ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS

RAS offers a full range of accounting services to our clients, spanning the financial transaction lifecycle. Our services include transaction level and general ledger account balance reconciliations, variance identification, research, and analysis, financial statement footnote compilation and reporting, and audit preparation and response.  RAS maintains knowledge of all applicable regulations and directives to include, but not limited to, the Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation (DoDFMR), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense Finance and Accounting Regulation 37-100, and the Treasury Financial Manual (TFM).  We provide professional advice and assistance in monitoring of account balances for variances and perform financial analysis in researching, analyzing, and reconciling problem disbursements that causes Official Undistributed (OUD), Negative Unliquidated Obligations (NULO's), Unliquidated Obligations (ULOs), Unmatched Disbursements (UMD's), Unmatched Transactions (UMTs), or any other out of balance condition to the Agency’s general ledger accounts. 

BUDGET OPERATIONS

RAS helps federal organizations make the most of financial resources in fiscally constrained environments. RAS has built robust Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) capabilities to help organizations execute, monitor, and manage financial resources to achieve their missions.  Our teams support federal organizations by processing and reviewing financial records to ensure funds are executed timely, in compliance with Fiscal Law.  RAS is also capable of researching and resolving disbursement discrepancies to ensure resources are used and recorded properly.  RAS has developed capabilities supporting financial execution, utilizing multiple manual and automated systems, and can tailor solutions to an organizations system environment.   Through this support, our team prepares, processes, and reviews both electronic and manual supporting financial documentation such as, Purchase Requests (PRs), Military Interdepartmental Purchase Requests (MIPRs), and DD Form 448 and 448-2s.  The team also performs due diligence to review and research financial transactions for Commitments, Obligations, Disbursements, and Unmatched Disbursements. Our budget operations team has developed complex spend plans that track and maintain financial transactions for travel, training, rents, utilities, credit cards billings, PRs, MIPRs, and Acquisition awards.  Additionally, our team develops and maintains various reporting models that are routinely used for executive level briefings on items such as, unfunded requirements, POM submission documents, and monthly execution reports.

CIVILIAN PAYROLL

Redhawk has considerable experience supporting the payroll process at large Federal Agencies. Our team is capable of providing a full spectrum of civilian payroll support, from onboarding new employees, to ensuring they understand how to use the payroll system(s), to assisting them with a timecard error or if they need special pay processed. Should an issue occur that requires special circumstances in critical times of need, our practitioners will be capable of assisting quickly and accurately. Any instances that involve specialized payroll support, Federal civilian employees can depend on our team to deliver. We leverage federal systems such as the Automated Time Attendance and Production System (ATAAPS), HR Mini Master (HRMM), and GFEBS, to establish, update, and maintain employee payroll files and record premium hours, night differentials, hazard zone pay, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), disability, and other special employee payroll considerations. Our team informs employees of their rights and responsibilities regarding the use of leave, validated timecards, and certified bi-weekly payroll by validating all employees are paid and payroll files are free from error. Our team currently supports up to 5,100 employees and handles helpdesk tickets for any pay, tax, and debt errors that could occur.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

We have the capability to provide policy development, review, oversight, and consulting support to Federal Agencies looking to enhance, create or amend their organizational policy. Our policy support services include addressing all areas of Financial Management, Financial Accounting Systems, Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness/Remediation, Budgetary Execution, Civilian Payroll, and Funds Management. Our team is capable of developing and/or reviewing policy due to our knowledge and understanding of all areas of Federal Financial and Budgetary Accounting, critical areas of the DoD Financial Management Regulation (FMR), and the financial objectives of our customers. We feel comfortable supporting policy development and improvement that ranges from general business process policies, such as Annual Budget Programming, to very specific policies such as the treatment of a Gift Fund and how to record this in the General Ledger. Our team of skilled practitioners possesses the technical and functional skills needed to support the full range of policy development, from interviewing stakeholders/collecting information, to drafting the policy and working to have it reviewed and finalized.

