Month-end in days, not weeks
A month end close that finishes by the 10th is a checklist with owners and dates, not a heroic effort. Here are the steps for a $10M to $50M contractor. Each has an owner, and we say what CFOS does for it.
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Why the close takes three weeks
Most contractors in this size range close in two or three weeks, and by then the month is old news. Bills trickle in, PMs are in the field and don't answer, and the controller is chasing timesheets while the owner asks how last month went. The close takes as long as the slowest input, and no one owns the input.
The fix isn't working faster. It's deciding the order, giving each step an owner and a day, and making sure each step has what it needs from the step before. A close by the 10th works when the field inputs are due by the 3rd, the accounting steps finish by the 7th, and the review and reports are done by the 10th.
The close, step by step
Here's the order we'd use. Each step lists who owns it. Where CFOS does part of the work, the next section says which part, and what stays with accounting.
The first two steps are inputs and happen first. Then three to five turn the inputs into job cost and a forecast. The last three produce the numbers the owner, the surety and the bank read.
- 1. Bill cutoff, owned by the AP clerk, due the 3rd. Every bill dated in the month is entered and coded to a job and cost code, and unbilled received items are accrued.
- 2. Time cutoff, owned by the office manager, due the 3rd. Field time is entered and approved by the foreman or PM, and labor burden is applied.
- 3. Job cost review, owned by the controller, due the 5th. Look for costs on the wrong job, costs on closed jobs and cost codes with no budget.
- 4. PM cost to complete, owned by each PM, due the 5th. One number per job, entered by the PM, with a short note on what changed.
- 5. Controller approval of cost to complete, owned by the controller, due the 6th. Anything that moved a lot gets a call to the PM before it's approved.
- 6. WIP and over and under billing, owned by the controller, due the 7th. Totals tie to the balance sheet and income statement.
- 7. Bank and card reconciliation, owned by accounting, due the 7th. Every line is matched.
- 8. Owner reports, owned by the controller, due the 10th. WIP, job profit, AR and AP aging, cash forecast and the CEO Report.
How to start this month in QuickBooks
Put the checklist on one page and put dates next to it. Send it to the PMs, the office staff and the owner before the month ends, so no one is surprised on the 3rd. Then hold the line on the due dates for two months. The first close using the checklist will be rough, and the second will be better.
Use the QuickBooks open bills, transaction detail by job and invoice reports for steps one, three and six, and a simple form or email for the PM's cost to complete. It works, but the PM's numbers end up in an inbox and a spreadsheet, and the controller retypes them. That's the step most contractors drop first when things get busy.
What CFOS does for each step and what stays with accounting
CFOS reads from and writes to QuickBooks Online, so the job cost review in step three starts from job cost by cost code against the budget, updated every hour. Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to a job and checked against the PO, which helps step one. Field time entry, approval and the transfer to QuickBooks Payroll covers step two, and labor burden by class is applied by the software.
Steps four and five happen inside CFOS. The PM enters the cost to complete, the controller sees it next to cost to date and the budget, and approves it. Step six, the WIP schedule with over and under billing and the master WIP, is built from those approved numbers. Step eight uses the AR and AP aging, the 13 week cash forecast and the CEO Report graded against the industry average and the CFOS target.
What stays with accounting is the judgment and the books. Your controller decides what gets accrued, posts the entries in QuickBooks and reconciles the bank. CFOS does help with bank matching and bank coding, but reconciliation sign off belongs to a person. CFOS shortens the close by removing retyping and chasing, not by taking over the accounting.
| Revenue | Overhead | Gross margin | Net profit, before taxes |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% average 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% average 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% average 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% average | 25.7% average | 13.7% average |
Gross margin and overhead come from figures CFMA, Jones Maresca and other sources publish by trade and size. Net profit is computed, not surveyed: net profit = gross margin minus overhead. Nothing comes out for taxes, interest or other income and expense, so it is a before tax figure, on the same basis as CFMA's net income before taxes.
CFMA's 2025 medians are 7.1 percent before interest and taxes and 6.7 percent net income before taxes. Gross margin minus overhead leaves out interest and other income and expense, so a figure here can come in a little above or below a reported net income on the same business.
Above the $10M to $25M band the gross margin and overhead rows are a modeled extension of the same curves. They have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker, so read those bands as a model and not as a survey result.
What the reports are for
The table above lists published all-trade averages for the two bands, with net profit before taxes. When the close finishes by the 10th, the owner can compare last month's gross margin and overhead to these averages and to the CFOS target while there's still time to act on it. The table is a yardstick, and the close is what lets you read it on time.
A close on the 25th tells you about a problem that has since turned into a second month of the same problem. By then the fix costs more. Close early and you fix it while it's small.
At $25M with a controller and one AP clerk, the close is a handful of people and a handful of days. Each step with no owner adds a day. Name the owner on the page and the days come back.
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30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime. It opens January 2027. We email you the day it opens.
What people ask
How long should a month end close take for a $20M contractor?
Ten calendar days is a fair goal for a contractor with a controller and a clerk. Field inputs due by the 3rd, accounting by the 7th and reports by the 10th. If you're at three weeks now, fix cutoff first, because late bills cause most of the delay.
Who owns the close, the controller or the owner?
The controller owns the close and the owner owns the due dates for the field. If a PM turns in cost to complete late, the owner is the one who can fix it. The controller can only report that it's late.
What does the owner read at the end of the close?
The owner reads the WIP totals, job profit and the jobs that faded, AR and AP aging and the 13 week cash forecast. The CEO Report puts margin and overhead next to the industry average and the CFOS target. Five reports on two pages is enough.
Does CFOS replace our controller or our accountant?
No. The controller still approves, accrues and signs off, and QuickBooks still keeps the books. CFOS gives the controller the PM's forecast, the WIP and the aging in one place so less time goes to chasing and retyping.
Can a surety rely on a WIP built in a month end close this fast?
It can when the WIP ties to the financials and each PM's cost to complete is approved. Speed doesn't hurt a WIP as long as cutoff is clean and the totals tie. Your surety cares about those two things more than the date.
- Job costing and WIP for contractors doing $10M to $50M
- For the controller who owns the WIP
- A WIP schedule that builds itself from job cost
- Know your costs
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- PMs who own their margin
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
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