How accounting software can help you out

How accounting software can help you out if you work in construction

The UK’s construction industry is pretty sizeable, and it’s believed that it is worth over £100 billion in total. It plays a key role in the wider UK economy and provides jobs for all sorts of people – both those who work on-site and those who help the industry through administration and finance. As a leader in construction, this latter function is an important one: invoices, payroll and more can all be complex in this sector. This article will explore how accounting software can help.

Project costing

Perhaps one of the main benefits of clever and powerful accounting software, however, is the project costing functions it can offer. Many construction professionals will be painfully aware of how difficult project-based work can be: several different projects, sites and funding streams can all be on the go at once, and it can end up difficult to manage.

Essential costing tasks, such as requiring staff to fill out timesheets, can quickly add up and cause lots of lost time. And the potential for human error when raising and settling invoices can leave you at risk of legitimacy problems. But smart accounting software with project costing functions can really help. By smoothing out all kinds of processes from HMRC submissions to critical calculations like Cost Value Reconciliation, it’s possible to remain compliant and protect those important profit margins – even with many projects on the go.

Accounting

Posted 15/03/2019

Managing payroll

When it comes to employment status and job formats, some industries are pretty harmonised and standardised. But that’s certainly not the case in construction. In construction, you may have a large number of workers on temporary contracts as demand for labour fluctuates based on how many construction projects are running. You may, meanwhile, have office-based staff who are permanent.

By using a smart accounting software package, it’s possible to keep track of all of these different sorts of employment types. At a glance you’ll be able to see how much you are spending on each group of workers through accurate and up to date overviews. Access to this data is ideal for a firm which pays a radically different amount in salaries each month dependent on how many projects are on the go.

Invoices and cash flow

Working in construction isn’t always a walk in the park – especially when it comes to management. While in an ideal world clients would always pay on time, anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in construction will know that this isn’t always the case. Accountancy software which can flag outstanding invoices at relevant intervals before and after they become late means that you’ll always be able to chase up payments.

It’s also the case that many construction projects are volatile, and it’s not always possible to know the final cost of the project until it is over and done with. Going “over budget” is a real risk for this reason. Say your client doesn’t know that their building site has dry rot in the walls, and you’re due to start work on an extension next week. An additional week or two spent fixing the rot problem will be necessary, and a failure to record it could lead to lost revenue. By running an accountancy package which allows easy edits, there’s no risk of it being overlooked and forgotten.

In a world where new buildings are springing up in all sorts of locations, running a construction firm can be really lucrative. But it’s only possible to achieve this kind of success by staying on top of your finance function. By using accountancy software to monitor unpaid invoices, track wages and more, your construction firm will have a greater chance of success.

Are you worried about how your construction firm’s finance function is performing?

Check out how The Access Group’s software can help.