These construction accounting platforms are seven of the best available to help contractors prepare, manage, and track their budgets. Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, so do your research well to fully understand what each has to offer. Other tasks include job costing, preparing estimates and quotes, forecasting, budgeting, and receivables. You get access to a broad network of experts for industry-specific tasks, including electrical work, and even plumbing. Ease of use is an important factor, particularly if the owner or other nonaccountant will be keeping the books.

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For example, suppose your company uses progress billing on large jobs (where each invoice is charged against the total cost of the job over time until the balance is paid). In that case, your construction accounting software needs to be able to produce a schedule of values to help you track construction bookkeeping the running total. The right construction accounting software will offer more features and capabilities than standard accounting solutions.

• While evaluating potential accounting software, you should have already identified the must-haves driving your final decision.
• For a deeper look at WIP and its impact on accounting for construction check out our article on “Everything you need to know about WIP”.
• Through this approach to accounting, you’ll estimate a project’s end date and calculate your revenue based on how much work your team has done.
• Our next step is to determine the value of the software by comparing the total cost of ownership against the available features.
• Features include project cost tracking, automated billing, and real-time financial reporting, helping your team manage project budgets and performance.

Always job cost

• Features like invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reporting help you monitor cash inflows and outflows.
• You should also look for platforms through which you can add your branding to all these documents.
• Project management is critical to meeting budgets on your construction sites.
• Additionally, the accounting software vendors on this list don’t charge extra for setup or implementation, although other services may impose these additional fees.
• This robust feature set — as well as training on how to use it — makes Foundation a good fit for a wide range of construction companies.
• Accounting software is one of the most important technologies for your construction firm to implement, so it’s worth taking time to find your ideal platform.
• QuickBooks can also track expenses in real-time, keeping your projects on budget.

QuickBooks is a leading accounting software designed to streamline financial management for contractors and small businesses. It handles invoicing, expense tracking, and payroll, helping you manage key financial tasks. Viewpoint Vista is accounting software built for contractors, offering solutions for managing financials, project workflows, and compliance.

Which Accounting Method is Best for a Construction Company?

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The software should offer customizable features and integrations that can be adapted as your business needs evolve. Plus, cloud-based solutions often provide better scalability options compared to on-premises software. I chose Sage 100 Contractor because it provides specialized features for construction companies, like job costing and estimating, which help you manage projects more efficiently. The software tracks project progress and expenses, making it easier to stay on budget. It also handles payroll and compliance reporting, which are critical for contractors.

Setting our sights on the future of construction finance

• We remain enthusiastic about the platform’s single-screen invoice creation interface.
• We like that this platform never costs more than $25 per month for access to quotes, estimates, invoicing and other basic accounting features.
• Deltek also provides tools for real-time project tracking, helping you stay on top of deadlines and budgets.
• This means that there are no accounts payable or accounts receivable as a transaction does not exist if money didn’t physically change hands under cash accounting.
• Regarding accounting, Foundation provides AIA billing, retainage tracking, and customizable invoices on the accounts receivable side of things.

The whole system has bank integration so that you don’t have to waste time with time-consuming reconciliations. Accounting software isn’t just meant to track expenses and manage ongoing project costs. It’s also designed to help fortify your bidding strategy so that you can earn the jobs you want to do at rates that are feasible for both you and your clients. Your construction accounting software will help you solidify winning bids and control your budgets to boost profitability.