FAR 31 DOT Audit Readiness ScorecardHow ready is your firm for a DOT indirect cost rate audit?
Answer 15 quick questions and discover where a real FAR 31 audit is most likely to stall. Get an instant, personalized readiness result before the auditor ever requests your file.
Free. About 5 minutes. Instant personalized result
Most firms know an indirect cost rate audit requires documents. The harder question is whether those documents reconcile, support the rate, and can be produced without a last-minute reconstruction. This scorecard measures the five areas that matter most: accounting reconciliation, labor and timekeeping, rate structure and allocations, FAR Part 31 allowability, and audit support.
The five places a FAR 31 audit is most likely to stall
These are the equally weighted categories the scorecard evaluates. They are the practical pressure points that decide whether an audit proceeds efficiently or bogs down in missing reconciliations, unsupported costs, and last-minute reconstruction.
Financial Records & Reconciliation
Does your rate schedule reconcile directly to the year-end trial balance and general ledger, on the same fiscal-year data?
Labor & Timekeeping
Can labor distribution be traced through payroll to the general ledger, with all hours captured and corrections documented?
Rate Structure & Allocations
Are your pools, bases, and calculations mathematically supported by workpapers and applied consistently year to year?
FAR Part 31 Allowability
Is there a documented process to identify and remove unallowable costs before the indirect rate is finalized?
Compensation, Policies & Audit Support
Can you support executive compensation under FAR 31.205-6 and hand an auditor your key written policies on request?
Instant weakest-category result
Your result highlights the single readiness category most likely to slow the audit, so you know exactly where to focus.
Forrest W. Cameron, CPA
This scorecard reflects how DOT indirect cost rate audits are actually reviewed. Forrest spent 12 years at the Georgia Department of Transportation, including 10 years in audit and 2 as Audit Director. He served on the original National Compensation Matrix development team, and his audit work has been accepted through cognizant review in seven states.
Find your audit friction before the auditor asks for the file
Turn audit uncertainty into a concrete readiness benchmark in about five minutes. Answer 15 questions, see your overall score, and learn exactly where to focus first.
Free and instant. No long commitment required to get value.
