Uncategorized Archives - Devine Consulting

The construction industry is known for its complexities and challenges in financial management. With fluctuating costs, tight deadlines, and countless variables affecting project outcomes, having robust financial planning, bookkeeping, and accounting processes in place is crucial. Keeping up with modern technology can seem like an impossible challenge when you’re a contractor or running a construction firm.

To stay profitable and ensure that projects are completed on time, it’s essential to leverage the best tools and processes available. Luckily, various ways exist to use emerging technology to achieve better outcomes for firms and contractors. In this blog post, we will explore the strategies we implement for our clients to improve these processes to enhance construction firms’ financial health and stability.

Develop a Comprehensive Financial Plan

A solid financial plan is the cornerstone of any successful construction business. It should include the following:

Revenue projections based on market research and historical data
Detailed budgets for individual projects, including labor, materials, and overhead costs
Cash flow management strategies to ensure liquidity during slow periods
Contingency plans for dealing with unexpected expenses or changes in project scope

Working closely with your accounting team, you can develop a financial plan that helps your firm navigate the uncertainties of the construction industry and maintain a healthy bottom line. We help our clients by regularly recording and updating this data and assembling it into regular reporting to keep you updated.

Implement Effective Bookkeeping Practices

Accurate bookkeeping is essential for tracking expenses, managing cash flow, and making informed decisions about your construction business. While we are on top of this for our clients, if you’re not getting this practical help, follow these tips to improve your bookkeeping processes:

Standardize expense tracking and reporting procedures across all projects.
Use cloud-based accounting software for real-time access to financial data and seamless integration with other business tools. We use QuickBooks and Sage Intacct.
Regularly reconcile bank accounts and credit card statements to ensure accuracy.
Keep personal and business finances separate to avoid confusion and potential tax issues.

Streamline Your Invoicing Process

Efficient invoicing is crucial for maintaining positive cash flow and getting paid on time. This is one of the best ways to optimize your cash flow; our clients know we are handling this for them.

Create clear, detailed invoices that outline work completed, materials used, and payment terms.
Implement a standardized invoicing schedule to ensure consistent and timely billing.
Utilize invoicing software to automate the process and minimize errors.
Establish a system for tracking and following up on outstanding invoices.

Invest in Advanced Accounting Software

QuickBooks and Sage Intacct can significantly improve your financial management processes by providing features tailored to the industry’s unique needs, such as job costing, progress billing, and change order management. Investing in a construction-specific solution can streamline your accounting processes and gain valuable insights into your business’s financial health. All clients with Devine Consulting get access to these powerful applications to help boost their accounting and recordkeeping processes.

Collaborate with an Accounting Professional

Partner with Your Accounting Professional

Hiring an experienced accounting and bookkeeping firm specializing in construction can provide valuable expertise and guidance on industry best practices. They can help you:

Develop and refine your financial plan
Ensure compliance with tax laws and regulations.
Identify cost-saving opportunities and strategies for improving profitability.
Provide financial analysis and reporting to support decision-making.

Accounting Technology to Employ Today

Accounting is known for being staid, traditional, and slow to adopt new technologies. But is this true? No. Technology is transforming accounting—and in an equally exciting way, accounting is changing technology.

Many people might not realize that accounting has been revolutionary throughout its history, especially when it comes to driving the adoption of new technologies and adapting to new technologies. In driving the adoption of new technologies, for example, the accounting profession first used adding machines (specifically for use in tax calculations), which ultimately were precursors to the computer. In modern times, accounting, including management accounting, drove the adoption and improvement of ERP systems.

Even today, accounting has managed to keep up with modern times by embracing the growing trend of digital solutions such as cloud-based software and other tech innovations. These advances help streamline accounting processes, making accounting more efficient and assisting businesses to stay competitive in a fast-changing industry.

Devine Consulting employs QuickBooks and Sage Intacct. Intuit QuickBooks helps you manage back-office processes, and Sage Intacct helps larger companies with a financial management tool that integrates with other applications, streamlining your financial operations. When you embrace technology for accounting and bookkeeping, you get:

Real-Time Reporting And Auditing

Real-time reporting and auditing allow financial information to be delivered faster, more accurately, and more trustworthy, changing how business and decision-making can be handled.

Driving Insights And Value

Accounting might have been known for repetitive, manual tasks in the past. Today, technology has automated these processes, and accounting has moved beyond just “the process” and into value territory that offers needed financial insight into trends, helping business owners plan effectively.

