QuickBooks for Contractors blog » American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

The History of Prevailing Wage

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:00:57 +0000

Bacon, a former banker, explained the need for the law when he detailed for his legislative colleagues how an out-of-state construction firm paying extremely low wages transported thousands of unskilled workers hundreds of miles to toil on a public project in New York - “They were herded onto this job, they were housed in shacks, they were paid a very low wage, and [Read the full article...]

QuickBooks Question – Tracking Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits

Nancy Smyth — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:00:31 +0000

We were just awarded a contract with the Department of Defense and have to pay our employees "prevailing wage" and submit certified payroll reports. I called Intuit Support to ask them about prevailing wage, certified payroll, and how to track the fringe benefits; they weren't very helpful - they just told me that QuickBooks can produce the certified payroll report.......can you help me understand all [Read the full article...]

QuickBooks Tips – Contractor Needs – Part 3

Nancy Smyth — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:00:02 +0000

Gerry has overhead costs, employees, specialized equipment, company vehicles, materials, subcontractors, retainage, percentage of completion billing, and more that he needs to take into consideration when estimating. He works mostly on prevailing wage jobs, where he has to pay his employees a much higher rate of pay plus fringe benefits with a few private jobs - he isn't a union shop; so he is paying the prevailing wage fringe benefits in cash to his employees. Billing requirements for his jobs include Time & Materials and Percentage of Completion, where he needs to submit AIA billing forms and track retainage that he is owed and retainage he owes his [Read the full article...]

QuickBooks Tips – Contractor Needs Part 2

Nancy Smyth — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:00:49 +0000

Sam Subcontractor already uses QuickBooks, he has more complex job costing needs due to certified payroll reporting requirements, payments of prevailing wage fringe benefits and AIA billing. High overhead costs, specialized equipment, materials, labor charges are other things that must be taken into consideration.

QuickBooks Estimating, Job Costing, and payroll needs will vary depending on [Read the full article...]

QuickBooks Tip – Working with Contractors – Part 3

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Contractors will purchase QuickBooks because they hear it's drop dead simple to use or another contractor suggests they purchase it to help them keep track of their accounting needs - so off they go to the local office supply store and come home with their QuickBooks software, they get the program installed and crack open the manual.........only to discover that while they can read a set of blueprints the QuickBooks manual is like reading Greek! [Read the full article...]

Government Funded Construction Projects – Quick Facts

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:57:40 +0000

Many contractors across the United States are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act – including a growing number of small, medium, and large construction firms as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

ARRA provides billions of dollars in funding for the improvement of the nations’ infrastructure that [Read the full article...]

Contractors Using QuickBooks Have Special Bookkeeping Needs

Nancy Smyth — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:51:57 +0000

The construction industry has some very specific bookkeeping and accounting requirements. In addition to Payroll, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable functions, they need to be able to have systems to handle Estimating, Job Costing, Overhead, Billing and/or Invoicing, Project Management, Scheduling, and Customer Management - just to name a [Read the full article...]

Government Contracting Resources – An Overview

Nancy Smyth — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:19 +0000

Trying to apply for a government contract can be a daunting task. There are many requirements that need to be met from business size to socio-economic status. While the task may seem daunting, there are a multitude of resources available to small business owners mentioned during this panel discussion from our Teaming USA launch. [Read the full article...]

Successful Small Business Contractors Invest More in Time and Money to Pursue Federal Contracts : Innovation :: American Express OPEN Forum

Nancy Smyth — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:45 +0000

Four in ten (42%) non-contractors have started pursuing federal contracting only recently, having registered on the CCR (a necessary first step in the federal procurement process) in 2008 or later. Thus, many of them will become successful – if they keep bidding – over the next year. [Read the full article...]

Department of Transportation (DOT) Gears up for Next Round of Rail Grants

Nancy Smyth — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:00:54 +0000

DOT now is preparing to seek proposals for a new batch of rail grants, totaling more than $2.3 billion. If the first round, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is any indicator, the next competition will attract a throng of [Read the full article...]