Lead Bookkeeper, Bookkeeper & Tax Preparer, 40+ years.
Retainage is the slice of every progress payment held back until a job is done. Booked wrong, it overstates your income and hides a cash crunch. Here is how to track it.
Read articleThere is no single best construction accounting software, because the three tools people mean by that phrase do different jobs. Here is how to tell which one you actually need.
Read articleA WIP schedule reconciles what a job has billed against what it has earned. Overbilling and underbilling are the warning lights. Here is what those terms mean in plain English.
Read articleCertified payroll is the weekly report that proves you paid prevailing wages on a public-works job. It is only as accurate as your payroll books. Here is how it works.
Read articleA generic QuickBooks chart of accounts hides your job profit and makes overhead look like direct cost. Here is how to build a trade-native structure that actually tells you where the money went.
Read articleCash basis and accrual basis accounting each paint a different picture of your contracting business. Learn what each method shows, where each one misleads, and how we set up clean books either way in QuickBooks Online.
Read articleA straight-talk guide for contractors weighing DIY bookkeeping against done-for-you monthly close. Learn the concrete signs it is time to stop going it alone.
Read articleBefore your tax pro can claim anything, your books have to capture it. Here is a plain-language guide to the expense categories contractors commonly miss and the bookkeeping habits that protect every dollar at tax time.
Read articleDIY QuickBooks, a categorization service, or a done-for-you trade bookkeeper? An honest comparison of the three ways contractors keep their books, and how to pick.
Read articleBehind on your books? Here is what a catch-up actually involves, how long it takes, and how to stay current once you are out of the hole.
Read articleA company-wide P&L tells you if the business made money. Job costing in QuickBooks tells you which jobs, crews, and customers actually drove that profit. Here is how to set it up.
Read articleYour Jobber or ServiceTitan total never matches your QuickBooks deposits. Here is why those numbers diverge and how to reconcile them so your revenue and job costs are trustworthy.
Read articleThe January 31 deadline is just the finish line. The real work is collecting W-9s before the first payment and tracking subcontractor payments all year. Here is the checklist.
Read articleTrade-native bookkeeping inside your own QuickBooks file, closed every month.