Job profitability reports matter more than anything else. You need to see actual costs versus estimated costs for every job, broken down by labor, materials, and subcontractors. Without this report, you’re guessing which jobs made money and pricing future work based on gut feel instead of real numbers. Most contractors who think they’re profitable on a job discover they weren’t once the actual costs get tallied.

Work in progress reports show where you stand on billing versus costs incurred. If you’ve billed more than the work you’ve completed, you’re overbilled and that cash belongs to future work. If you’ve done more work than you’ve billed, you’re underbilled and leaving money on the table. WIP reports prevent cash flow surprises when jobs wrap up and reveal you collected less than it cost to finish.

Accounts receivable aging tells you who owes you money and how long they’ve owed it. A healthy AR report shows most money in the current or 30-day column. When balances start piling up at 60 or 90 days, you have a collection problem that needs attention before it becomes a cash flow problem. Review this weekly, not monthly.

Cash flow forecasts project incoming and outgoing cash over the next 8 to 13 weeks. Bookkeeping services in MetroWest should produce this report showing expected draws, payroll dates, material payments, and subcontractor obligations so you can see shortfalls coming and plan around them.

Profit and loss statements show overall business performance for the month. This tells you whether the company made money as a whole, but it won’t show you which jobs drove the profit or loss. You need job-level reports for that.

Accounts payable aging shows what you owe vendors and subs, organized by due date. Knowing your payables helps you time payments, take early payment discounts when they make sense, and avoid late fees that eat into margins.

Balance sheets get overlooked by most contractors but they show your overall financial position. Assets, liabilities, and equity. Your accountant needs this for taxes and lenders need it for financing decisions.

The standard monthly financials that work for a retail store or service business don’t work for contractors. You need job costing built into your reporting structure so you can see profitability at the project level, not just the company level. A bookkeeper who doesn’t understand construction will produce reports that are technically accurate but miss what actually matters for running a contracting business.

If your current bookkeeper only gives you a P&L and balance sheet, you’re flying blind on individual job performance. Ask for job profitability, WIP, and AR aging at minimum. Those three reports will change how you price work and manage cash.