QuickBooks Pro - Is great for contractors acting as Sole Proprietor with annual sales under $100,000 who simply need a way to keep track of basic income and expenses. You can set it up really basic and simple to do most everything in the check register. When you spend money record it in the check register as an expense and when you receive money record it as income. When it is time to file the taxes you generate a Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet and give it to whomever does your tax return.
QuickBooks Premier Contractors Edition - Is designed for serious contractors with annual sales above $100,000 because those companies are usually setup as a corporation, Sub-S or LLC in order to reduce the high income tax they would pay if they were a Sole Proprietor. In addition to the fact that having a corporation can help protect your personal assets, home, car, savings.
QuickBooks - Is a tool like any other tool in the hands of a Master Construction Accountant it can do marvelous things that will amaze even the toughest contractor, their banker and performance bonding agent. However, in the hands of the average bookkeeper it can cause severe and long lasting damage. In the hands of an accountant or C.P.A. it can destroy your construction company. Construction accounting is not something that can be learned; it must be experienced, first hand, as a construction worker on the jobsite before it can be understood. Then and only then is someone prepared to learn it. A Master Construction Accountant can develop a construction bookkeeping and accounting firm with a comprehensive bookkeeping system like an assembly line and hire Professional Bookkeepers to run it.
The Most Important - Use for QuickBooks Premier Contractors Edition is helping contractors understand the financial health of their construction company. QuickBooks Premier Contractors Edition provides a running scorecard of Key Performance Reports and when used with Business Process Management Tools like what 10 minutes of waste costs their company.
New Construction Speculative - Land developers, home builders and light commercial builders. Do you develop raw land or build something in hopes a buyer will emerge during or shortly after the building is built?
You need QuickBooks to track all your construction and overhead costs and generate Bank Draws and Work-In-Progress (WIP) reports against budgeted estimates to monitor progress which we have in our QuickBooks Setup.
Your Chart of Accounts needs to be focused WIP Assets with a few Cost of Goods Sold Accounts (COGS) to allocate the sale of the building
You need the Five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor the financial health of your business
You need QuickBooks setup to have between 200 and 6,000 Items setup to track all the costs of the construction process from the ground up through the roof and final cleanup
This is the most difficult QuickBooks setup is the Premier Contractor Edition because there is a mix of Direct, Indirect, Asset, WIP and COGS accounts
The day to day input is also the most difficult and needs to be handled by construction accounting staff with specialized training in construction accounting
Your income can be sporadic and extremely sensitive to the ups and downs of the new construction market which is why you need a strategy with an external focus on the global housing market.
In order for your Spec Builder Company to reach its full potential you will need an overall strategy including a Business Plan for Contractors
We believe a lot of speculative builders go bankrupt because they do not have accurate QuickBooks reports to base decisions on and that is as direct result of trying to save money with Cheap Bookkeeping
New Construction Custom - Do you build custom homes and / or light commercial buildings for a specific for a client?
You need QuickBooks setup to track all the costs and generate Complex Payment Applications, Item Estimates vs. Actuals, Job Profitability Summary and Job Profitability Detail Reports to monitor progress.
Your QuickBooks setup needs to have Chart of Accounts wiith proper Goods Sold Accounts (COGS) to allocate project costs.
You will benefit from the Five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor the financial health of your business
Your QuickBooks setup will have between 500 to 2,500 Items to track all the costs of the construction process from the ground up through the roof and final cleanup
This is the second most difficult QuickBooks setup, the Premier Contractor Edition because there is a mix of Direct, Indirect, COGS and only a few WIP accounts
The day to day accounting and bookkeeping input is the second most difficult and to be done properly requires accounting staff with specialized training in construction accounting
Our experience has been your group generates a relatively unstable income and is somewhat sensitive to the ups and downs of the new construction custom built market
In order for your Custom Home Building Company to reach its full potential you need a Construction Business Strategy including a Business Plan for Contractors
We believe a lot of custom builders go bankrupt because they do not have accurate reports to base decisions on and that is as direct result of trying to save money with Cheap Bookkeeping
Remodel - Residential And Light Commercial Tenant Improvement Contractors. Do you remodel existing homes and commercial spaces?
You need QuickBooks to track all the costs and generate Complex Payment Applications Item Estimates vs. Actuals, Job Profitability Summary and Job Profitability Detail Reports to monitor progress.
Your QuickBooks setup Chart of Accounts is focused Goods Sold Accounts (COGS) to allocate project costs.
