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Job Cost Reports



The purpose of the Job Cost Reports is to clearly report the total costs to-date of each project, job and/or cost center in your system, and to provide you with an analysis of those costs compared to the estimates you have entered into your system at the level of detail you desire.
The first step in preparing Job Cost Reports is to select which time period you want to cover in your reports, how you want your reports to be sorted and summarized, and defining which projects, jobs and cost codes you want to include on your reports. These tasks are accomplished by using the Job Cost Report setup screen, which is the first screen you will see whenever you select Job Cost Reports from the Main Module.
Begin Date: Enter the first date you want to include accounting and job cost transactions that have been entered into your system. This is typically a date that starts a fiscal period in your business.
End Date: Enter the last date for which you want to include accounting and job cost transactions on your reports. The default date the system will automatically select for you is today's system date on your computer. For fiscal period-end reports, set this date to the last date in the range of fiscal periods you want your reports to cover.
Project "Ribbon": Listed here will be all of the projects that have been setup in your system for which there are transactions recorded in the system for the time period range you have specified with End Dates and Begin Dates. Select one or more projects that you want to generate reports for. In the middle of this screen you will see an item selection tool.
Whenever you see this selection tool it means you can select items on either the right or left hand side and move them back and forth. The ">" symbol moves a single item to the left. The "<<" moves all items displayed on the right side to the left side. In this manner, select/de-select those projects for which you want reports by highlighting the ones you want to include on the left, then clicking on the ">" or ">>" button, etc.
Job "Ribbon": Listed here will be all of the jobs that have been setup in your system for which there are transactions recorded in the system for the time period range you have specified with End Dates and Begin Dates. Select/de-select those jobs you want to include/exclude from your reports.
Cost Code "Ribbon": Listed here will be all of the cost codes that have been setup in your system for which there are transactions recorded in the system for the time period range you have specified with End Dates and Begin Dates. Select/de-select those cost codes you want to include/exclude from your reports.
Hint: Remember, the hierarchy you have defined in your system for your projects, jobs and cost codes will affect your reports. For example, when you select a project that consists of more than one job, the job tab will display all of those jobs you have setup as belonging to that project. Likewise, for any job that has been defined as consisting of more than one cost code, all cost codes applicable for that job will be displayed under the cost code tab. You then can thus select and de-select (move back and forth between the left hand side and the right hand side) those projects, jobs and/or cost codes you do or do not want to include in your reports. This flexible approach allows you to create any number of combinations of reports
Hint: Remember, the hierarchy you have defined in your system for your projects, jobs and cost codes will affect your reports. For example, when you select a project that consists of more than one job, the job tab will display all of those jobs you have setup as belonging to that project. Likewise, for any job that has been defined as consisting of more than one cost code, all cost codes applicable for that job will be displayed under the cost code tab. You then can thus select and de-select (move back and forth between the left hand side and the right hand side) those projects, jobs and/or cost codes you do or do not want to include in your reports. This flexible approach allows you to create any number of combinations of reports as desired.
Sort By: Click on either Name or Number to specific how you want your projects, jobs and cost codes sorted. Name sorts alphabetically by descriptions you have defined, number by the numeric code you have defined.
The basic format of any Job Cost Report is identical to that shown under the Job Cost Summary Inquiry "Ribbon" on the Main Module. In essence, all Job Cost Reports provide you with a comparison of estimates vs. actual job-to-date costs for all types of costs tracked in your system. Those include the following: labor hours, labor dollars, other payroll (vacation pay, sick pay, etc.), material, sub contractor costs, equipment, other accounts payable expense and committed purchase orders. 
Specifically, the first column contains the estimates you have entered previously into the job cost master records in your system for all of your projects/jobs. If you have created a job cost master record that provides for estimates down to the cost code level of detail, those estimates will be available and printed under the estimates column. The system "rolls up" your cost code level estimates into the estimates for a job. Likewise, all job level estimates are rolled up into the total estimates for a project. The burden and overheads applied are those you have defined on the job cost master record(s) you have setup in your system. If your reports are missing estimates or labor and overhead burdens you will need to define those in appropriate job cost master records.
The second column prints the actual job-to-date costs (make sure you are synchronized with the date range you specified in the report setup) for all types of costs contained in your system.
The third column provides you with a calculation of the actual job-to-date cost expressed as a percentage of the estimate you have made and entered into your system at this level of detail.
The heading information at the top of the page provides you with the name of the customer, the name of the project, the name of the job and the name of the cost centers you have selected during your report setup. Also displayed are contract, change order, billed to date and retainage to date amounts.
You will get a one-page report for each. The system does not provide you with automatic summary totals as you have unlimited flexibility as to which cost codes and jobs you might choose to include or exclude when you setup your reports.