Key takeaways
- Aerospace companies on Deltek Costpoint need AP automation that codes invoices to the project (contract and WBS level), organization and account while maintaining DCAA-ready audit trails.
- Vergo proposes the full project-org-account coding by inference from your own accounting structure and history, with no rule library to maintain, protecting the accuracy of your Incurred Cost Submission.
- DCAA compliance demands complete audit trails for every approval, edit and rejection, with timestamps and user IDs for each touchpoint.
- Approval workflows must route invoices by contract value, account or program manager responsibility to keep direct and indirect costs segregated.
- Current cost visibility against program budgets prevents miscoded invoices that delay billing and distort earned-value reporting.
Where should you go next?
- Learn more about Vergo AP Invoice Automation
- Learn more about Vergo Expense Management
- Learn more about Vergo Employee Reimbursements
Why Aerospace Companies on Costpoint Need Specialized AP Automation
Aerospace and defense companies on Deltek Costpoint face AP challenges generic automation tools cannot solve. Every vendor invoice must be coded to the correct project, down to the contract, CLIN and WBS level, plus the owning organization and the account. Miscoded invoices trigger DCAA findings, delay billing and distort earned-value reporting. AP clerks deal with invoices that split across several contracts and WBS elements on one statement. DCAA requirements demand full audit trails for every approval, rejection and edit. Incurred Cost Submission pressure means cost allocation accuracy flows straight into the annual submission. High volumes of supplier and outside-services invoices each need account validation before posting. Separating direct costs from indirect pools such as overhead and G&A is critical, since misclassification risks unallowable cost findings. Without AP automation that understands Costpoint's data model, finance teams fall back on spreadsheets and manual entry, introducing errors at every step.
What to Look For in AP Automation for Costpoint
The right AP automation tool must read and write Costpoint's project, organization and account structures through a direct integration, not flat-file imports. Invoices should map to the correct project and WBS element, account and organization based on PO or vendor context, and respect the project-account-org combinations your Costpoint setup allows. DCAA-ready audit trails must log every touchpoint — submission, approval, edit, rejection — with timestamps and user IDs. Multi-level approval workflows should route invoices by contract value, account or program manager responsibility without manual intervention. Outside-services invoices need line-level breakdowns by labor, material and other direct costs, each mapped to the right account. Data extraction must capture line detail, not just generic invoice headers. Controllers need current cost visibility against program budgets before invoices post to Costpoint, preventing overruns and giving program managers current spend data.
A Practical Example
An aerospace parts manufacturer receives a $45,000 invoice from an engineering services supplier covering work on three efforts under a single statement. The AP clerk must split it across Contract A (CLIN 0001, WBS 1.2.3), Contract B (CLIN 0002, WBS 2.1.4) and an overhead account for internal research. Each line carries a different account — direct labor, materials or indirect — and must route to the right program manager for approval. The coding also has to line up with the company's Incurred Cost Submission structure. Done by hand, this one invoice is slow and full of chances for coding errors. AP automation that understands Costpoint proposes the same split in seconds, applying the correct project, WBS element, account and approval route from the supplier's history and the invoice's line descriptions, while keeping a complete DCAA audit trail.
DCAA Compliance and Audit Trail Requirements
Defense Contract Audit Agency expectations require aerospace companies with government contracts to keep complete, timestamped records of every financial transaction and approval decision. AP automation for Costpoint must capture who submitted each invoice, when it entered the system, which approvers reviewed it, what edits were made and the final posting details. Every change to coding — whether a program manager reassigns a WBS element or a controller corrects an account — must be logged with the user ID and timestamp. Rejection reasons must be documented and retained. The system must preserve the original invoice image and all extracted data in unalterable form. During DCAA audits, examiners trace individual invoices from vendor submission through Costpoint posting, verifying that approval workflows were followed and cost allocations match supporting documentation. Without automated audit trails, finance teams spend weeks reconstructing approval histories from email threads and manual logs, risking findings that jeopardize contract payments.
How Vergo Handles This
Vergo is an AI-native, card-agnostic expense management platform that handles card spend, employee reimbursements and AP invoices through one coding model. Vergo proposes the coding by inference from your own Costpoint accounting structure and history — no rule library to build, no keyword lists to maintain, and new vendors are coded on first sight. Every coding shows why it was chosen, so a reviewer confirms in seconds instead of re-coding by hand. Approval workflows are optional and fit how you already control spend: route by GL account, by amount or by project — or skip approval flows entirely and let policy flags catch only what breaks a rule. Transactions are ready to code the moment they happen, with no waiting for clearing, and once they clear, they sync into Costpoint in real time. Vergo integrates with Deltek Costpoint. Connecting your existing cards involves no card applications, no re-issuing and no banking change. Card spend, employee reimbursements and AP invoices run through one coding model — same coding, same review, one reconciliation — and payment stays on the rails you already use.
Related Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Vergo integrate directly with Deltek Costpoint?
Yes. Vergo integrates with Deltek Costpoint's project structure, including contracts, WBS elements, organizations and accounts. Invoice data maps directly to Costpoint fields, eliminating manual rekeying. Approved invoices post to Costpoint with full audit trails for DCAA compliance.
Can AP automation software handle DCAA audit trail requirements?
Vergo logs every invoice action — submission, coding, approval, rejection and edits — with timestamps and user IDs. That creates a complete, unalterable audit trail that supports DCAA reviews of incurred cost submissions and contract audits, without separate documentation.
How does AP automation handle multi-contract invoice coding in aerospace?
Vergo uses your coding history and PO matching to split invoices across multiple contracts, WBS elements and accounts. AP clerks review pre-coded entries rather than building cost distributions by hand, which reduces coding errors and speeds invoice processing on complex aerospace programs.
What is the biggest AP pain point for aerospace companies on Costpoint?
Manual invoice coding to Costpoint's multi-level project hierarchy is the main bottleneck. Each invoice needs the correct project, WBS element, organization and account. Errors cause DCAA findings, delay billing and distort program cost reports. Automation removes most manual coding and catches misclassifications before posting.
Can Vergo process supplier invoices with cost-type breakdowns?
Yes. Vergo parses supplier and outside-services invoices that break out labor, material, ODC and other cost types. Each line maps to the correct Costpoint account and WBS element. The system flags potential unallowable costs and routes for program manager approval before posting.
