Job and project costing

This screen is for a business that sells a piece of work, like a contractor, a design office or a workshop making a bespoke order. If each of your invoices stands alone, you do not need it.

In the side menu choose Jobs, then New job. Enter the name, the Customer, start and due dates, and the Contract value agreed with the customer. That value is the ceiling when capitalising work in progress later.

Open the job and you will find under Post to the job:

• Charge a cost: moves a cost already in the books to the job, by amount or by hours × rate. The month's result does not change; the cost is just attributed to the work it belongs to.
• Return a cost: for a cost charged in error or one that belongs to another job.
• Issue materials: takes a stocked item out of the warehouse at its actual cost and charges the job.
• Link an invoice: codes an issued invoice to the job so it carries the revenue, with no new journal.

• Cost: what was spent, split into direct and indirect.
• Billed: what was invoiced, with Left to bill of the contract below it.
• Margin: billed less cost.
• Work in progress: cost spent and not yet invoiced.

In the jobs list, watch the Cost that was not coded to any job banner. The job page shows whether it ties to the ledger; if a difference appears, find the cause before relying on the margin.

Unbilled cost sits in the month as expense. If it is recoverable from the customer you may treat it as an asset on the balance sheet. That is an accountant's decision, not software's, so it never happens by itself.

In Capitalise work in progress choose the date, check the preview and press Post it. It is at cost only, so no profit is recognised. The ceiling is the lower of unbilled cost and what is left of the contract, and the entry reverses on the first day of the next period.