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Closed archival binder, bronze spine banding, raking light

04 · Audit record

Fourteen questions. One binder.

In development · TBD 2027

The SF 1408 asks fourteen things about your accounting system. The last one asks whether the system is in full operation — which is why a compliant package nobody uses fails the form it was built to pass.

Demo tenant · development build · 11 settled · 2 attention · 1 live

01Segregation of direct and indirect costssettled
02Costs identified and accumulated by contractsettled
03Logical, consistent indirect allocationsettled
04Accumulation under general ledger controlsettled
05Timekeeping identifies labor by cost objectivesettled
06Labor distribution charges direct and indirect laborsettled
07Interim (at least monthly) determination of costssettled
08Exclusion of unallowable costs (FAR 31)attention
09Costs by contract line itemsettled
10Preproduction segregated from productionsettled
11Cost information for limitation of cost / fundssettled
12Billing and progress payment supportattention
13Reliable data for pricing follow-on worksettled
14In full operationlive
settled attention · reason on record live · never finished, kept
Why two areas show attention
That is the demo tenant's real state. Fourteen settled marks would be less credible, not more.
binder.state · read from the ledger · no manual override exists

Generated, not assembled

Source
The ledger

Each area is a query against the append-only ledger. There is no document that someone writes and someone else believes; there is a question and the rows that answer it.

sf1408.areas · every area mapped to a ledger query

Currency
Today, not last quarter

The binder has no build step and no stale state. Opening it runs the queries. The answer is the answer as of the moment you asked.

binder.open · evaluated on read

Export
One click, with the queries

The export carries the answers and the queries that produced them, so a reviewer can re-run any area rather than take the export on faith.

binder.export · queries included

Attention
Carries its reason

An area in attention renders the reason and the row that caused it. There is no state in the binder that means "something, somewhere".

area.attention · cause row referenced

Area 14 is the whole product

"In full operation" is the only area you cannot pass by buying something. It is marked live rather than settled because it is never finished — it is kept. CRATON's home screen is that area, answered daily.

craton.binder · area 14 · live · never finished, kept

Questions we get asked

The short answers.

Is the binder a document or a screen?
A screen that exports. It is evaluated on read, so there is no version of it that is out of date while looking current.
Can we edit an area's state before a review?
No. There is no manual override. An area changes state when the underlying rows change, which is the only reason the binder is worth showing an auditor.
Does passing all fourteen areas here mean we pass the survey?
No, and we will not say it does. The survey is conducted by a person against your actual system. The binder means you can answer every question with rows instead of recollection.
What does the export contain?
The fourteen areas, their current state, the reason for any area in attention, and the query behind each one. Format and schema are in the API contract for engineering.

Keep reading

Next.

01 · Timekeeping
Book the day whole

A compliant timesheet is not a stricter timesheet.

03 · Indirect rates
Rates that move when the ledger does

Most small contractors compute indirect rates in a spreadsheet once a quarter and discover the drift at year end.

The record
AI-assisted. Every commit recorded

AI-assisted analysis. Every operator commit is recorded.

Request a walkthrough

Make your next audit the dullest hour of the year.

Forty minutes with the team building it. Bring your last SF 1408 or your first.

leadership@hypati.us

CRATON is in development; availability planned for 2027 (TBD). Walkthroughs by request.