You need the Five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor the financial health of the business
Your QuickBooks setup will need 1,000 to 5,000 Items to properly track all the costs of the construction process from beginning to end in order to get the reports you need
This is the third most difficult QuickBooks setup is the Premier Contractor Edition because there is a mix of Direct, Indirect, COGS and only a few WIP accounts
The day to day input is also the second most difficult and to be done properly requires accounting staff with specialized training in construction accounting
Our experience has been your group generates a stable income and is not as sensitive to the ups and downs of the new construction market
In order for you to reach their full potential of your business you will need an overall strategy including a Business Plan for Contractors
And of course Cheap Bookkeeping is the one area where short term savings is overwhelmed by making bad decisions based upon inaccurate QuickBooks reports
Trade contractors - Plumbers, Electricians, HVAC, Flooring, Sheetrock, Painters, Landscapers and others. Are you engaged in one of the many specific construction trades?
You need QuickBooks to track all the costs and generate Simple Invoices which can then be input into QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition
Your QuickBooks setup Chart of Accounts is usually focused Goods Sold Accounts (COGS) to allocate project costs
You will need to pay close attention to the Five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor the financial health of the business because your sales cycle is so short
You will need QuickBooks setup to have between 500 to 2,500 Items to track all the costs of the construction process from beginning to end
This is the fourth most difficult QuickBooks setup the Premier Contractor Edition to because there is a mix of Direct, Indirect, COGS accounts
You day to day input is also the third most difficult and to be done properly requires accounting staff with specialized training in construction accounting
Our experience has been your group generates the most stable income and you are not as sensitive to the ups and downs of the new construction market
In order to reach their full potential of your Trade Construction Business you will need an overall strategy including a Business Plan for Contractors
And of course Cheap Bookkeeping is the one area where short term savings is overwhelmed by making bad decisions based upon inaccurate QuickBooks reports
Service and Repair - companies like drain cleaners, emergency service electricians etc. Are you a primarily service and repair contractor who spends from a few hours to a few days on most jobs?
You need QuickBooks to track all the costs and generate Simple Invoices which can then be input into QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition
Your QuickBooks setup Chart of Accounts is usually focused Goods Sold Accounts (COGS) to allocate project costs
You will need to closely monitor the daily changes in the Five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to understand the financial health of your business
You will need QuickBooks setup to have between 500 to 2,500 Items to properly track all the costs of the construction process from beginning to end
This is the fourth most difficult QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition to setup because there is a mix of Direct, Indirect, COGS accounts
The day to day input is also the third most difficult and to be done properly requires accounting staff with specialized training in construction accounting
Our experience has been your generates a very stable income because you are not as sensitive to the ups and downs of the new construction market
In order to reach your full business potential you need an strategy including a Business Plan for Contractors
And of course Cheap Bookkeeping is the one area where short term savings is overwhelmed by making bad decisions based upon inaccurate QuickBooks reports
Having Used - A number of accounting programs over the years we believe QuickBooks is the best, hands down, no contest! For construction company owners the tiny amount of money difference between QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition is worth the investment for the additional a Contractor Reports alone. Upgrading every year is a “no brainer” because of all the new features and if a contractor’s construction accounting staff only saves only 10 minutes a day the savings will more than pay for the program.
Our mission is to “Remove Contractor's Paperwork Frustrations”. Which means we work with you and support you with whatever version of QuickBooks you use. We have observed contractors who use QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition simply make more money. One of the questions we ask our clients is “Do you want to Right or Rich?”
Right Is Focusing - On cutting costs wherever possible even if it means skimping on labor, material, sub-contractors, tools and equipment which in the end affects their customer’s projects in a negative way and good customer communications. Eventually those construction companies disappear into the night like wisps of smoke.
Rich Is Focusing - On offering good quality products and services by investing wisely in on labor, material, sub-contractors, tools and equipment, customer communications and outsourcing the bookkeeping. These companies seem to grow and prosper.
We Contract - With An Intuit Authorized Commercial Host company that allows us to access QuickBooks Desktop Version Online. The good news is they are great at providing 24/7 access to client QuickBooks files and nightly backup. The other news is that we need staff that is skilled in construction bookkeeping and accounting and other staff that is very experienced with Microsoft Windows Explorer File Structure because we have to upload, setup, monitor and maintain the QuickBooks data, paperless documents and internal file folders for each client. The great news is that from our client’s point of view everything just works fast and easy so they love it!
It Is Like - Having a red carpet lease for your car. The manufacturer (Intuit) makes and sells the product and the contractor buys it (QuickBooks) parks it in our garage (Hosting Service) where our mechanics keep it tuned up and running smoothly (Microsoft Windows Explorer Specialists) and the chauffeurs (construction bookkeepers and accountants) drive the transactions and paperwork into it so the contractor can enjoy the ride (passenger) and generate useful KPI Reports anytime day or night and we help them understand and use the KPI Reports.
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.
This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation.
Profitable Contractors and Construction Company owners have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services and contractor coaching services like ours for a long time and now you know about it too!
We Scan Your Receipts And Invoices link the appropriate transactions to QuickBooks or Xero Accounting Online depending on the construction accounting service you are using and provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.
About The Author:
Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Check out our Contractor Success Map Podcast on iTunes and Follow Randal on Google+