Compliance
Certified payroll audit
Catch classification, wage, and fringe errors before a report reaches the agency. The audit runs against the exact wage determination for the trade, county, and project.
A certified payroll audit checks a WH-347 or state certified payroll report against the applicable prevailing wage determination to confirm every worker is paid the correct base rate and fringe for the right classification. It verifies hours, deductions, apprentice ratios, and the statement of compliance before the report is submitted.
- Federal threshold (Davis-Bacon Act)
- Contracts over $2,000
- California threshold (Labor Code 1771)
- Public works over $1,000
- California penalty (Labor Code 1775)
- Up to $200 per day, per worker
The problem
Manual review does not scale, and a miss is expensive.
A single public works job can generate hundreds of certified payroll reports across dozens of subcontractors, in every PDF format and scan quality imaginable. A compliance reviewer opens each one, looks up the right wage determination, and checks base rate plus fringe line by line. It is slow, and by the tenth report attention drifts.
The cost of a miss is not hourly. Underpayment can trigger back wages, penalties per worker per day, withheld payments, and on federal work, debarment. The reports that matter most are the ones a tired reviewer is least likely to catch.
The audit reads any format, classifies each worker, pulls the correct determination, and flags the exceptions. Your team reviews the flags instead of every line.
How it works
From a stack of PDFs to a scored audit.
Ingest any format
Upload certified payroll in any layout or scan quality. The system extracts workers, hours, classifications, rates, fringe, and deductions.
Match the determination
Each worker is classified and matched to the correct prevailing wage determination for the trade, county, and project period.
Verify the numbers
Base rate, fringe, overtime, apprentice ratios, and the statement of compliance are checked against the determination and the project record.
Score and package
Every report gets a compliance score with the specific findings, ready to resolve, release, or assemble into an agency audit packet.
What is inside
Built for the way public works actually files.
WH-347 and state forms
Federal WH-347 and state-specific certified payroll formats, including cash-in-lieu and on-check fringe.
Classification matching
Multi-tier trade classification so an operating engineer is not scored against an electrician rate.
Apprentice checks
Apprentice-to-journeyman ratios and registration verified against the report, not assumed.
Citation linkage
Each finding links to the source determination so a reviewer can confirm the rate in one click.
Cross-reference
Reported headcounts reconcile against field data and pre-mobilization records to surface discrepancies.
Audit packets
One-click assembly of the packet an agency asks for, searchable by project, sub, and pay period.
Frequently asked questions
When is certified payroll required?
Certified payroll is required on federal contracts over $2,000 covered by the Davis-Bacon Act and on many state and local public works projects. In California, the threshold is public works over $1,000. Any contractor or subcontractor performing covered work must submit weekly reports.
What is the difference between certified payroll and regular payroll?
Regular payroll pays employees. Certified payroll adds a weekly report to the awarding agency showing each worker, their classification, hours, prevailing wage rate, fringe, and a signed statement of compliance. It proves workers on public work were paid the legally required rate.
Is the WH-347 form mandatory?
The WH-347 form itself is optional. Weekly certified payroll reporting is mandatory on covered federal work. Contractors may use any format that captures the same information, including the WH-347 or a state-specific form, along with the statement of compliance.
Does certified payroll need to be notarized?
No. Certified payroll does not need to be notarized. It requires a signed statement of compliance from an authorized officer of the company certifying that the information is correct and workers were paid the required rates. The signature carries the legal weight.
How does an AI certified payroll audit catch errors?
It extracts every worker and rate from the report, classifies the trade, pulls the matching wage determination for the county and project period, then compares base rate, fringe, overtime, and apprentice ratios line by line. It flags underpayments and misclassifications for a reviewer to resolve.
How long must certified payroll records be kept?
Under the Davis-Bacon Act, certified payroll and related records must be retained for three years after project completion. State rules vary, and some require longer. The audit keeps a searchable archive by project, subcontractor, and pay period so records are ready for any review.
Run one job through the audit.
Bring a real batch of certified payroll and see what the audit flags against the live wage determinations.