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Technically Speaking
BY FRED ODE
Editor’s Note: Looking for answers to your tech issues?
Send your construction-related technology questions to heyfred@foundationsoft.com.
Q: We’ve just finished another
busy year, and our office staff is trying
to prepare over/under-billing reports
required by our surety company. The
only way we can get this information
is to pull data from numerous reports
and do the calculations manually. On
top of all the other year-end tax and
payroll activities we are facing, it’s an
enormous amount of work. Is there a
better way?
Chuck
A: Though you failed to mention
what kind of accounting system your
contracting company is currently
using, I think I can guess. It’s most
likely a generic, off-the-shelf, small
business accounting system. Am I
right?
The reason I say this is because
you are experiencing the same problem
that thousands of contractors
face every day…and particularly at
year-end. You have limited access to
the kind of detailed job costing data
you need for construction reporting.
In your case, it’s the over/under-billing
reports necessary to get or stay
bonded.
But there is good news. Contractors
can eliminate 99 percent of this work
(gathering numerous reports, dumping
the information into spreadsheets
and calculating the percent-complete
for every individual job) by switching
to a construction-specific job cost
accounting system. Once the job cost
information has been entered into
the system (in the form of timesheet
data, invoices, etc.) this report can be
produced automatically. And instead
of waiting until year-end to retrieve
this useful information, you can
retrieve over/under-billing reports on
a monthly—or even weekly—basis.
It’s just a mouse click away.
Of course, over/under-billing
reports are just one example of what
contractors might be missing from
their current accounting system.
If you’re having trouble with payroll
reporting, overhead allocation,
change order tracking, production
reporting or any other issue that’s
specific to construction, it may be
time to change software packages.
When you consider the time you are
wasting trying to get the information
you need, not to mention the benefits that come from having timely
and accurate data, it could be one of
the best investments your company
makes in the new year.
Best wishes for your success!
Fred
Disclaimer: Technically Speaking
reserves the right to change names and
edit questions for privacy, length, and
readability issues.
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