Having used QuickBooks for 25+ years and helping 1,000's of contractors here are the top 9 reasons Contractors contact me since I am one of the few QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in Construction Accounting.
Do any of these scenarios sound like what you may be dealing with on a regular basis in your Construction Contracting company…
As a Contractor, you may have learned your trade from a skilled master craftsman or Journeyman that was your teacher and mentor for a few days to a few years.
If you were fortunate your mentor was someone who also learned from a skilled master craftsman or Journeyman and they both had developed good habits of continually reading books, trade journals, attending seminars and paying for class room instruction in order to keep themselves updated with the changes in their industry.
To paraphrase Stephen Covey they continually sharpen the saw "Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. "
Most Contractors don't want to waste time and energy being a "desk jockey" pushing paper around and banging away on a keyboard trying to make QuickBooks do what they want it to. You have a business to run and all too often you run it by trial and error learning the hard way, by experience what makes your company run more smoothly and what needs to be fixed.
No matter what kind of construction, service work, home builder, trade contractor, tenant improvement contractor, land developer, handyman or other type of Contractor the key to success and making a lot of money is knowing your business inside and out and applying the following Randalism:
"Early To Bed, Early To Rise, Know Your Numbers And Advertise" - Randalism
The good news is there are a number of valuable tools to help you understand and manage your Construction Company’s profitability with programs like QuickBooks. The bad news is that QuickBooks is getting harder to use as they add more options and applications which can overwhelm and stop a contractor like you in your tracks.
Reason #01 You may find QuickBooks isn’t giving you everything you need to operate and grow your Contracting Company. You may need some training for yourself or your bookkeeper to understand how to use QuickBooks. Perhaps you have been using the world's most popular bookkeeping software Excel, your full of receipts are overflowing and you are eager to get on the automated record reporting bandwagon.
Reason #02 Switching to shoe boxQuickBooks gives is a good start, but a QuickBooks ProAdvisor who really understands the difference between regular accounting and construction accounting can save you 100's hours of frustration, $1,000's of dollars in overpaid taxes, mishaps that can sap your energy and your time and give you false readings about the health of your business and help you capture lost revenue opportunities.
Reason #03 You want to get more out of QuickBooks and you have heard your competitors brag how much QuickBooks has done for them and you want some of that too! You know that you are only using a fraction of most programs on your computer especially if you have Microsoft Word or Excel on it and you know owning and installing QuickBooks won’t make you a Highly Skilled Construction Accountant With 10+ Years' Experience Working On Construction Sites and be able to magically address all of your Strategic Contractor Bookkeeping Services needs.
You need answers to understand the reasons behind the numbers and you need to save time. When faced with challenges like these, you need to know more than just the basics of how QuickBooks works.
Your trainer at the Gym helps you get more from your workout and your QuickBooks ProAdvisor who understands construction accounting and how things work on a construction site can help you get more out of QuickBooks and save you time and money!
Reason #04 You need Job Costs Reports and the facts are that job costs, and profitability are welded together. If you don’t have QuickBooks Setup properly for Job Costing in a way that reflects your Contracting Company’s specific needs you may be missing out on all of the value job costs reports can offer you which means your cash-flow and profits will suffer.
Job costing should not be a frantic last-minute attempt to figure out why your profits for the previous year were less than you expected and what you planned at the beginning of the year. A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting can setup QuickBooks job stage reporting for estimated and actual costs. We can also help you scale your reporting to track fixed-price, time & materials, and cost-plus job results accurately.
Reason #05 Your Profit & Loss Report, Balance Sheet and other numbers look funny or they are flat out wrong! Having accurate numbers is essential to understanding where the leaks are happening in your business. Little leaks sink big ships and construction firms because they are easy to ignore until it is too late. If you are not keeping current with reconciling bank accounts, credit cards, and loans they can get out of control real quick! A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting can bring the numbers into focus and fix months or even years of bookkeeping errors fast and easy.
Reason #06 Your reports are outdated. The Herculean task of keeping up with the daily operational details of operating and growing a profitable Construction Company like yours can run you and your family in the ground.
And if you don’t have the information at your fingertips to know exactly how your cash flow, profits, break even and benchmarking you won’t have time to make “course corrections” before your company leaves the highway of success, crashes in the ditch, upside down, tires spinning, engulfed in flames while you stand there looking at it, wide eyed, mouth open, gasping for breath with tear stained cheeks wondering what happened.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting can train you, and your team, how to get online financial management reports without ever having to open QuickBooks.
Reason #07 You have file management and security concerns. QuickBooks helps you collect, organize and report your data yet you may be worried about remote access, privacy and security limitations. Do you need to access QuickBooks from the office, home and when you are on the road? Is QuickBooks crashing and running slower lately?
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting with access to QuickBooks Desktop in the Cloud could be the answer you seek. All of the convenience of QuickBooks Online with all of the power and functionality of QuickBooks Desktop.
Reason #08 You need more cash flow and profits to operate and grow your business. Too many Contractors struggle with finding and creating job profitability (gross profit) that will yield a fat bottom line.
You need to have a clear understanding of how to come up with the right labor costs and profit margins for your construction jobs while managing your company’s overhead, operating costs, and expansion. You need to Optimize Vs. Maximize.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting can review your Job Profitability Reports and help you see and understand the 80/20 Rule For Construction Companies and how you can use it to reap massive harvests of cash flow and profits.
The 80/20 Rule Can Make You A Lot Of Money!
For example:
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20% of your customers normally generate 80% of your net profit.
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20% of the goods or services you sell contribute 80% of your revenue
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20% or 2 out of 10 of your staff create 80% of the value for your customers.
The frightening consequence of the 80/20 rule is that 8 out of 10 hours we spend at work drive almost no value to the bottom line and the biggest drain is trying to save money doing our own contractor bookkeeping instead of reviewing the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Reports. Through our contractors bookkeeping services system you can access them 24/7 without opening QuickBooks for Contractors.
The most important value good bookkeeping brings to a business is an understanding of where your 20% is hidden.
By generating daily reports that uncover the best customers, jobs, services, or products, you will soon see how you can refocus your internal efforts on doing more good work.
This is the great contribution a company receives from good QuickBooks® data and from using QuickBooks® the ‘right-way’.
Reason #09 The final, and best, reason to work with A QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in construction Accounting is you don’t have to understand construction accounting or be intimidated by someone who does! Your QuickBooks ProAdvisor can help with QuickBooks Setup, QuickBooks Cleanup and all things related to QuickBooks and Construction Accounting by creating the ideal program that fits your business like a hand in a glove.
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?
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Business Process Management (BPM) For Contractors
Need Help Now?
Call Sharie 206-361-3950
sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
Xero Outsourced Construction Accounting Services
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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+
