consulting utilization and project-margin reports remain trustworthy.
Read the guideDeltek Ajera alternatives for small engineering firms
Compare Deltek Ajera alternatives for 20–100-person engineering consultancies, including a focused Timecard Lab and QuickBooks approach.
Read the guideBQE CORE alternatives for engineering and consulting firms
Compare BQE CORE alternatives for 20–100-person engineering and consulting firms that need project profitability without unnecessary platform complexity.
Read the guideBigTime alternatives for consulting firms
Compare BigTime alternatives for 20–100-person consulting, engineering, and IT services firms using QuickBooks and managing project margin.
Read the guideQuickBooks Time alternatives for consulting firms
Compare QuickBooks Time alternatives for 20–100-person consulting and engineering firms that need stronger project-budget and profitability control.
Read the guideHarvest time tracking alternatives for consulting firms
Compare Harvest alternatives for 20–100-person consulting and engineering firms that need stronger project budgets, rates, and profitability visibility.
Read the guideExpected vs recorded hours: find missing time without micromanaging
A lightweight way to spot incomplete timesheets and understand the financial exposure behind them.
Read the guideGovernment contract funding burn rate
Calculate government contract funding runway, track burn by CLIN and connect forecasts to FAR limitation-of-cost, funding and T&M notice windows.
Read the guidePut the numbers to work
Use our free calculators and readiness checklist without creating an account.
Explore free toolsTime tracking should tell you what to do next.
Start with simple time entry. Add finance, field operations or GovCon controls when the work calls for them.