The costs and competition associated with operating a profitable construction company leave little room for excess or error. That’s why informative and efficient financial management systems are such a critically valuable asset.

Lescault and Walderman specializes in helping construction companies select and implement the best practice procedures and cutting edge software that comprise such a financial management system. Based on our experience, following are the key areas of consideration:

Certified payroll procedures. Most government-funded and union waged jobs require Certified Payrolls. The primary consideration for Certified Payrolls is the filing of Form WH-347, which ensures wage and benefit compliance for contractors and subcontractors under the Davis-Bacon Act and U.S. Department of Labor Regulations Parts 3 and 5 of 29 C.R.F., Subtitle A (required of all companies contracting or subcontracting with the federal government). Fortunately, there are several helpful software programs are available to streamline the associated data entry and tracking process.

Job costing software. An effective job costing system provides estimators with information to bid jobs more accurately, and allows project managers to track progress on project budgets. Units, hours, and costs are tracked on a per-project basis, used by management to keep operations on-time and under budget. Real-time inventory, payroll and accounts payable make it easy to keep all systems and financial resources up-to-date.

Expense approval procedures. Solid expense approval procedures begin with a careful examination of the individuals involved in the process and an attempt to minimize the number of steps. As a general rule, the fewer individuals involved, the more effective the approval process. However, attention must be paid to ensure budgets and policies are followed and information is properly captured and shared with relevant members of management for operational purposes, but this is best regulated at the end of the chain via reporting processes rather than in the middle. This helps to streamline and expedite the overall payment process while respecting management’s need for oversight.

Billing software. Construction billing software should be able to track time and material, labor and equipment and contractor billing. This software should also ideally be integrated with General Ledger, Job Costing and Accounts Receivables modules of your accounting system. Finally, we recommend billing software that can produce a wide variety of custom invoices to meet vendors and client management needs.

If your construction company is in need of one of these financial management solutions or any accounting/bookkeeping services, call Lescault and Walderman at 866-496-2042. We have the experience and expertise to help you select and implement the proper procedures and systems to keep your business efficient and profitable.