Monthly Accounting and Close for Contractors
A disciplined monthly close, reconciliations, and job-level reporting scoped with you at the start — so the owner can read the month instead of guessing from the bank balance.
Need day-to-day transaction coding and bookkeeping instead? See construction bookkeeping services.
Custom scoped based on transaction volume, active jobs, reporting requirements and accounting complexity.
Reconciliations, monthly close and job-cost reporting are three different things
They are often described as one service. Separating them is what makes scope, price and expectations clear.
Bank, credit-card and loan accounts are matched to statements so the ledger reflects what actually moved. This confirms completeness — it does not, on its own, tell you whether a job was profitable.
After reconciliation, the period is finished: accruals and payroll journal entries recorded, balance-sheet accounts reviewed and supported, prior-period corrections identified, and the period locked so reports stop changing after the fact.
Revenue and cost are coded to jobs so profitability can be read at the job or customer level. Depth is agreed up front — from basic job coding through to fuller cost-code analysis handled under a separate job-costing scope.
How an engagement starts
Four steps. No turnaround promises are made before we have seen the file.
- 1. Review the file
We look at the existing accounting file, chart of accounts, account list, payroll setup and job structure to understand condition and volume.
- 2. Agree scope and a close timetable
We confirm which accounts, which reports, how job coding will work, who does what if you have in-house staff, and when each month's close and review happen.
- 3. Correct opening issues, if separately scoped
Where prior periods or opening balances need correction, that is quoted as cleanup work before or alongside the first close rather than absorbed into the monthly fee.
- 4. Deliver and review monthly reports
Each closed month produces the agreed reporting package, with a review conversation so the numbers are read, not just filed.
What the owner supplies
The close is only as good and as timely as the inputs it runs on.
Monthly reports, depending on agreed scope
The package is set during scoping. Not every engagement includes every report.
Final scope and price depend on revenue, transaction volume, number of accounts, payroll, active jobs, reporting needs, and the condition of the existing books.
How job coding connects to WIP and job costing
Job-level reporting is downstream of coding discipline in the monthly close.
If every invoice, bill, payroll allocation and material purchase is coded to the right job during the close, job-level revenue and cost are already in the ledger. That coded data is the same source that a construction job costing scope analyses by cost code, and that a WIP schedule uses to compare costs incurred against contract value and amounts billed.
For the day-to-day transaction work behind the close, see construction bookkeeping services; general contractors can read bookkeeping for general contractors, and files kept in QuickBooks are covered by QuickBooks bookkeeping for contractors.
Where coding is inconsistent, job reports and WIP schedules inherit the same inconsistency — which is why coding rules are agreed during onboarding rather than left to interpretation. For the difference between recording transactions and explaining job outcomes, see our guide on job costing versus bookkeeping.
When separate cleanup or CFO work is the right scope
Monthly accounting keeps a period accurate and readable. Two situations sit outside it.
Appropriate when prior periods are unreconciled, opening balances do not tie out, the chart of accounts cannot support job coding, or historical entries need correcting before a reliable close is possible.
Appropriate when the question moves past reporting the past month — forecasting, bonding or financing conversations, pricing and overhead decisions, or building a plan around the numbers.
We can integrate payroll workflows with ADP and similar providers and support payroll accounting. We do not directly provide payroll-processing services.
Questions contractors ask about monthly accounting
Your financial reports should answer questions.
Not create more of them.
Talk through your cash flow, job margins and reporting in a free 20-minute review. Agree the next step before any paid work — or model a contract's cash impact first with the free analyzer.
Not ready to talk? Take the 3-minute Financial Health Check.