What to Look for When Hiring a Construction Bookkeeper
There’s a long list of tasks that construction business owners hold onto for too long. Near the top of the list is bookkeeping.
It’s valuable for you to understand your cash flow, manage your spending and make strategic decisions about the direction of your business based on your books. But you don’t have to be the one keeping your books to stay on top of that information. And while a professional bookkeeper can wrangle your books quickly and efficiently, you can spend your valuable time on the tasks that only you can perform to run your construction business.
Once you’ve decided it’s time to offload your construction bookkeeping, all that’s left is finding the right person to take on the job. There are some fundamental qualities you want in a bookkeeper: someone reliable, trustworthy and meticulous. On top of those, you want to ensure the necessary hard skills: a background in accounting and bookkeeping, an up-to-date familiarity with your technology stack, and a proactive approach to reporting the state of your books.
Most importantly for the construction industry, your bookkeeper should be an absolute pro at job costing.
Why Your Construction Bookkeeper Needs to be an Expert in Job Costing
Job costing is a process that lets you calculate the amount to be spent on a particular project, based on both direct and indirect costs.
You can see why job costing is so important in the construction industry: Unlike businesses that sell goods at set prices, construction projects vary in scope, required materials, duration, distance and labor. All these factors make creating estimates and figuring costs much more complicated.
We call this project-based accounting, as opposed to product-based accounting. Project-based accounting is a different skillset for bookkeepers, so you want to be sure that your construction bookkeeper has plenty of experience with job costing.
To properly job cost for construction projects, you’ll want to work with your bookkeeper to implement processes to collect the data they’ll need. If you don’t already have time-tracking and mileage-tracking systems set up, you’ll want to consider implementing solutions like QuickBooks Time to document and automate that data. You’ll also need to be sure that you’re collecting records of job-related purchases and your company’s overhead costs.
A qualified bookkeeper will be able to use that information from billable time, job-related purchases, overhead expenses and mileage to estimate, track and invoice against job costs for construction projects.
Having accurate job costing information is critical for successfully running your construction company. Job costing estimates keep you from going in the hole on projects that end up being more costly than a ballpark estimate. Real-time tracking of job costs help you stay on target with your spending and resource allocation. And if any thorny spending situations start to come up, you can catch them early to discuss with the construction client.
It’s worth mentioning that QuickBooks – the go-to accounting software for small and growing businesses – has a product crafted specifically for the needs of construction companies. QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor Edition enables accurate job costing, taking the guesswork out of project-based accounting. Certum Solutions can provide a personalized demo if you’re interested or want to learn more.
Checklist for Hiring a Construction Bookkeeper
Don’t let finding your construction bookkeeper overwhelm you. To help with the hiring process, we’ve created a quick checklist to help you hire a qualified construction bookkeeper.
Be sure to ask specific questions, such as how many years of experience the candidate has with each skill, to determine whether they’ll be a fit for you. We recommend a minimum of five years of experience with each bookkeeping skill.
And don’t underestimate the soft skills. You need to be comfortable with your bookkeeper – showing someone else your books is vulnerable and requires trust.
Construction Bookkeeper Hiring Checklist
Construction-specific qualifications
🔲 Expert in project-based accounting, including:
🔲 Billable time
🔲 Job-related purchases
🔲 Overhead expenses
🔲 Mileage
🔲 Comfortable with QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor Edition or similar contractor-specific software
General qualifications
Experience with:
🔲 Data entry
🔲 Planning
🔲 Tax preparation
🔲 Reporting
🔲 Certifications from software solution partners, to demonstrate expertise
🔲 A degree in accounting, business or a related field
🔲 Meticulous, organized and detail-oriented
🔲 Non-judgmental and pleasant to engage with
Start Your Construction Bookkeeping With Certum Solutions
At Certum Solutions, we feel our experienced and skilled team checks all the boxes above. We pride ourselves on our friendly demeanor, continuing professional development and complete dedication to our clients’ needs.
You don’t have to take our word for it. United Construction in Charlotte, North Carolina, described us as “thorough and committed throughout the whole process.” We’re here to be your partner, providing the knowledge you need to make informed decisions and feel confident that your books are done right.
We love working specifically with construction companies. I got my start in an accounting hub for a $10 billion construction management organization, so serving construction business owners has always been a core pillar at Certum Solutions.
We’d love to start a relationship with your construction business. If you’d like to put us through the interview process, book some time with me, or reach out via email. Let us free up your time and set your business up for success.
