What you get on the tenth business day
Ten sheets and a 45-minute call, by the tenth business day after every month end, when your project managers’ cost to complete reaches us by day 5. A surety that asks for monthly statements commonly wants them within 20 days.
Numbered like a drawing set
Your surety, your bank and your CPA can ask about a sheet by its number. Each number here opens that sheet in the sample package.
Transmittal
The cover sheet. What is enclosed, who it went to, and the state of the month in three sentences.
Books closed on what day, any job projected to lose money, and whether forecast cash stays above two weeks of payroll.
Owner summary
A memo on the month’s jobs and cash in plain words, then up to three decisions and the figure behind each.
Under it, revenue, gross profit and cash for the trailing twelve months, and the forecast low beside them.
Profit and loss by job
Revenue, cost, gross profit and margin for every job, this month and year to date. Overhead follows, line by line.
A job losing money is flagged on its row and named at the top of the sheet, amount included.
Balance sheet
This month beside last month and the change between them. Retainage, underbillings, overbillings and the current portion of long-term debt each get their own line.
The over and under billings tie to the WIP schedule to the dollar, and the package does not go out until they do.
Cash flows and forecast
Where last month’s cash went and where the next 13 weeks’ cash is going. The lowest week is set against two weeks of payroll.
The 13-week forecast comes at the Close + Cash and Controller levels and is refreshed twice a month.
Open jobs and backlog
Every open job in ten columns, the arithmetic printed beneath. Your project managers update cost to complete each month.
Underbillings over 20 percent of contract and jobs that need a fresh estimate are flagged on the row. Backlog is shown as gross profit against overhead.
Closed jobs and ratios
Jobs closed this year, final gross profit against the last estimate, so fade is visible. Then seven ratios a surety computes.
Current ratio, adjusted current ratio, adjusted working capital, debt to tangible net worth, underbillings to equity, overbillings to cash, line utilization.
Receivables
Receivables by customer and job. Retainage sits on its own lines, and anything more than 90 days past due is flagged.
Sureties leave the over-90 balances out when they compute working capital; so do we, on W-2.
Payables
Payables by vendor on the same aging, and the retainage you hold from subcontractors, vendor by vendor.
It sets against the retainage owners hold from you on A-1.
Close checklist
The close itself. Each step, the day it was due, the day it was done, and the sign-off.
Twenty-two of the 24 steps are on the sheet; the last two, the proofread and the send, come after the sign-off.
At the Close level, C-1 carries the statement of cash flows and no forecast.
A written calendar for the close
Twenty-four steps, the same every month, each on its due day. Days are business days after month end, Monday to Friday.
Sheet G-2 of every package shows the day each step was due beside the day it was done. The last two steps, the proofread and the send, come after the sign-off.
Your part is step 6: cost to complete from your project managers by day 5. When it arrives on time, the package arrives on the tenth.
From the second monthly close on, if your office met its dates on the close calendar and the package is late, half that month’s fee comes off the next invoice. You do not have to ask. Each business day an item on the close calendar reaches us late moves the delivery date by one business day.
At the Controller level the close runs to business day 6. At the Close level, the cash forecast step is a cash position instead.
Close calendar
- Bank reconciliations completeDay 3
- Credit card reconciliations completeDay 3
- AR tie-out to subledgerDay 4
- AP tie-out to subledgerDay 4
- Retainage receivable and payable splitDay 4
- Job cost walkthrough with PMDay 5
- WIP schedule updatedDay 6
- Over/under billing entry postedDay 6
- Loss job accrual postedDay 6
- Depreciation postedDay 6
- Accruals postedDay 7
- Prepaid roll-forwardDay 7
- Payroll tie-out to registersDay 7
- Sales and use tax checkedDay 7
- Loan statements reconciledDay 7
- Line of credit reconciledDay 7
- Intercompany balancedDay 7
- Equity and distributions checkedDay 8
- Surety ratio strip computedDay 8
- Cash forecast refreshedDay 8
- Owner summary draftedDay 9
- Package assembledDay 9
- Package proofreadDay 10
- Package sent to ownerDay 10
How the WIP schedule is built
Percent complete is cost to date over the estimated total cost. Earned revenue is the contract, approved change orders included, times percent complete. Over or under billing is what has been billed less what has been earned: billed ahead of the work, it sits on the balance sheet as a liability; billed behind, as an asset.
