PCA Group Delivers Expert Accounting Support

In 2000, Baywood Build/Design Group came to PCA Group with an accounting disaster on its hands. The contracting firm's books were in such a poor state that Baywood couldn't generate a change order or send out invoices.

To sort out the books, Denise Adams, who leads PCA's Small Business Solutions Group, completely overhauled Baywood's QuickBooks Pro data file. For the next few years, Adams and Baywood worked closely together to fine-tune accounting procedures, especially in relation to reporting, cost allocations and their related fields and customized reports.

"Denise is a QuickBooks guru," says Brett Schoolnik, President of Baywood Design/Build Group. "I've never known anyone who knows more about QuickBooks."

Almost 15 percent of PCA's clients are contractors, and over the years Adams has become very familiar with her contractor clients accounting needs and requirements. When Adams was introduced to Contractor Edition, she recognized that the software had features that solved many problems common to contractors.



Adds change orders in a single estimate
"The feature that turned the tide for me was the ability to add change orders in a single estimate. Previously when my contractor clients were tracking change orders, they set up a job and created the estimate. As change orders occurred, they created sub orders. This method was fine until a change order came in that decreased the scope of work. To record the change, they would have to go back to the original estimate. But after the change was made, the original estimate was lost."


Improves communication between office and field personnel
"In the field, workers rarely distinguished labor and materials by change order. Since 98 percent of my contractor clients invoice their customers for a set contract price, tracking and controlling costs is paramount. To complicate matters, invoices are often generated based on a draw schedule or for percentage of completion. The office staff needs to know the progression of completion in order to invoice timely and keep cash flow coming in."


Eliminates multiple change orders
"Our contractor customers had problems separating change orders. Payments were often not applied to the right invoice. The payment should have been applied to Change Order 1, but it would be applied to Change Order 2. Fixing the mistake caused a huge mess. Contractors didn't realize the change until after the check had cleared the bank, and it was difficult to go back into the books to make the changes. Eliminating multiple change orders for a single project has simplified this process."


Reduces paperwork, encourages harmony
"My clients have embraced the change order feature. They were going through a paperwork nightmare. Contractor Edition simplifies my clients' bookkeeping, and it creates more harmony between the office and field personnel."

Find out more about QuickBooks: Premier Contractor Edition 2004.