What is WiseCost?

Who it's for, what it does, and what it isn't.

What problem does WiseCost solve?

If you're a government contractor, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) requires your accounting system to meet specific standards before you can win and keep government contracts. Most small contractors use QuickBooks Online, which wasn't designed for this.

WiseCost fills that gap. It sits on top of your existing QuickBooks Online account and adds the compliance layer DCAA requires: time tracking tied to specific contracts, automated labor distribution, immutable audit logs, and journal entry generation, without migrating your data.

Who is WiseCost for?

WiseCost is built for small and mid-size government contractors who:

  • Use QuickBooks Online as their accounting system
  • Are pursuing or already hold T&M government contracts
  • Need to pass a DCAA preaward survey (SF-1408) or already have a contract under audit
  • Are tired of paying enterprise-ERP prices for Deltek or Unanet

It's also used by CPA firms that serve multiple GovCon clients and need a single dashboard to manage them all.

What WiseCost does

  • Time tracking: Employees log hours against specific contracts and cost categories (direct labor, indirect, fringe) from a simple web interface
  • Labor distribution: WiseCost calculates the hourly cost for each employee and allocates it to the right contracts automatically
  • Journal entries: Completed distributions generate properly formatted journal entries and post them directly to QuickBooks Online
  • Audit trail: Every entry, approval, and change is logged immutably, exactly what DCAA auditors look for
  • Timesheet approvals: Admins review and approve pay periods before distribution runs

What WiseCost is not

WiseCost is not an ERP and doesn't replace QuickBooks. It's a compliance add-on that makes your existing QuickBooks setup DCAA-ready. You keep running your business in QuickBooks Online; WiseCost handles the government-contracting layer.

It also doesn't handle:

  • Accounts payable or receivable
  • Payroll processing
  • Invoicing

Those stay in QuickBooks.

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