Improve Your Accounting Processes with Devine Consulting

Improving financial planning, bookkeeping, and accounting processes is essential for construction firms seeking to thrive in a competitive market. Construction firms can build a solid financial foundation that supports long-term success by developing a comprehensive financial plan, implementing effective bookkeeping practices, streamlining invoicing, investing in industry-specific software, and collaborating with an accounting professional. To help you with your accounting and bookkeeping processes, as well as financial planning and forecasting, Devine Consulting is an Intuit QuickBooks certified Pro-Advisor and a proud accounting partner of Sage Intacct.

We help select, install, and set up the software, customize it for your business, and train you in its operation. We’re here to help you update your processes and provide support. You get custom cloud bookkeeping and accounting with an actual professional to help you manage it without the added costs, learning curve, or management.

We offer the solutions and strategies you need to leverage the software best. To get started, request an estimate today!

In the competitive world of contracting and construction, controlling overhead costs is crucial for maintaining profitability and staying ahead. Now is an important time for contractors and construction firms to take stock of overhead expenses and manage them to ensure profitability. Your accounting team plays a vital role in this process, as they possess the knowledge and expertise to identify cost-saving opportunities and streamline financial processes. This blog post will discuss several strategies you can partner with your accounting team to help eliminate or reduce overhead costs, ultimately boosting your construction firm’s bottom line.

1. Analyze and Categorize Overhead Costs

The first step in reducing overhead costs is understanding where your money goes. Your accounting team can thoroughly analyze and categorize all overhead expenses, such as office rent, utilities, insurance, salaries, and other operational costs. By breaking down these expenses, your team can identify areas where costs can be reduced or eliminated.

2. Implement Cost-Cutting Measures

Once your accounting team helps you clearly understand your overhead costs, you can begin implementing cost-cutting measures. Examples of these measures include:

Negotiating better rates with suppliers and service providers
Implementing energy-saving initiatives to reduce utility costs.
Consolidating office space or moving to a more cost-effective location
Streamlining administrative processes to reduce labor costs.
Evaluate your need for fleet vehicles, renting instead of owning if necessary.
Improving your forecasting and planning processes

3. Embrace Technology and Automation

Investing in technology can help your construction firm save money in the long run. Your accounting team can recommend and implement software solutions that automate financial processes, reducing manual labor and potential errors. Furthermore, project management software can help your firm stay on budget by tracking expenses and providing real-time insights into project costs.

4. Review and Update Financial Processes

Reviewing and updating financial processes helps identify inefficiencies and redundancies contributing to overhead costs. Your accounting team should evaluate invoicing, payroll, and expense tracking procedures to ensure they are streamlined and cost-effective.

5. Monitor and Control Overhead Costs

Your accounting team should monitor and control overhead costs on an ongoing basis by setting budgets and tracking expenses. This proactive approach ensures that your construction firm remains on track to meet its financial goals and can quickly address any unexpected costs or changes in the market.

6. Educate and Involve Employees

Employee involvement is crucial for reducing overhead costs, as they are often directly responsible for executing cost-saving initiatives. Your accounting team can help you educate your staff on the importance of lowering overhead costs and provide training on implementing cost-saving measures. Encourage open communication and collaboration between employees and the accounting team, as this will foster a cost-conscious culture throughout your construction firm.

7. Follow the Cost Saving Advice of Your Accountant and Financial Controller

Saving money is of the utmost importance for businesses. This is why having a professional handle your financial bookkeeping, accounting, and financial controller duties is crucial. These professionals are valuable assets that can provide impartial advice on how to cut down expenses more efficiently.

Partner with Devine Consulting to Control Overhead Costs

Reducing overhead costs is essential for the long-term success of your construction firm. By leveraging the expertise of your accounting team, implementing cost-saving measures, embracing technology, and promoting a cost-conscious culture among employees, your firm can effectively reduce overhead costs and improve profitability. Remember, every dollar saved in overhead costs contributes directly to your construction firm’s bottom line.

Devine Consulting offers innovative and comprehensive solutions to strengthen your business and improve operational efficiency while cutting overhead costs. As stakeholders in the success of our clients, we utilize technology to provide them with all the tools they need for greater financial security and an improved bottom line. Request a consultation today and see firsthand how Devine can bolster your business!

Improving Accounting Processes in the Construction Industry