eBooks Archives - Learn to use QuickBooks® in your construction business

13Jan 2014 by Nancy Smyth 2 Comments

WIP Calculator for Percentage of Completion Calculations

eBooks

A WIP Calculator is a must for Percentage of Completion calculations. Many times, business owners will create a simple Under/Over Billings report with Percent Complete calculations - and that's fine for some businesses. However, when the percentage-of-completion is the method of accounting that is required, the accounting principle of full disclosure requires the presentation of a work-in-process schedule in a company's financial statements - and you also need to provide this information to your bonding company. This schedule should provide the details of each contracts or projects stage of completion and profitability to date as well as in the current period of reporting. Its format varies, but at a minimum should include at least the following seven components. Seven Components of a detailed WIP/Percentage of Completion Report Contract Totals Totals…

11Dec 2012 by Nancy Smyth 1 Comment

eBook: Certified Payroll Training Guide

eBooks

Making the move from residential or commercial construction projects to government-funded construction projects - which have certified payroll reporting requirements - can be an overwhelming task for contractors, their office staff, and the accounting professionals who support them. Our 76+ page self-paced Certified Payroll Training Guide is a great "good old simple English" reference tool and provides information about answer such questions as: What is Certified Payroll? Who makes the laws governing certified payroll reporting requirements? How do I or my client comply with Labor Standards & Payroll reporting requirements? What information has to be reported on the certified payroll reports? Which report must I complete and submit? What is an "electronic" certified payroll report and how do I submit them? And much, much more. Our Certified Payroll Training Guide…

01Nov 2012 by Nancy Smyth 9 Comments

FAQ – Upgrading QuickBooks eBook

eBooks

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Upgrading QuickBooks. This time of year there's always a lot of hype and pressure to upgrade to the newest version of QuickBooks. Inuit put "upgrade" ads in your current version of the software, they send you emails with "special offers", perhaps your QuickBooks professional advisor or your CPA is making the recommendation that you upgrade. Sometimes this is just hype and a way for these folks to make some extra money - because they earn a commission on your purchase. Other times their urging is legitimate, perhaps the version of QuickBooks that you are using is scheduled to "sunset or retire" by May of 2013 and you'll use many of the services that you rely on - like payroll and on-line banking for example. This 19-page…

20Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth 2 Comments

eBook: Documenting Change Orders

eBooks

Documenting Change Orders and using a construction change order form when a customer asks you to do extra work on a construction project are very important. If you don't have some sort of procedure in place, you could end up not getting paid for that change order or extra work! While the start of a busy construction season may not be the time to do a full-scale revamp of your current construction contract documentation and job costing systems, it is certainly time to give it a thorough review for the upcoming season, and perhaps make some modifications to your existing system within QuickBooks. Many contractors (General Contractors, construction managers, trade and sub-contractors alike) often approach their projects being ill-prepared to guard against the financial impact of not being paid for…

31May 2012 by Nancy Smyth 5 Comments

eBook: Payroll Mistakes. It’s Not As Easy as 1-2-3!

eBooks

Payroll is an essential part of your business – not just a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly annoyance. Payroll is the primary way that employees are rewarded for good job performance and retained. If you are issuing late or incorrect paychecks, it can lead to dissatisfied, unmotivated workers – or worse. It’s hard to keep good employees when a company gets the paychecks wrong. The relationship between employees and employers is highly regulated by the government and many of these regulations involve payroll. There are literally hundreds of things that you have to know, as well as, hundreds of mistakes that you can make. As a result, the process is much more complicated than anyone who has never done it can possibly know. The consequences of some mistakes can be…

25Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth 7 Comments

eBook: Learn About AIA Billing & How To Fill Out an AIA G-702/G-703

eBooks

Learn About AIA Billing & how to fill out an AIA G-702/G-703 so that you can be paid on time! Quite frequently, in the construction industry, it is a requirement that you submit your progress billings on AIA Forms G-702/G-703. The AIA billing system is a standardized method of construction percentage of completion contract billing (IE: Progress Billing) developed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1992. The AIA billing system was developed to provide a standardized method of submitting job related paperwork to send to architects and others by a contractor in order for the contractor to be paid for work performed on a construction project. Typically, the AIA Billing System consists of two forms or pages: G-702 Contractors Application for Payment G-703 Continuation Sheet These forms…

18Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth 7 Comments

eBook: Getting Equipment Costs into QuickBooks Job Costing Reports

eBooks

Getting equipment costs into your QuickBooks Job Costing reports is a crucial piece of your overall job costing. If you feel that getting equipment costs into your job costing was a function that only costly construction software was capable of doing. Think again, QuickBooks can track this accurately if it's set up correctly. Yes, it's a little more work - but it's accurate, effective, and a whole lot cheaper than costly construction software. Whether you own, rent, or lease equipment you need to know the hourly or daily cost to have each piece of equipment on the jobsite and you need to get these costs into your QuickBooks Actual vs. Estimate and Job Profitability Reports. Our 32-page eBook will teach you: How to determine the cost-per-hour for each piece of…

11Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth 3 Comments

eBook: Hiring a Bookkeeper for your construction biz-Test their skills

eBooks

Hiring a bookkeeper for your construction business is a big step - make sure that you are hiring the right person by testing their skills with our Construction Bookkeeper Test. As a busy owner of a construction company, your time is best spent in the field and staying on top of what's going on with your various projects rather than spending hours in the office performing bookkeeping tasks. There comes a time when it just makes sense to hire a bookkeeper to handle the day-to-day data entry tasks, but you also need to make sure that they are familiar with QuickBooks® and the construction industry and the only way to do this is by testing their skills. Hiring some one who seems to have a strong bookkeeping background from their…

09Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth 5 Comments

Welcome to Learn to use QuickBooks in your construction business

Announcements, eBooks, Free Stuff, Live Webinars, Videos

Welcome to the initial launch of the Learn to use QuickBooks in your construction business - QuickBooks for Contractors Bookkeeping Tips & Training website! Today is our initial launch and you won't find much here yet, but we will be rolling out content beginning today with much more to follow this week and in the coming months. Enter your email address below to be notified via email each time we add something new to this site: Email Delivered by FeedBurner If you find this post to be helpful, please take a moment to leave a comment or share it with others on your favorite social networking site(s).