Outsourced controller for construction contractors
Backlog Controller closes the books each month for specialty trade contractors and general contractors doing $3 million to $20 million a year. The firm is based in New York and takes contractors in any state.
Between the bookkeeper and the surety
We close the books by the tenth business day of the next month. Every close carries a WIP schedule that ties to the balance sheet and, from the Close + Cash level up, a 13-week cash forecast.
A surety sizes the bond program from a contractor’s statements, and a bank sets the line from them. A bookkeeper records the month. We turn it into statements your surety and your bank can read: the reconciliations, the month-end entries, the WIP schedule, and a memo to the owner that says what the month means.
Rules we hold to
- A written calendar
- The close follows 24 steps, each on its due day, the same every month, and the last sheet of the package records the sign-off. The calendar and the WIP method are published, and anyone reading a package can check it against them.
- Figures that tie
- A figure that appears on two sheets is the same figure on both. The over and under billings on the balance sheet match the WIP schedule to the dollar, and the package does not go out until they do.
- One basis
- Revenue on open jobs is recognized on percentage of completion, cost to cost. A job projected to lose money carries its whole loss in the month it is known.
- A name on the close
- Every client’s package is signed by the controller who closed it, and that controller takes the call that goes with it.
- Your system, your access
- We work inside your ledger through its own user permissions, read-only wherever the work allows. Each month’s package and its working files sit in a folder you share, and our access ends the day the engagement does.
Sheet G-2 of the sample package: the close, step by step, the day each was due and the day it was done. Two steps ran a day late, and the sheet says so.
G-2Close checklist
Close signed off on November 13, 2026; 22 of 22 steps done, 20 on or before their due day.
| Step | Due | Done |
|---|---|---|
| Bank reconciliations complete | Day 3 | Nov 3 |
| Credit card reconciliations complete | Day 3 | Nov 4 |
| AR tie-out to subledger | Day 4 | Nov 4 |
| AP tie-out to subledger | Day 4 | Nov 5 |
| Retainage receivable and payable split | Day 4 | Nov 5 |
| Job cost walkthrough with PM | Day 5 | Nov 6 |
| WIP schedule updated | Day 6 | Nov 9 |
| Over/under billing entry posted | Day 6 | Nov 9 |
| Loss job accrual posted | Day 6 | Nov 9 |
| Depreciation posted | Day 6 | Nov 9 |
| Accruals posted | Day 7 | Nov 10 |
| Prepaid roll-forward | Day 7 | Nov 6 |
| Payroll tie-out to registers | Day 7 | Nov 10 |
| Sales and use tax checked | Day 7 | Nov 10 |
| Loan statements reconciled | Day 7 | Nov 11 |
| Line of credit reconciled | Day 7 | Nov 10 |
| Intercompany balanced | Day 7 | Nov 11 |
| Equity and distributions checked | Day 8 | Nov 11 |
| Surety ratio strip computed | Day 8 | Nov 11 |
| Cash forecast refreshed | Day 8 | Nov 10 |
| Owner summary drafted | Day 9 | Nov 12 |
| Package assembled | Day 9 | Nov 12 |
Source: the close checklist workbook; Due is the business day of the month after period end.
What stays with your CPA
The income tax return, and the year-end statements your surety and your bank require. We do not issue those. We hand your CPA a trial balance that ties to the WIP schedule and the schedules behind it, and the year-end work starts from finished books.
The fees are fixed, never hourly, and no referral fee passes between us and whoever sent you.