Review of Construction Accounting Systems — 2007

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• April-May 2007 Issue
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From the April/May 2007 Issue

I have worked on an enormous array of software products over the years, including standard accounting programs, products for nonprofits and property managers, and specialty products for the music industry. But one of the more difficult specialty genres I’ve encountered is construction. Although the review is titled “Construction,” it really encompasses far more than that. According to the U.S. Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 800,000 construction-related businesses operating in the United States just a few years ago, with this area expected to continue to grow at a rate of around 11 percent each year until the year 2014. A little more than 200,000 of these businesses are building construction companies, such as homebuilders and commercial and industrial builders. The balance of these businesses are painting, plumbing, HVAC service and repair contractors, home remodeling companies, and even large scale sub-specialties such as heavy equipment, road and bridge construction, and even civil engineering. That’s quite a variety of professions to lump under the guise of construction.

The first section of each product review explains exactly what the product does. Can you easily track work in progress, track employee labor costs, and tie them directly to a specific job? Can you track budgeted expenses? Does it contain a job scheduling module, where you can track percent of completion and record start and end dates? Does it track job revenues by salesperson or by project? Can you track your heavy equipment and monitor labor costs directly to each piece of equipment? Can you enter and track change orders, enter job phases and monitor the profitability for each job phase?

This year’s review rates each product in the following categories and then provides an overall rating based on the average of the individual sections.

Learning Curve
The learning curve is an important key. Just how simple is it to get into the program and make it work? Are the screens customizable? Are there dashboards or desktops that can be customized to reflect your own way of doing business? Is it easy to navigate through the system? Can you figure out how to set up a new company, enter a new job, or run a report without referring to the manual or Help files? Are the data-entry screens easily navigated or are they cluttered? Do data-entry screens contain lookup options? Is there a sample company you can use for training purposes prior to entering live data for your company?

Modules & Add-Ons
This section identifies the modules included with the core product. Is the system modular in structure? What modules are available to add to the core product? Modules and functionality need to be considered carefully. While all of the products reviewed contain a decent Job Cost module, there are other modules that can be just as important depending on the specific type of construction business. Is there Equipment Tracking, Inventory, Payroll, Service and Dispatch, Estimating, Production Management and/or Project Management functionality?

Chances are you won’t need all of the modules that are available with many of the products; some offer upwards of 50 modules. But it’s nice to know that they are available if and when you need them.

Productivity Tools
This section explores available tools such as customized toolbars and homep ages, task management functionality, and even to-do lists designed to make your life a little easier and your business more productive.

Import/Export & Integration
Import and export functionality can be important, particularly to larger companies that require more flexibility with data. Can you import information from pricing software? Can you export data to Excel or Word files? Do all of the functions or modules integrate? Does the product integrate with other third-party applications?

Reporting
Reporting is another area that can be of major importance, particularly to larger construction and development companies. Are reports professional in appearance? Can you export reports to other applications? Are reports customizable? Can they be saved in various formats such as PDF or HTML? Can reports be e-mailed or faxed directly from your software user interface?