A job projected to lose money carries its whole loss in the month it is known, through a provision for the part percent complete has not reached yet.
Cost to complete comes from your project managers every month, at the job cost walkthrough, before the schedule is run. An estimate that never moves is how a WIP schedule hides a losing job. The schedule is run before the balance sheet is closed, which is why the two agree.
W-1Printed under the schedule, every month
(3) = (1) − (2). (5) = (2) − (4). (6) = (4) ÷ (2). (7) = (1) × (6). (9) = (8) − (7); a positive figure is billed ahead of the work. (10) is the part of a loss job’s projected loss not yet recognized through percent complete; it is carried as a provision, so the full projected loss is recognized in these statements.
In whole dollars. Source: the WIP workbook as of October 31, 2026. Contract values include approved change orders. Cost to complete from estimate updates by the project managers dated November 6, 2026.
Three levels of service
The proposal names one after the diagnostic, from the size of the company, the number of open jobs and what your surety and your bank ask for.
| Level | What it carries | Usually fits | Close by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | The ten sheets, the monthly call and the year-end file for your CPA. C-1 is the statement of cash flows, without the 13-week forecast. | $3 million to $6 million a year, one company. | Day 10 |
| Close + Cash | Adds the 13-week cash forecast, refreshed twice a month, the covenant calculation, a lender package including the borrowing base on request, and preparation for the bonding meeting. | $5 million to $12 million, a bank line, seasonal cash or a bond program to grow. | Day 10 |
| Controller | Adds an annual budget and monthly variance, the trend in margin and fade by job across the year, and coordination of what your surety and your bank ask for and when. | $10 million to $20 million, bonded work, more than one entity or several crews. | Day 6 |
Questions owners ask
Do you replace my bookkeeper?
No. A bookkeeper who stays keeps the entry: bills, deposits, payroll, and the pay applications your project side prepares. We reconcile, post the month-end entries, build the schedules and close. If you have no bookkeeper, the entry comes with the engagement, priced in the proposal from what the diagnostic shows.
Do we have to change software?
No. We work in the ledger you run now: QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop through hosted access, Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 CRE or Foundation. The package looks the same whichever one it comes from.
How do you get into our books, and what can you touch?
You add us as a user in your own ledger. We never ask for a password, we hold no bank logins, and we do not sign or release payments. The books stay yours, and our access ends the day the engagement does.
What do you need from us each month?
Your project managers’ cost to complete by day 5, the loan and line statements, the payroll registers, and the pay applications as they go out. Beyond that, your part is to read the package and take one call.
How are the fees set?
In writing, after the diagnostic: a fixed monthly fee, from $3,000 a month, and a one-time onboarding fee. The monthly fee includes the year-end file your CPA works from. Onboarding covers the chart of accounts set to a construction standard, the job-cost structure in your own system, the opening WIP schedule, the retainage split and the setup for the first close. Work outside the monthly close is quoted first, as a fixed price.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. The engagement runs month to month, and either of us can end it with 60 days’ written notice.
How long until the first close?
Thirty days from signing when the books are current. When they are behind, the proposal gives a date for the catch-up, a date for the first close and a separate price for the catch-up.
What if a package is late?
From the second monthly close on, if your office met its dates on the close calendar and the package is late, half that month’s fee comes off the next invoice. You do not have to ask. Each business day an item on the close calendar reaches us late moves the delivery date by one business day.
Will you talk to my surety and my bank?
Yes, at your direction. The package can go to your agent and your banker the day it goes to you, and we answer their questions about any sheet. You sign anything the bank needs signed. At the Controller level we also coordinate what they ask for and when.
Who sees the package?
You do. Nothing goes to anyone else unless you say so. You can send some sheets and hold others.
Will this raise our bond line?
That decision is the surety’s, and no one can promise it. What we control is what the underwriter reads: a WIP schedule that ties to the balance sheet, statements on time every month, and a losing job named in the month it is known.
Are you a CPA firm?
No, and we do not replace yours. Your CPA keeps the income tax return and the year-end statements your surety and your bank require, and starts both from books that already tie. We give no assurance on the statements we prepare. The legend on every sheet says so.