Like just about every other industry in the UK, the construction industry rests on a firm bedrock of competent accounting. Without accountants, most modern projects would run over budget, arrive late, or, in all likelihood, fail to materialise at all.

If you’re working in the industry as an accountant, then there are a number of rules of thumb to be aware of. Let’s take a look at four of the most important best practices.

Job Costing

This accounting method allows for the effective tracking of profits, losses, and overall costs over time. This might be broken down into three broad categories, namely: labour, materials, and overhead. Each of these categories might, in turn, be broken down still further. Often, this is done with the help of an outside consulting service.

Day-to-day transactions

A good accountant will be able to record all the transactions that take place in a given day in a way that’s clear and comprehensible to those looking at the records later on. Nowadays, records of this kinds are kept using spreadsheet software, or using more specialised accounting software.

Reconcile bank and suppliers

Invoice discrepancies should ideally be spotted as early as possible. This will allow corrective action to be taken, and ensure that recurring problems aren’t able to cause excessive harm. This is a simple matter of reconciling the statements provided by suppliers with those offered by your bank. Where the two don’t match, the business is overpaying (or underpaying). Whether this is a consequence of error or deliberate malpractice, it’s important that such discrepancies are identified.

Choose the right payroll provider

Construction payroll can be hugely complex. A moderately-sized project might involve hundreds, or even thousands of people, including contractors doing very different jobs, and working very different hours. What’s more, the shape of your workforce might radically shift as the project progresses from week to week. Bricklayers and plasterers, for example, are by necessity not going to be able to work on the same section of wall at the same time.

Coordinating and paying these people promptly will ensure that you’re able to rely on them in future, and that the firm develops a reputation for being easy to work for. Developing the right accounting practices, supported by the right paywall software, will allow small adjustments to be made where necessary and for errors to be corrected. Without this kind of software, larger projects often cannot be delivered on time and within budget.