QuickBooks, while a great software program, is a “generic” accounting program. Even though there is a “Contractor version”, it was designed to meet the needs of all types of contractors – from the home handyman to a general contractor. Only through the use of QuickBooks integrated add-ons will you find that it then becomes a viable substitute for the more costly construction specific accounting programs available.
Welcome to Tuesday Training!
Tuesday Training is a new feature here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog. While everyday focuses on training of one sort or another, Tuesday’s are dedicated to more in-depth training.
We’ll teach you the things you need to know about using QuickBooks, that you won’t find in the QuickBooks Help file, in order to successfully run your construction business and obtain accurate job costing reports; from eBooks, live webinars, and recorded training sessions.
You’ll find high-quality (budget friendly) training without having to leave the comfort of your home or office.
Choosing QuickBooks and QuickBooks Add-Ons for Your Construction Business
Whether you currently use QuickBooks or are thinking of using QuickBooks for your construction accounting package you need to be aware that QuickBooks, while a great software program, is a “generic” accounting program and will not do everything that you may need it to for your business by itself, unlike more expensive construction specific software.
If you are like most contractors, you probably do not think of yourself as a “computer hardware/software expert’. In fact, when faced with the thought of purchasing new computers and/or software to automate critical, time consuming tasks within your business, you end up feeling overwhelmed. Many contractors end up turning the project over to someone else. This unfortunately, is one of the major reasons that this type of project fails.
Download the complete article to find how you can make your project succeed!
We hope that you’ve found today’s Tuesday Training article to be helpful to your business – if so please take a moment to leave a comment or share this with others on your favorite social media network using the buttons below.
Strategies for Making the Move to Public Works Construction Projects Seminar – American Subcontractors Association, San Diego branch, January 19, 2012
The current economic situation has dealt a serious blow to both homebuilders and commercial contractors and many are finding themselves make the move to Public Works construction and Prevailing Wage projects. Make the move to Public Works construction will require planning and quite possibly a variety of changes in the way you currently run your existing construction business.
Join industry experts; Steve Kuzmack, President of Fringe Benefit Experts and Nancy Smyth, President of Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. for an intensive 2 hour session on January 19, 2012; on strategies for lowering labor costs and complying with certified payroll reporting requirements on Federal and/or State funded construction projects.
Learn How:
- To reduce payroll taxes and insurance premiums on your prevailing wage projects.
- “Bona Fide” benefit plans operate and how they decrease labor costs while increasing company profits and enhance employee benefit programs.
- You, the owner, can put more pre-tax money into your personal 401K.
- To smooth out the wage discrepancies between Private and Public Work.
- To save $2.00 – $4.00+ in payroll burden per man hour – based on San Diego Wage Rates.
- Supplemental Unemployment Benefit {SUB} Plans operate – and why your field workers like them.
Learn the Pros and Cons of Paying the TOTAL Hourly Prevailing Wage Rate on Payroll:
- Impact on your company
- Impact on your employees
Learn About Types of “Bona Fide” Fringe Benefit Plans:
- SUB Plan – “Field Workers Get Paid When Not Working” {Holidays, Layoffs, Reduction in Hours}
- Pension Plan – How to Increase Owner and Staff Pre-Tax Contributions
- Health Plan – Make Health Insurance Premiums not only Pre-Income Tax but Pre-Payroll Tax as well
Learn About Bookkeeping, Accounting & Payroll Procedures:
- When you pay the full fringe rate as part of employees hourly rate of pay
- When you pay the full fringe rate to one or more “bona fide” fringe benefit plans
- When you pay a portion of the fringe benefit rate to a plan and the balance in cash
Learn About Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements:
- What is a Certified Payroll Report?
- How do I complete a Certified Payroll Report?
- Are there different requirements for State and Federally funded construction projects?
If you want to get more competitive, grow your company and create more profit; then this seminar is for you.
This event will be held:
January 19, 2012 from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the SMART Safety Office, 9471 Ridgehaven Ct. #C, San Diego, CA 92123. Non-member Price $60.00. Member Price $45.00. Register for the event OR download a seminar flyer.
An “audit trail” for Accounts Receivable in QuickBooks is only one of the many complexities faced by government construction contractors. Running any sort of construction business can be difficult – but the amount of paperwork, the level of detail, and the additional requirements for a government contractor can cause 2 and sometimes 3 times the amount for a bookkeeper. Below is a question submitted by a reader named Shirley.
We are a Construction Company and do government contracting. Is it possible to use the Accounts Receivable Summary to track each Project and the invoices when received and when paid. It has been several years since I have used QuickBooks and have never used the Construction Version. We have QuickBooks 2011 Premier Construction.
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First, let me say that the Contractor version doesn’t work any differently than the Pro – it just has some built-in construction specific reports and other features that aren’t available in other versions. So your learning curve shouldn’t be difficult at all! That’s the good news 
As for using the Accounts Receivable Summary Report as an audit trail, personally I don’t think I would use that because it wouldn’t give me the detail that I would want – OR – that I “think” you are looking for. The A/R Summary report only shows you how much {total} money is overdue in 30, 60, and 90 day increments. This information may meet your needs if you just need to know how much money is how many days overdue by job.
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My own personal preference, would be to know which invoices were how many days past due; therefore, I would rather run the Accounts Receivable Aging Detail to determine exactly which invoices where outstanding.
