Construction & Real Estate Insights

Managing multiple entities in construction is complex. Find out why comprehensive, construction-specific ERP is essential for consolidation, compliance, and growth.

If your construction business operates multiple entities—whether that’s separate business units, real estate developments, joint ventures, or regions—you already know that managing finances gets complicated fast.

Each entity might have its own bank accounts, chart of accounts, vendors, and projects. But when you’re using general-purpose accounting software—or worse, running separate instances of the same software—things quickly become inefficient, error-prone, and hard to scale.

That’s where a comprehensive ERP system built specifically for construction comes in. It’s not just helpful. It’s essential.

What Does “Multi-Entity” Really Mean in Construction?

Multi-entity doesn’t just mean owning multiple companies. In construction, it often includes:

• Parent companies overseeing multiple divisions or subsidiaries
• Separate entities for each project or development
• Joint ventures with shared ownership and profit splits
• Entities created to isolate risk, costs, or tax exposure

Each of these structures comes with its own compliance, reporting, and operational requirements. And often each needs to be accounted for individually and rolled up into consolidated financials.

The Pitfalls of Using Software Not Built for Multi-Entity Construction

When construction firms try to manage multi-entity operations with entry-level or generic accounting systems, problems multiply:

1. Duplicate Work Across Entities

You may have to log in and out of separate company files just to pay vendors, post journal entries, or run reports. That means duplicate setups, duplicate data entry, and a higher risk of inconsistency.

2. Manual Consolidations

Combining financials across entities often happens in spreadsheets—outside the system—leading to version control headaches and late, unreliable reporting.

3. Limited Intercompany Accounting

Without built-in intercompany functionality, transactions between entities (like shared equipment, labor, or overhead allocations) require manual journal entries. One mistake can throw your books off balance.

4. Compliance Risk

Each entity may have its own tax filings, certified payroll requirements, or contractual obligations. Without centralized controls and visibility, important deadlines or details can slip through the cracks.

5. Scaling Becomes a Slog

As your firm takes on more projects or adds new entities, your team spends more time managing the system instead of managing the business.

Why You Need ERP That Understands Multi-Entity Construction

A construction-specific ERP like Sage Intacct Construction is built to handle these challenges with grace. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• True multi-entity architecture lets you manage multiple companies in a single system, with shared or unique vendors, employees, and accounts as needed.
• Automated consolidations mean you get real-time roll-ups across entities—no spreadsheets required.
• Intercompany transactions are recorded automatically, keeping your books clean and audit-ready.
• Role-based access and controls ensure the right people see the right data, even across different organizational structures.
• Centralized dashboards give you visibility into performance by entity, region, project type, or any other dimension you choose.

In other words, your system adapts to your structure—not the other way around.

The Bottom Line

For growing construction firms with multiple entities, the right ERP system isn’t just about accounting. It’s about control, visibility, and scalability. Trying to jerry rig a one-entity tool to do a multi-entity job will cost your team time, accuracy, and ultimately, money.

If you’re spending more time managing your software than managing your business, it might be time for a change.

Ready to Simplify Your Multi-Entity Operations?

At Alliance Solutions Group, we help construction firms implement Sage Intacct Construction, a cloud-based ERP designed to support multi-entity operations with ease. If you’re ready to streamline your back office, reduce risk, and gain better insight across every corner of your business, contact us for a personalized demo. We’ll show you what a system built for construction can really do.

‍

‍

Part I of a contractor’s 8-part guide to tracking job progress, profitability, and financial health while the work is still underway.

• Part I: What is WIP Reporting and Why it Matters
• Part II: What’s the Difference Between Job Cost and WIP?
• Part III: How to Get Started with WIP
• Part IV: Understanding Key WIP Metrics (Earned Revenue, Over/Under Billings, FCAC)
• Part V: The Role of Project Managers in Accurate WIP Reporting
• Part VI: What to Look for in a WIP Reporting Solution
• Part VII: How Sage Intacct Automates WIP Reporting and Saves You Time
• Part VIII: How to Transition from Excel to Sage Intacct WIP Reporting?

