Top Ten Construction Bookkeeping Myths And Legends

Written by Randal DeHart | Sat, Jan 24, 2015

"The great obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."

- Daniel J. Boorstin

Over The Past Few Decades We Have Heard And Read Some Really Good

Construction Bookkeeping Myths And Legends And Here Are A Few

#01 "I thought the QuickBooks website said that QuickBooks was easy to setup and use"

#02 "Since it has Quick in the name then of course QuickBooks is easy, why else would they do that?"

#03 "I know how to write checks and balance my bank statement so how hard can it be to use QuickBooks"

#04 "I attended a full day QuickBooks class and got this pretty paper certificate that says I know QuickBooks"

#05 "I've been doing bookkeeping for over twenty years and you can't teach me nothing I don't already know"

#06 "I have worked at a bank for over ten years and seen hundreds of financial statements so I can use QuickBooks"

#07 "I am a C.P.A. and I know everthing about accounting, so doing the bookkeeping for a contractor will be child's play"

#08 "I have lots of experience because the last four contractors I did bookkeeping for all filed for bankruptcy"

#09 "I took an accounting course in college so doing the bookkeeping for a construction company can't be that hard"

#10 "I have a degree in accounting which I have never used, but I can do contractor bookkeeping how hard can it be?"

We have heard hundreds more similar to the ones shown above; however, these are the top ten.

I find the more I learn about construction accounting the more there is about that I don't know. This is why everyone working here at Fast Easy Accounting are continually learning and updating our skills. And that is why we specialize in contractor bookkeeping services and only allow a few highly qualified business owners who are not directly involved in construction to be a part of this exclusive club.

Do we cost more than most other bookkeepers and bookkeeping firms? That depends on what you want. If you want to spend as little as possible on your contractor bookkeeping services search Craigslist they have hundreds of them. I know this because we fix a lot of their QuickBooks setup messes.

If you want to hire a bookkeper employee consider three important things:

#1 - It will cost more than you think and you will still need outside accounting help!

#2 - Bookkeeper embezzlement is on the rise!

#3 - You need to invest at least $10,000 in hardware and software or you will pay for it in bookkeeper labor!

the graphic below which shows that an in-house bookkeeper paid $15.00 an hour will end up costing you $25.29 per hour! And in most cases we can do the job for less money, faster and more accurately with a team of people, each one specializing in different areas of construction accounting and contractor bookkeeping services.

#1 - Fully Burdened Bookkeeper Cost

Simply means what it will cost you to hire someone including the company portion of the payroll taxes and all those little costs that only an accountant like me would think about. The example below shows a part-time in-house bookkeeper at $15.00 an hour working 10 hours a week. Notice this poor soul does not have any benefits at all and they still cost the company $25.29 per hour!

These costs do not include heavy training for your bookkeeper; read The Nine Steps for more information on this.

The two happiest days in a construction company owner's life is the day he hires a bookkeeper and the day he outsources his bookkeeping.

Generally speaking we know from our research a typical contractor with 2-4 employees and annual sales of $500,000 will need at least a part-time bookkeeper for 10 hours a week and they will try to get away with only paying them $15.00 an hour plus overhead and it will cost their construction company approximately $13,000 - $15,000 a year and most of the time they will still overpay their taxes, have bad or non-existent financial and Job Costing Reports.

But you’d still need an in-house bookkeeper, right? Well… perhaps not. See, outsourcing is often interesting in that, while you still need administrative resources, they can be less skilled. They don’t need to have any contractors bookkeeping service skills to pick up the mail, make bank deposits, print checks, which can be done on your local computer even with QuickBooks Desktop version in the cloud. It’s likely a part-time office assistant could do that in addition to other duties and errands.

#2 - Bookkeeper Embezzlement Is On The Rise

Due to the ever increasing belief in "redistribution of the wealth", the ever increasing rise of "entitlement mentality" and general feeling that workers are being taken advantage of by their bosses and business owners a lot more office employees are stealing more than ever, and it will only get worse.

The least costly embezzlement is that on average office workers are spending two hours a day on personal errands, phone calls, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, personal email, cyber shopping and other social media and at $25.29 per hour it costs construction company owners like you $50.58 a day! If your contracting company earns 10% net profit, which is over four times the national average, that means you must sell, produce work and collect $505.80 a day to make up for the loss!

Every Ten Minutes Your Bookkeeper Is Costing You $4.21

Every Ten Minutes A Day Of Unproductive Office Labor:

The most costly embezzlement could destroy your business and personal finances. There are Twenty One Signs Of Bookkeeper Embezzlement and if you have an in house bookkeeper you need to study them carefully and be on guard against all of them. Click here to learn more. You may be surprised to learn who the biggest most frequent offenders are and how easily they avoid prosecution.

#3 - Invest At Least $10,000 In Hardware And Software

Desk, Chair and starter pack of office supplies = $1,200 +/-
High-speed desktop computer with lots of power custom built = $2,000 +/-
Minimum two computer monitors with high resolution = $1,000 +/-
Computer network system (hardwired and wireless capable) = $2,000
LaserJet Printer = $500 +/-
High Speed Scanner = $500 +/-
QuickBooks for Contractors software = $350 +/-
Microsoft Office Professional Software = $500 +/-
Acrobat Pro Software = $450 +/-
Other assorted software = $1,500 +/-

You do not have to invest anything more than a few dollars and get the cheapest hardware and software you can find and you will save money in the short run; however, in the long run it will cost you dearly. If you bookkeeper wastes a two hours a day trying to get cheap worn out office equipment to do your contractor bookkeeping could cost your contracting company $3,287.16 a year!

We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations

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.

Our Contractor Bookkeeping Services System Is A System

Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services To Save Time And Money?

Click On The Button Below To Download A Free Guide

Need Help Now?

Call Sharie 206-361-3950

sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Xero Outsourced Construction Accounting Services

QuickBooks Outsourced Construction Bookkeeping Services

We Are Xero Accounting Experts Specializing In Construction Bookkeeping Services

About The Author:

Randal DeHart, PMP, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. He is the leading expert in outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services for small construction companies across the USA. He is experienced as a Contractor, Project Management Professional, Construction Accountant, Intuit ProAdvisor, QuickBooks For Contractors Expert and Xero Accounting Specialist. This combination of experience and skill sets provides a unique perspective which allows him to see the world through the eyes of a contractor, Project Manager, Accountant and construction accountant. This quadruple understanding is what sets him apart from other Intuit ProAdvisors and Xero accountants to the benefit of all of the construction contractors he serves across the USA. Visit http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/randal-dehart/ to learn more.

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+

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