DTS END TO END SUPPORT

Our team provides travel management services for federal agencies, supporting both domestic and foreign travelers. Our analysts provide travel processing services for up to 20,000 travelers via the Defense Travel System (DTS). This support includes processing an average of 300 travel authorizations and vouchers monthly. Our team supports travel administration via the integration of travel orders, flight scheduling, lodging, and rental car reservations for all travelers. The team manages travel funding via DTS budget management, DTS error resolution, and travel error resolution within the Agency’s financial system. Our team provides oversight Agency travel program by establishing and communicating travel guidelines. The team built and maintained DTS organizational structures to properly account for all travel costs. The team provides support for all travel related to conference attendance, training travel, and site visits. This includes recording, tracking, and reporting of conferences in the Agency administrative and Financial Management systems.

ERP SYSTEM SUPPORT

RAS has capabilities to assist federal organizations in rationalizing and modernizing their ERP systems. RAS is capable in helping federal organization implement large-scale ERP systems. To support system implementations, the team can provide business process reengineering support by facilitating workshops, supporting the development of solutions to meet existing and emerging requirements, and developing related process documents and updates for training material, and job aids, as necessary. Additionally, our skilled professionals have the capabilities to identify, document, and support the migration from legacy systems, by performing an ‘as-is’ ‘to-be’ gap-to-goal analysis and worked alongside business process owners to understand the future system requirements and functionalities.  RAS can implement what it takes to perform quality control over data migration efforts, establish user access processes, and implement segregation of duties in accordance with DoD requirements and system procedures.  RAS can help reconcile legacy system financial data, as well as create the associated audit documentation to ensure audit compliance in the new ERP system. RAS understands the complex system environments that many government organizations are faced with and has a proven track record working alongside our clients to bring actionable recommendations into reality. 

AUDIT SUSTAINMENT, AUDIT RESPONSE, AND FINANCIAL IMPROVEMENT & AUDIT READINESS (FIAR)

RAS provides audit sustainment, audit response, and Financial Improvement & Audit Readiness (FIAR) professional services leveraging unparalleled expertise in accounting and audit. RAS works with government organizations to develop appropriate strategies, plans, and guidance, helping agencies achieve audit readiness and sustainment.  Our skilled professionals have experience providing responses to both financial and IT business process & sample testing PBC requests, responding to audit observations and notification of findings and recommendations (NFRs), and designing and implementing of corrective action plans (CAPs). Additionally, RAS provides the expertise to design and implement internal controls, conduct annual internal control self-assessments, and provide input in federal agencies annual Statement of Assurance (SOA). RAS also focuses on collaborating with federal Agencies Manger’s Internal Control Program (MICP) and other process owners to ensure forward progress against corrective action plans, the development and implementation of internal controls to resolve audit findings, and support to the annual A-123 assessment.

PBC RESPONSE

RAS provides annual full financial statement and IT audit support.  Our team assists with audits by gathering, reviewing, and responding to large volumes of auditor requests for documentation.  For example, during FY21, the team responded to over 3,500 PBCs and 2,400 samples related to business processes such as payroll, recoveries, grants, accounts payable, financial reporting, and Funds Balance with Treasury for a large Federal Agency.  We can leverage secure systems, like the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Audit Response and Coordination (ARC) tool, to perform audit response duties to manage large volumes of auditor requests.

NFR COORDINATION

RAS can provide support to interpret, respond to, coordinate, track, and resolve Auditor Notice of Findings and Recommendations (NFR).  Our staff work with organizations to provide metrics that enable leadership to gain meaningful insight into the status of their NFR processes by leveraging NFR dashboards and reporting tools.  Additionally, our team of accounting and audit experts leverage their understanding of federal accounting standards to work with stakeholders across the government to ensure that sufficient time, attention, and resources are being put in place to properly address and resolve NFR root causes.

CAP DEVELOPMENT

RAS can support the development of effective Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) to resolve the toughest Federal audit challenges.  By applying generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), our team works alongside Government personnel to design and implement CAPs to remediate identified audit deficiencies.  Our team does this by supporting timely identification of emergent findings, prioritization of remediation efforts, and performance of adequate stakeholder analysis to design and implement effective CAPs.  RAS works with Agency leadership to maintain, track, and report on the progress of CAPs to assist with the prioritization and management of audit remediation progress.

