Bond renewals are getting tougher as surety companies tighten their standards and look deeper into how contractors manage risk, forecast costs, and protect profit. For CFOs in the electrical contracting world, one tool carries more weight than almost any other during bond reviews: the Work in Progress (WIP) report.
A strong WIP does more than record project progress. It tells your story. It shows whether your team is in control, if profits are holding, and if your processes can be trusted. When built right and kept current, it becomes one of your best assets for bonding confidence.
If you’re newer to Work in Progress reporting or want a quick refresher on the fundamentals, read our article on What Is WIP Reporting and Why It Matters.
Why Accurate WIP Reporting Strengthens Bonding Capacity
Surety agents and underwriters rely on your WIP to assess financial health and operational discipline. They look for profitability trends, consistent job performance, and early indicators of risk. Profit fade, unapproved change orders, and large underbillings can all raise red flags.
For electrical subcontractors, where margins are thin and materials like copper fluctuate weekly, real-time, automated WIP visibility reveals your true exposure. It enables your team to adjust labor, manage cash flow, and forecast material impacts before they threaten margin — and the surety sees that stability as strength.
For CFOs, that means using data to tell a consistent story — one that proves stability and financial discipline. Simply put, an accurate, well-managed WIP gives you credibility. It shows that you’re proactive, not reactive, and that your numbers reflect what’s truly happening on the job.
What a Strong WIP Report Looks Like (and Why It Matters)
A well-built WIP includes more than totals and percent complete. It should show the full financial picture of every active job, including:
- Original and revised contract values with approved change orders reflected immediately
- Verified estimated costs to complete (by project managers)
- Costs to date and percent complete based on earned progress
- Overbillings and underbillings with clear explanations
- Retainage tracking aligned with AIA billing
- Committed costs for POs and subcontracts
These elements work together to give both management and sureties a true view of profitability and cash position. When you can explain every line confidently, your bonding partner knows you’re in control.
Here are a few key metrics sureties look for in every WIP report:
- Gross profit consistency from job start to finish
- Percentage complete accuracy based on real costs
- Over/Under-billing trends and late-stage underbilling
- Working capital quality, including cash, A/R aging, and retainage exposure
- Backlog gross profit and capacity remaining
To explore these metrics in more depth, check out this article on Five Key WIP Metrics Every Contractor Should Know. It explains how each measure impacts cash flow, forecasting, and margin protection in real time.
Why Automated WIP Updates Give Contractors a Competitive Edge
Many contractors still rely on monthly WIP reports, but today’s leaders are moving to automated, real-time updates that deliver a constant pulse on project performance. Automated WIP visibility helps you identify margin fade early, tighten cost controls, and eliminate end-of-month surprises.
For electrical contractors facing constant cost swings—from copper price spikes to unplanned overtime—automated updates create the time and insight needed to adjust course before profits slip. This consistency builds confidence with sureties and strengthens your financial position.
When project managers and finance teams collaborate through automated, real-time forecasting, WIP becomes more than a report—it’s a dynamic tool that safeguards cash flow and drives profitability.
Common WIP Reporting Mistakes That Hurt Bonding Capacity
Even strong contractors can fall into traps that erode surety confidence:
Treating overbilling as profit - It’s short-term cash flow, not margin. Keep it separate and plan for future costs.
Not tracking committed costs - Purchase orders and subcontracts must be included so exposure is real-time.
Using stale cost-to-complete data - Get project managers to review and re-forecast often. Their field knowledge is key.
Relying on spreadsheets - Version confusion and manual entry errors cause delays and mistrust. Modern systems eliminate that risk.
Sureties don’t expect perfection, but they value consistency and transparency. Contractors that update frequently and communicate clearly are seen as lower risk, and that directly strengthens their bonding position.
Fortunately, modern systems can automate these processes and eliminate the risks of manual entry.
How Sage Intacct Improves WIP Reporting for Contractors
For CFOs managing multiple active projects, accuracy depends on real-time data and integration between field and finance. That’s where Sage Intacct stands apart.
With Sage Intacct, your WIP report builds itself from live job costs, approved change orders, and up-to-date forecasts. Over and underbillings post automatically. Dashboards track margin trends and cash positions in real time. Retainage, AIA billing, and committed costs are captured without extra spreadsheets or manual re-entry.
The result is a clean, audit-ready WIP that gives you instant visibility and the confidence to walk into any bond renewal conversation prepared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What is a WIP report, and why does it matter for bonding?
A Work in Progress (WIP) report tracks the financial health of active jobs by comparing actual costs, earned revenue, and billings. Surety companies use it to evaluate profitability, accuracy, and how well a contractor manages project risk.
Q2: How can contractors keep WIP reports accurate without adding more manual work?
Automatic updates deliver better insight, but manual entry can slow teams down. By automating data flow between accounting and the field through systems like Sage Intacct, contractors can maintain real-time WIP accuracy without extra effort.
Q3: What does “profit fade” mean, and why do sureties care?
Profit fade occurs when a job’s expected gross profit decreases as it progresses. Consistent profit fade can signal weak estimating, poor project control, or inaccurate forecasting — all of which make a surety less confident in extending capacity.
Q4: How does Sage Intacct improve WIP visibility for CFOs?
It centralizes project costs, change orders, and billing data in one place so your WIP updates automatically. The result is faster insight, fewer errors, and reports that are always bond-ready.
Build WIP Strength That Inspires Confidence
Every bond renewal tells a story, and your WIP determines how it’s read. The stronger, cleaner, and more consistent your WIP reporting is, the more confidence your surety will have in your financial stability.
With Sage Intacct Construction, Alliance Solutions Group helps electrical contractors build reliable WIP systems that improve visibility, forecast accuracy, and cash flow. When your projects are tracked in real time and your numbers align across teams, you gain more than clarity — you gain leverage with every bond renewal.
Contact our team today to get started.