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Both of these reports would provide me with information about just a specific job – each could be modified and filtered for a specific job or jobs.
Another very good report, especially if you are concerned about a specific job, is the Customer Open Balance Report {available from the actual QuickBooks job record and choosing Open Balance}.
Another alternative to obtain this information easily, without running and printing reports – would be to customize how job record information is displayed in QuickBook, that way anyone who has access to this type of information can easily see it without having to run, print, and then distribute reports. Remember, it’s all about efficiency and streamlining the workload/work flow. Customizing how information is displayed in the job record let’s you quickly see how much total money is outstanding for a specific job, when invoices were created {dated}, the date you anticipate receiving the money, how many days outstanding the money is, what the invoice was issued for and the open balance.
Right click on the image to enlarge it.
For tracking Vendor costs you could run a Job Cost by Job and Vendor Detail, click the Modify Report button and customize it like the screenshot below:
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QuickBooks can do many things, including provide you with an “audit trail” for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable. You just have to get in there an poke around and see what works for you.
While the information provided about may not answer the original question to the 100% satisfaction of the person asking it, based on the information provided it should at least provide you with things to look at and modify to best meet your needs.
If you found this tip to be helpful, please take a moment to leave a comment or share it on your favorite social network.
Current and future tax law changes will make the role of your construction company’s CPA more important – not less.
This weeks Freebie Friday is an article from the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) about what your construction company should look for in a CPA.
Download the article by clicking here.
I hope you enjoy this article - I did!
Have a great weekend
We’ve been testing, debugging, and documenting numerous certified payroll and AIA billing updates for the last few weeks – I’ve posted some of the information behind the changes here in our blog.
Today, I just send out a newsletter to over 2,000 construction companies (in all 50 states) who use our software – Glad I use Constant Contact to keep everyone up to date, otherwise they would get me for spamming
Below are highlights from the newsletter.
Certified Payroll Solution Updates:
There are several new enhancements, changes, and requirements available for Certified Payroll Solution; some at the State level for certified payroll reporting and others at the Federal level for EEOC Reporting – each item has a link to our website where you will find complete instructions. Be sure to visit our website to obtain the instruction on how to download & install the updates and implement any new changes that you will need to make.
- California DIR established Compliance Monitoring Unit and requires electronic certified payroll reports via a Labor Compliance Program (LCP) developed by TRS Consultants, Inc. Click here for details.
- New FHWA 1391 & 1392 Annual EEO Reports for Federal Highway Contractors – the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration revised both the 1391 & 1392 in June 2010. The new forms print on LEGAL SIZE paper and require that you report employees who are of two or more races separately. Click here for details.
- Texas DOT Requires Electronic Certified Payrolls {E-Payrolls} – The Texas Department of Transportation, like many other state agencies, is requiring electronic submission of certified payroll reports, through its Electronic Project Records System (EPRS). We have worked closely with representatives of Texas DOT to ensure that CPS will create the required .CSV file. The electronic upload has been tested and approved by Texas DOT. Click here for details.
- Revised Mississippi CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms – Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT) has revised their CAD-880 & CAD-881 Forms and updated forms are available to download. The Certified Payroll Report now includes the Race & Gender of each employee. Click here for complete details.
- New York City Housing Department Form Update – The New York City Housing Department is requiring that ALL certified payroll reports submitted on the Federal WH-347 form include the”Public Burden Statement”. Click here for complete details.
- Wisconsin Bug Fixes – corrects DOT Statement of Compliance check boxes and Department of Workforce Development Electronic upload error. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download Wisconsin DOL forms.
- More Missouri revisions – including the ability to print the certified payroll report forms on either standard or legal-sized paper. Download CPS Version 5.0.440 and then download new State of Missouri forms.
- Alaska Electronic Certified Payroll Upload News – Over a year ago we were contacted by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development to provide an electronic upload for their new on-line certified payroll filing. We worked closely with them to provide them with the correct information and upload type. A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted again and the system is now live. Download this brochure from the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, download this article for setting up CPS to generate the required files.
Construction Application for Payment Solution (AIA Billing Updates)
We’ve also been working on the Construction Application for Payment Solution (for AIA Billing). We’ve added new functionality and forms that have been requested by YOU, our customers. Each new item is listed below, if there are “special” instructions for implementing the new feature – be sure to click the link to visit our website and download ALL of the download & setup instructions that are available.
- Quantities on the Continuation Sheet – Currently this is a tested ALPHA release (Version 5.0.219), which provides Quantity Tracking (estimated, previous, current, stored, previously stored quantities and unit price can be tracked and printed with CAPS). New forms have been added with quantities. In some cases, prior form selection on jobs may be incorrect – check the Form Printing Options for each Job (Edit menu -> Jobs -> select Job -> Edit -> Printing tab -> check selection in the Select a plain paper form for this job. CAPS now provides 22 different plain paper invoicing formats for you to choose from.
- Contractor Qualification Statement – In April we released in BETA a Contractor Qualification Statement as part of the Construction Application for Payment Solution Program. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.1.214) and it is currently in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
- Plain Paper 706, 706A, 707 & 707A forms – In March, we released in BETA the ability to create complete 706, 706A, 707, & 707A forms using plain paper – rather than having to purchase AIA originals. Some, but not all of you have downloaded this update (Version 5.0.184) and it is currently still in BETA until we hear more feedback from you.
