What is WiseCost?

WiseCost adds time tracking, timesheet approvals and labor distribution to QuickBooks Online for government contractors and nonprofits with federal grants.

AdminsLast updated September 19, 2026

WiseCost is a time tracking and labor cost allocation application that works on top of QuickBooks Online. Your team logs hours against contracts, grants or internal cost categories, approvers review the timesheets, and WiseCost allocates each person's pay across what they worked on and posts the journal entry to QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online stays your accounting system. WiseCost does not replace it.

What problem does WiseCost solve?

If the government pays for your people's time, you have to show where that time went and what it cost. That is true for a contractor audited by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and for a nonprofit that charges salaries to a federal award under the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.430). Most small organizations keep their books in QuickBooks Online, which has no timekeeping controls and no labor distribution.

WiseCost fills that gap without a migration. It adds daily timekeeping tied to contracts or awards, an approval workflow, automated labor distribution, indirect rate reports and an immutable audit trail, all reading from and posting to the QuickBooks Online company you already have.

Who is WiseCost for?

Government contractors that follow DCAA timekeeping practices: companies pursuing or holding cost-type or T&M contracts, preparing for a pre-award survey (SF-1408) or a floor check.
Nonprofits and grant recipients that need time and effort reporting for federal awards: salaries charged to grants have to be supported by records that reflect the work actually performed.
CPA firms that serve these clients and want them on one consistent process.

In all three cases the organization uses QuickBooks Online and does not want to move to an enterprise ERP.

What WiseCost does

Time tracking. Employees log hours against a contract (a QuickBooks Class or Project), with an optional Item, Location and description, or against internal time such as PTO, holiday and overhead.
Timesheet approvals. Each employee can have an approver and a backup approver. Admins and supervisors approve, reject or reopen timesheets, and every action is kept in the timesheet history.
Labor distribution. Labor distribution is the process that turns approved hours plus pay into labor cost per contract. WiseCost calculates it for each payroll period and posts a journal entry to QuickBooks Online.
Reports. Labor Distribution, Indirect Rate (fringe, overhead and G&A), P&L and Budget vs Actual by Contract.
Compliance controls. Presets for DCAA and for the Uniform Guidance set a strict starting point that you can adjust switch by switch.
Audit Trail. Every change is recorded with its old value and its new value, and nothing in it can be edited.
API. A read-only REST API to take your time data to a data warehouse or a BI tool.

What WiseCost is not

WiseCost is not an ERP and it does not replace QuickBooks Online. It does not handle accounts payable or receivable, payroll processing or invoicing. Those stay in QuickBooks Online and in your payroll provider.

WiseCost supports your compliance practices. It does not make an organization compliant by itself, and no software can guarantee the result of an audit. Auditors evaluate your accounting system as a whole, including your written policies.

For plans and pricing, see the Pricing page.

Next steps

Common questions

Does WiseCost replace QuickBooks Online?

No. QuickBooks Online stays your book of record. WiseCost reads your employees, classes, projects and accounts from it and posts labor distribution journal entries back to it.

Is WiseCost only for DCAA contractors?

No. It is also used by nonprofits and grant recipients that follow the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.430). Each has its own compliance preset and its own setup path in this Help Center.

Does using WiseCost make my company DCAA compliant?

No software does that by itself. WiseCost gives you the timekeeping, approval, labor distribution and audit trail controls auditors look for, and they evaluate your whole accounting system, including your written policies.