When you’re running a construction company, it’s not enough to know where your projects were last month. You need to know—right now—whether jobs are running on budget, how much profit you’ve actually earned, and if your billings reflect the work that’s been completed. That’s the value of Work in Progress (WIP) reporting.

WIP reporting is a method of tracking the financial performance of a project while it’s in progress. It helps you measure how much work has been completed, how much revenue you’ve earned, and whether your costs are aligned with expectations, all before the final invoice goes out. And for construction companies, where job scopes shift and margins can be razor thin, that kind of insight isn’t just helpful. It’s essential.

What Exactly Is WIP Reporting?

A WIP report compares the actual job costs you’ve incurred so far against the estimated total cost to complete the job. From that, it calculates the percent complete, which is a foundational number used to determine how much revenue you’ve earned and whether you're under- or overbilled.

Here’s how it works at a high level:

• Percent complete = Job-to-date cost ÷ Forecasted cost at completion (FCAC)
• Earned revenue = Percent complete × Total contract value
• Over/under billing = Billed amount – Earned revenue

These formulas help you spot key financial truths about a job. Are you ahead of schedule? Are you at risk of losing margin? Did you invoice too little or too much? By answering these questions monthly (or more often), you can spot red flags early and take corrective action before issues snowball.

Why Does WIP Reporting Matter?

WIP isn’t just about staying organized. It’s about building a financially stronger business. Here’s what accurate, consistent WIP reporting empowers you to do:

1. Make informed decisions in real time

A good WIP report gives you a clear, current picture of job performance—so you can act fast if a project starts to slide. Instead of reacting after the damage is done, you can revise forecasts, adjust staffing, or correct billing issues before they affect your cash flow.

2. Prevent profit fade

Profit fade—when projected margins gradually erode over the life of a project—is a common challenge in construction. WIP reporting helps you identify this erosion early by comparing original estimates to updated forecasts and actuals. That visibility helps preserve your margins.

3. Strengthen trust with external stakeholders

Banks, bonding companies, and sureties often require WIP reports to assess the financial health of your business. Clean, well-supported WIP reports show that you’re in control of your jobs, which can help you secure better financing terms and bonding capacity.

4. Improve internal communication

WIP reporting is most accurate when it brings together insights from both accounting and operations. Project managers contribute real-time knowledge about site conditions, pending change orders, or scheduling delays—factors that may not show up in the books yet but can greatly affect the forecast.

5. Lay the foundation for automation and growth

If you’re still managing WIP in spreadsheets, it’s hard to scale. Manual errors, outdated data, and inconsistent formats make it difficult to get reliable insights. Moving to a connected platform like Sage Intacct Construction allows for real-time updates, integrated forecasts, and standardized reporting, all critical for growing companies.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

WIP reporting is only as good as the data that feeds it. Some common issues to watch out for:

• Infrequent updates: If you’re not reviewing your WIP report monthly (at minimum), you’re likely missing opportunities to adjust.
• Disconnected forecasts: If the accounting team is guessing at cost-to-complete without input from the field, your numbers might look good on paper but not reflect reality
• Overreliance on billing: It’s tempting to equate billing with progress, but earned revenue tells the real story. Overbillings can mask performance issues if you’re not careful.
• Spreadsheet errors: Manual entry mistakes can throw off your entire report. One extra zero or missed formula can lead to major misjudgments about job health.

Start Smart, Finish Strong

WIP reporting isn’t just a financial exercise—it’s a strategic advantage. It gives you the clarity to manage projects proactively, the visibility to reduce risk, and the predictability to grow with confidence. It also brings accounting and operations together around a shared understanding of what’s really happening on the job.

If you're ready to upgrade from spreadsheets to a smarter, more automated approach, Sage Intacct Construction makes it easy. It’s built to integrate forecasting, actuals, and billing in real time so you can generate WIP reports that are accurate, timely, and trusted.

Let’s Build It Together

Alliance Solutions Group helps construction companies take the guesswork out of WIP reporting. We specialize in implementing Sage Intacct Construction and can help you transition from manual reporting to a connected, cloud-based system that supports better decision-making.

Ready to see how it works? Contact us for a personalized demo.

‍