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Job costing in QuickBooks Online
Job costing is useful only when income, purchases and labor reach the right project. Before interpreting margin, decide how costs enter the file and which report reflects that method.
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General information, not legal or tax advice.
Confirm Projects is available in your setup
Intuit lists Projects for QuickBooks Online Plus, Advanced and Intuit Enterprise Suite. Its setup guidance uses the Advanced settings option to organize job-related activity in one place, then creates a project with a customer, dates and status. Check the plan and feature before designing a workflow around it.
Sources: QuickBooks Support (Intuit)
Choose how labor cost will reach the job
Intuit distinguishes payroll expenses from estimated hourly costs. Payroll expenses include wages and direct costs such as taxes and workers’ compensation; estimated hourly costs multiply hours by a fixed employee rate that can include overhead. Document the method so a manager knows what the displayed cost represents.
Sources: QuickBooks Support (Intuit)
Account for timing in payroll allocations
With QuickBooks Workforce, payroll expenses post to a project after payroll runs. Intuit says hourly cost rates affect timesheets entered after the rate is set, and salaried staff need timesheet hours for project allocation. Review the timing before treating an incomplete project total as final.
Sources: QuickBooks Support (Intuit)
Read the report that matches the method
The Project profitability report uses payroll expense data. Intuit cautions that it is not accurate if only hourly time costs are tracked. The Time Activity tab and Time cost by employee or vendor report use hourly costs. Compare like reports when discussing job margins.
Sources: QuickBooks Support (Intuit)
Keep billable costs tied to the customer
QuickBooks supports marking an expense as billable and selecting its customer, with tracking enabled in the expenses settings. Use a practical review list for costs waiting to be billed, disputed purchases and items assigned to the wrong job. An expense classification and its customer assignment both deserve review.
Sources: QuickBooks Support (Intuit)
Sources: project cost reports
Make project reports reflect the underlying work
Tidwell organizes job costs, payroll allocations and QuickBooks records so you can review project performance with your CPA.