Whether you call them projects, engagements, or jobs, tracking the individual revenue, expenses, and profitability of each one is critical to the growth and success of almost any professional services company. With that in mind, let’s take a look at 4 undeniable benefits of using Sage Intacct Project Accounting Software to track and manage project success at your firm.
What is Project Accounting?
Before we jump into the benefits, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what project accounting means in the first place.
In a nutshell, project accounting entails tracking of all activity and financial transactions on a project-by-project basis. That includes everything involved in a typical project such as budgets, estimates, costs, bookings, billing and everything in between. Further, some of the most important aspects of project accounting is the ability to determine, at any given time, whether a project is on-budget, profitable, and how much has been or needs to be billed.
Where “standard” accounting typically focuses at a high level on the financial performance of the company as a whole or over a certain period of time such as yearly or quarterly performance, project accounting focuses on specific and individual projects as a stand-alone microcosm of everything else that may be going on at a company level.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s examine the benefits of using Sage Intacct Project Accounting Software to manage it all.
See also: Introducing Sage Intacct Budgeting & Planning
In a nutshell, project accounting entails tracking of all activity and financial transactions on a project-by-project basis. That includes everything involved in a typical project such as budgets, estimates, costs, bookings, billing and everything in between. Further, some of the most important aspects of project accounting is the ability to determine, at any given time, whether a project is on-budget, profitable, and how much has been or needs to be billed.
Where “standard” accounting typically focuses at a high level on the financial performance of the company as a whole or over a certain period of time such as yearly or quarterly performance, project accounting focuses on specific and individual projects as a stand-alone microcosm of everything else that may be going on at a company level.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s examine the benefits of using Sage Intacct Project Accounting Software to manage it all.
See also: Introducing Sage Intacct Budgeting & Planning
1. Take Command and Control of the Details
One of the most important benefits of project accounting is its ability to track budgets and revenues across every stage of an individual project. Sage Intacct provides project managers with access to everything from project hours and total expenses to incoming invoices and milestones.
Armed with that knowledge, you can monitor and, if necessary, reassess and adjust project resources to not only ensure it meets the overall financial goals of your company, but that the project stays on-time and on-budget. Sage Intacct Project Accounting is also built to keep you in compliance because you can configure all workflows, from entering time to approving payments.
Armed with that knowledge, you can monitor and, if necessary, reassess and adjust project resources to not only ensure it meets the overall financial goals of your company, but that the project stays on-time and on-budget. Sage Intacct Project Accounting is also built to keep you in compliance because you can configure all workflows, from entering time to approving payments.
How Services Businesses Benefit from Sage Intacct Project Accounting
2. Better Insight and Real-Time Decision-Making
- Did you underestimate your expenses?
- Is a specific task or phase of a project starting to erode your profits?
- Do you need to adjust assumptions and quotes for similar projects in the future?
With Sage Intacct Project Accounting, you can answer these and other critical questions about every single phase and aspect of a given project. Features like project-specific dashboards and reports, visual graphs, key performance indicators (KPIs), and detailed Gantt charts help you stay informed to make critical real-time decisions before a project is complete and it’s potentially too late to do anything about it.
3. Streamline Billing and Expenses with Automation
One key to keeping project costs in check is to automate processes that are time-consuming and manually-intensive. With Sage Intacct Project Accounting, you have the ability to automate all billable and non-billable time and expenses, from submission to approval.
In addition, billing automation helps you generate project invoices in the right format, using the right terms and the right amounts. Sage Intacct Project Accounting software also keeps revenue recognition separate from billing and automates the calculations and postings, based on milestones, schedules, or percentage completion.
In addition, billing automation helps you generate project invoices in the right format, using the right terms and the right amounts. Sage Intacct Project Accounting software also keeps revenue recognition separate from billing and automates the calculations and postings, based on milestones, schedules, or percentage completion.
4. Support Future Projects and Company Growth
Armed with the tools, features, and insight provided by Sage Intacct Project Accounting, you’ll avoid mistakes of past projects, improve profitability of future projects, and put your company on the path to growth with greater visibility of the pipeline and better handle on cash flow.
Not only do you have better tools for real-time management of budgets, resources, and progress during an active project, you also get detailed financial insight and performance metrics you need to look back at completed projects to determine what type of work and/or industries your professional services firm should focus on for future engagements and company growth.
Related: What's New in Sage Intacct 2018
Not only do you have better tools for real-time management of budgets, resources, and progress during an active project, you also get detailed financial insight and performance metrics you need to look back at completed projects to determine what type of work and/or industries your professional services firm should focus on for future engagements and company growth.
Related: What's New in Sage Intacct 2018
Want to Take a Deeper Dive?
Download the Sage Intacct Projects brochure or click below to find an Intacct Partner in your area that can provide more info, a demo, or pricing.
