Job Costing & Expense Tracking: Know Exactly Where Your Profits Are Coming From

Overview

The Platinum Program includes Job Costing, which allows you to track income and expenses by specific jobs, projects, or customers.

This feature provides visibility into project-level profitability, helping you understand not just how your business performs overall, but which jobs and clients are actually generating profit.

Core Purpose

The purpose of Job Costing is to:

• Provide clear visibility into profitability by job, project, or customer

• Support better pricing, budgeting, and resource allocation decisions

• Replace assumptions with data-driven financial insight

What Job Costing Means

Job Costing is the process of assigning both revenue and expenses to a specific:

• Job

• Project

• Customer

• Engagement

This allows financial performance to be evaluated:

• Over the life of a project

• Over a defined time period (monthly, quarterly, annually)

Instead of only reviewing overall company performance, Job Costing allows you to analyze profitability at a granular level.

How Job Costing Is Applied

With Job Costing in place, ABBL assigns financial activity to the appropriate job or project, including:

• Revenue generated from customer invoices

• Expenses such as materials, subcontractors, software, and other costs

• Allocated costs where applicable and supported by available data

This allows financial reports to reflect true job-level performance.

Examples of Use in Practice

Job Costing may be used for:

• Project-Level Profitability Analysis

  Evaluate whether a specific project met expected margins

  
  

• Customer Lifetime Value Evaluation

  Understand total profitability of a client relationship over time

  
  

• Time-Based Performance Reviews

  Analyze job profitability by month, quarter, or year

  
  

• Pricing & Proposal Optimization

  Use historical job data to price future work more accurately

  
  

Scope Within the Platinum Program

Job Costing is applied within the standard transaction volume included in the Platinum Program.

• Transactions included in the program will be assigned to the appropriate job or project as part of normal bookkeeping workflows

• Job-level tracking is integrated into the overall accounting system

Additional Job Costing Complexity

If job costing requirements increase in:

• Transaction volume

• Number of jobs or projects

• Level of detail or allocation complexity

Then:

• Additional job costing services may be added for an additional fee

This ensures increased complexity is properly supported without impacting service quality.

Platinum vs. Gold Availability

• Platinum Program → Job Costing is included as part of the standard service

• Gold Program → Job Costing is not included by default but may be added through a Job Costing / AR-related add-on service

What Is Included

• Setup and use of job or project tracking within QuickBooks Online

• Assignment of revenue and expenses to jobs within standard workflows

• Job-level reporting (e.g., Profit & Loss by Job/Customer)

What Is NOT Included

• Unlimited job-level complexity beyond standard scope

• Advanced accounting methods such as:

  • Percentage-of-completion accounting

  • Complex Work-in-Progress (WIP) tracking

• Reconstruction of missing job data not provided by the client

• Detailed operational project management or time tracking systems

Client Responsibilities

Clients are responsible for:

• Providing clear job or project structure

• Communicating how transactions should be assigned when needed

• Providing supporting data (e.g., time tracking, job details, cost allocation inputs)

• Maintaining consistency in how jobs and projects are defined

Internal Team Standard

Internally, ABBL is expected to:

• Apply job costing consistently across transactions

• Follow the defined job/project structure

• Ensure data accuracy supports reporting

• Escalate unclear job assignments for clarification

Client Training Explanation / Key Takeaway

Job Costing allows you to understand which jobs and clients are actually making money.

Instead of relying on overall revenue or gut instinct, you gain:

• Clear visibility into profitability

• Confidence in pricing decisions

• Insight into where to focus your time and resources

This feature transforms your financial data into a tool for better decision-making, stronger margins, and more sustainable growth.