Most construction business owners are so busy selling and managing projects that handling the accounting duties to keep jobs on budget and pay workers on time becomes an ongoing challenge. Construction accounting software can help small construction companies keep tabs on multiple jobs, employees and subcontractors.
How Construction Accounting Software Can Help
Many small business owners try to handle everything themselves, including marketing, sales, budgeting, payroll and day-to-day management. But managing everything can be overwhelming — especially in the construction industry and especially as businesses grow. Having dedicated payroll software or accounting software can simplify the bookkeeping process and help business owners focus on growing their businesses. It’s a great example of how the right technology can boost business performance.
Construction accounting software packages are designed specifically for contractors, and they often include project accounting, cost tracking and billing, as well as construction payroll software. Many software suites will also track real-time expenses, such as materials and labor, and keep up with revenue. A good construction accounting program can also track price changes and adjust estimates accordingly, meaning you don’t have to make phone calls to suppliers to find out the current price of lumber or shingles for every job. The software’s payroll function will automatically withhold the correct amount from each employee’s wages to cover Social Security, Medicare and income tax, and it’ll ensure that your employees get their paychecks on time.
Finding the Right Accounting Software
If you’re looking for accounting software for your construction company, you need to know what you’re buying. Most of the top-ranked programs are cloud-based, which means you can access them from anywhere, and they make it easy to keep pricing for labor and materials current. You can also link a cloud-based program directly to your business bank account, making it easy to pay bills, run payroll automatically and simplify filing your taxes. Cloud-based programs usually charge a monthly subscription fee, and the price is often linked to the size of your business — some charge a basic monthly rate, and others charge per employee. In general, a flexible program with stout integration capabilities and customizable reporting, time and attendance solutions will run you between $45 and $350 per month.
Because different software programs provide different levels of service, consider what you really need from your construction accounting software. If you have only a few staffers, it might be more cost-effective to handle payroll in-house and use software for tracking costs, invoicing and managing company expenses. Automating financial management tasks can save clerical time and reduce errors — and often improves cash flow by keeping you on top of invoices and reminders.
Making a smart investment in construction payroll software can lead to cost savings down the road. And becase the software can streamline your workflow, you and your staff have more time to engage new clients and grow your business.