RMIC/MICP INTERNAL CONTROLS

RAS specializes in analyzing, monitoring, and evaluating business processes and internal controls to help organizations achieve desired business outcomes.  RAS works alongside our clients to establish Internal Controls Programs that work with Agency management to perform risk-based internal controls assessments, as required within OMB A-123.  We also assist with the maintenance of end-to-end business processes documentation of financially relevant processes.  Our team of strong and skilled professionals work with cross-functional financial and IT skills to support robust control environments. Our team performs risk-based periodic testing of internal controls using a framework of OMB Circular A-123 Appendix A processes and procedures. Our team also supports A-123 Compliance activities by Preparing an Annual OMB Circular A-123 Assessment Plan for Internal Control over Financial Reporting and Internal Controls over Financial Systems. 

AUDIT STRATEGY

RAS supports federal organizations by developing and delivering audit strategy plans based high-risk priority areas.  Our teams work to build an integrated audit strategy plan to overcome identified financial reporting and financial systems high risk areas to obtain an audit opinion.  Our skilled practitioners have robust experience in federal audit and understand the multitude of challenges that need to be considered as the Audit Strategy is developed.  Our team works with Agency leadership to develop an audit strategy focused on minimizing risks, meeting audit deadlines, and using audit resources efficiently to achieve positive audit results for large, complex federal organizations.

FIN STATEMENT

RAS has developed robust financial statement compilation and reporting capabilities. Our services help organizations prepare, review, and publish auditable financial statements and related footnotes. Our team performs various accounting related functions to help support the Agency’s goal of publishing auditable financial statements.  Our experienced professionals work alongside Agency personnel and shared service organizations like DFAS to review, develop, and publish quarterly and yearly financial statements.  This support includes developing the related footnotes, subsidiary general ledger and trial balance reconciliations, and journal voucher preparation, review, reconciliation, and approval in accordance with all applicable laws and related guidance.   RAS also focuses on developing and reviewing evidence substantiating the integrity of all transaction execution. RAS works with organizations to ensure the highest level of accuracy of the organization’s financial and accounting computation and uniform application of policies, procedures, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to reflect the true financial reporting position of the organization. Our skilled professionals are capable to serving at trusted advisors to our clients on critical finance and accounting matters, and we maintain a roster of skilled CPAs and other financial professionals to meet these needs.

Transaction Workflow Automation

• Automation of financial, acquisition, invoice, approval, and reconciliation workflows

• Rules-based routing, validation, exception handling, and notifications

• Robotic process automation for repetitive, high-volume transactions

• Automated controls, audit trails, and status tracking

• Reduced processing time, errors, and administrative workload

Digital Transformation

• Current-state assessments and modernization roadmaps

• Business-process reengineering and workflow optimization

• Replacement of manual, paper-based, and legacy processes

• Cloud-enabled and low-code modernization support

• Change management, user adoption, and operational transition

Custom Platform Development

• Secure web applications, dashboards, portals, and workflow platforms

• Tailored solutions for budget formulation, execution, accounting, and reporting

• Role-based access, approval hierarchies, and configurable business rules

• API-enabled integration with federal enterprise systems

• Agile development, testing, deployment, and sustainment

Databricks and Data Engineering

• Enterprise data architecture and lakehouse implementation

• Data ingestion, transformation, cleansing, and enrichment

• Scalable processing of financial, operational, and program data

• Data pipelines, orchestration, and performance optimization

• Data governance, lineage, quality monitoring, and metadata management

AI and Predictive Analytics

• Forecasting of obligations, expenditures, cash requirements, and execution rates

• Anomaly, duplication, and outlier detection

• Predictive modeling for funding needs, workload, and program performance

• Natural-language search and analysis of financial information

• Decision-support tools for leadership and resource managers

Data Integration and Migration Support

• Legacy-system data extraction, mapping, transformation, and validation

• Integration of financial, procurement, human capital, and operational systems

• Master-data management and cross-system reconciliation

• Migration planning, testing, cutover, and post-deployment support

• Preservation of historical records, traceability, and audit evidence

JavaScript Tool Development

• Lightweight browser-based tools, calculators, forms, and reporting utilities

• Interactive dashboards and data visualizations

• Workflow extensions and user-interface enhancements

• Rapid prototypes and mission-specific applications

• Integration with APIs, databases, and enterprise platforms

Capable of developing AI/Automation tools to address a wide array of financial management use cases, specifically financial transaction review and problem transaction clean up, risk management and internal controls testing, review, and ERP systems support and reconciliation processes.

By combining automation, modern software development, data engineering, and advanced analytics, we help federal customers accelerate financial operations, improve data quality, strengthen compliance, and deliver timely, defensible information to decision-makers.