Top 7 Construction Accounting Software Platforms for Contractors

While in the preconstruction phase of a project, you can perform prequalification of clients, do bid management and create comprehensive estimating. When in the project management segment, you can incorporate quality and safety standards, have design coordination and oversee the entire project. Resource management solutions include a labor chart and field productivity data. The financial reporting segment takes the same data from revenue management and compiles reports instantly for quick review. Under the financial management segment, you can make intercompany entries and manage workflows and content management.

• We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one.
• Explore our top picks for general contractor software covering bid management, document control, and project management.
• Construction companies should use a percentage-of-completion method that recognizes both revenue and expenses as they are accumulated over time.
• I am committed to delivering expertise-led answers to your small business questions by using my first-hand experience and testing platforms or services when able.

What makes accounting in the construction industry unique?

For pricing, we looked at the starting price for the software and whether the company was transparent with its pricing. Those offering transparent pricing fared better than those forcing you to provide data to get a custom quote. We also looked at the range of costs between the various pricing tiers that a provider offered and the value that those plans offered to users.

Best Construction Accounting Software (

If you are on a budget and comparing actual to estimated costs is important to you, consider QuickBooks Enterprise. If you need to use the mobile app, then you’ll have to pay $50 per user, per month. Maybe you’re using software, but it’s a siloed program and you’re doing a lot of manual data entry to push each payroll run.

Organize Your Books With Bookkeeping Services

• The whole system has bank integration so that you don’t have to waste time with time-consuming reconciliations.
• Vista makes tracking expenses, profitability, and other metrics at the company, department, and work order levels easy.
• QuickBooks offers four service tiers depending on your needs, allowing users to track income and expenses, capture and file receipts, and run reports.
• But for teams that can facilitate that, Sage 300 brings a host of critical functions to the table, allowing crews to manage finances, projects, teams, schedules and a lot more.
• It is also a complicated software and is not popular in the US, so it might not be easy to find a bookkeeper who is knowledgeable about the software.
• Forbes Advisor researched the best construction accounting software on the market to help you find the right solution for your business.

Get a dedicated account team to help you with problems and provide on-demand online training. This is best for contractors who are constantly at job sites who want a simple mobile app to use to manage and capture data that integrates immediately with the platform. With FreshBooks, you have a construction accounting software program that ensures you are always ready to send your How to leverage construction bookkeeping to streamline financial control books to your tax professional.

Payroll, Fast and Easy Like It Should Be

• A construction management software may sometimes lack a traditional accounting setup of accounts payable, accounts receivable, and a general ledger.
• But if you run a midsize, large, or enterprise-level business, you’ll need more features than QuickBooks can provide.
• I have heard the industry standard is 10% of the overall project is given to project closeout.
• Because a building can’t be constructed quickly and billed all at once, revenue recognition policies aren’t as straightforward in the construction industry.
• The document management module also expands the functionality of the Daily Logs feature.
• Businesses of this size can get by with fewer features in their accounting software, in exchange for a lower price.

Jason holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University and is a designated CPA. Jason’s firm, Notion CPA, is an accounting firm with a business-first focus. The firm specializes in preparing personal and corporate taxation while providing fractional CFO work and leading the accounting and finance function for several small-to-medium-sized businesses. In his free time, you’ll find Jason on the basketball court, travelling, and spending quality time with family.

Running the back office of a construction business is a challenging job. While your team in the field is getting work done on the jobsite, you need people to keep their finger on the company’s financial pulse to turn a profit and maintain healthy cash flow. Construction accounting is unique to the building industry — in addition to general business accounting, you need to track job costs, overhead, retainage, mobilization costs, and more. This means construction accounting software requirements are unique as well. Features that make it stand out include daily logs, project scheduling, and job costing, allowing for seamless integration between the field and back office for reliable decision-making. Jonas even includes features to help manage your equipment and inventory, as well as documents and reports.

How to choose construction accounting software

This software needs to offer the basics like creating estimates and tracking job expenses. The focus should be on a user-friendly experience that https://azbigmedia.com/real-estate/commercial-real-estate/construction/how-to-leverage-construction-bookkeeping-to-streamline-financial-control/ helps you handle administrative work in less time. If you think general accounting software is enough for you, choose QuickBooks Online. However, if you need specialized contractor features, consider Premier Construction Software or Sage 100 Contractor or even integrate QuickBooks with Buildertrend. As an all-in-one accounting and project management solution, there’s no need for you to use multiple software solutions to manage the various aspects of your construction business.

Standout features include correspondence management tools—from specific project instructions to general day-to-day correspondence. Communication is key in any business, and busy construction jobsites are no exception. Contractor features include specialized tools, such as the ability to manage and track equipment, share project documents with clients, track employee location, and general construction reports. Better record keeping via time tracking, material costs, change orders, and subcontractor contracts can also lead to a better ROI. Better insight provides a more complete view of operational plans and expectations.

Be prepared for tax time

It’s designed as an on-premises solution, so teams will need the infrastructure to host it themselves. But for teams that can facilitate that, Sage 300 brings a host of critical functions to the table, allowing crews to manage finances, projects, teams, schedules and a lot more. “We chose Foundation for its array of features, depth of reports, its customization options, and its affordability. Much cheaper than buying software that you have to pay per-user access fees for.