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Category Archives: Reports
Year End Review and Planning
By now you probably have a good idea of your year-end numbers. As you look back over your year, take the time to list what worked – and what didn’t. Here are a few recommendations to help you review 2019 so you can plan for 2020. Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, QuickBooks, Reports, Year End
Tagged add-on, customer type, customers, Enterprise, job profitability, jobs, most profitable, Overhead, profitability, QuickBooks, reports, time, Time Tracking, year-end
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Allocating Overhead by Job
Your jobs have to generate enough revenue to not only cover the job, but your overhead AND still result in a profit. So, you need to keep those “extra” costs in mind when estimating jobs. Last time, we discussed allocating at the division level (which might get done monthly or quarterly). Today we’re focusing on the job level. You can allocate overhead costs one of two ways: (1) on an account level (you would view in a P & L for the job) and (2) at the Item level (which provides more detail) – you would view these in your Estimated vs Actual Details and Job Profit Profitability Detail reports Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, Job Costing, QuickBooks, Reports
Tagged job costs, job profitability, jobs, Overhead, overhead recovery, QuickBooks, reports
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Allocating Overheard Part 1
Understanding all the costs that involved with a job is important for contractors. There are the obvious ones such as labor and materials. However, you not only need to cover direct job costs but also the overhead for the business, and still net a profit (or why else be in business?!) A few areas to consider could include office staff/expenses, equipment/vehicle costs (direct and indirect like wear & tear), indirect costs (e.g. fuel), shop staff, repairs & maintenance. There are a variety of ways you can allocate overhead. Today we’ll look at the simplest and fastest method – allocating by division. I’ve broken this up into 2 parts: (1) allocating ALL your overhead expenses and (2) allocating your Indirect Costs Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, Job Costing, QuickBooks, Reports
Tagged job costs, jobs, Overhead, QuickBooks, reports
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Insights Into Your Business
There are lots of ways to stay on top of your business when it comes to reports and metrics. Personally, I have reports and tasks on my toolbar so they’re one click away and I’m frequently in the Company Snapshot because I can easily see so much in one screen. But I find there are charts and graphs and metrics not in the Snapshot and many are unaware they even exist! So today I’d like to share a few. Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, QuickBooks, Reports
Tagged Business Growth, Insights, Net Profit Margin, Profit & Loss, QuickBooks
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Tracking Use Tax
If you have to collect sales tax, then chances are your report form asks you about use tax. Use tax is a sales tax on purchases taxable in your state but for which you were not charged. It’s easier to keep up with tracking as you go along, rather than waiting until the end of the report period, especially if you pay quarterly. So here are the steps to simplify your reporting. Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, Cash Flow, QuickBooks, Reports
Tagged audit, QuickBooks, sales & use tax audits, sales tax, taxable, taxable purchases
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What Your Profit and Loss Is Really Telling You
Who doesn’t like to look at profit?! But I find many have misconceptions about what the Profit & Loss report (or Income Statement) can/should do for them. This is usually due to a lack of knowledge when it comes to accounting. But whether you are the business owner or the bookkeeper you should understand at least a little bit about accounting and your financial reports. So here are some basics that will help you both review your jobs or projects as well as your business. Continue reading
Filter to Find What You Want
QuickBooks makes it easy to find information with their Filters. A filter simply limits (filters out what you don’t want) so you see only what you want to see. Both the Find Feature and reports in QuickBooks use Filters. So once you know how to use in one place, you can use it elsewhere. Continue reading
Estimated vs Actual Hours
How did the actual time on the job compare to what you estimated? That’s one of the big things you want do know, right? If job costs run over, it’s usually in the area of labor, not materials. Here’s how you create it. Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, Job Costing, QuickBooks, Reports
Tagged estimated vs actual, hours, job costs, labor, QuickBooks
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Margin vs Markup
When reviewing the job cost reports in QuickBooks and turning on the %, it’s important to know just what percentage you see in the report. Where this really jumps out is comparing the P & L for a particular job to the Job Profitability Detail report. You’ve probably noticed these percentages are not the same Continue reading
Posted in Business Finance, Job Costing, Reports
Tagged job cost report, job costing, job profitability, margin
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Better Business Decisions by Customizing QuickBooks’ Reports
A key reason for tracking your accounting in QuickBooks is to help you make better business decisions. Sometimes, to get the information you need, you need to customize an existing QuickBooks report. Continue reading →