Business Blog

There are two types of costs in every project budget, and mixing them is one of the quickest ways to lose margin. Understanding the difference between direct and indirect costs allows the project manager, QS or finance manager to submit a tender at the correct amount, monitor actual cost burn against budget, and report variance with facts rather th....

Financial accounting reports what already happened. For project firms, that is a problem, because profit is made or lost job by job, and every job has a point after which an overrun can only be absorbed. A report arriving at period close describes decisions nobody can change. The accounts are correct. They are also late. Project accounting closes t....

ERP for professional services puts project management, resource scheduling, project accounting and client records together in one place. It is built for firms whose product is expertise and billable time instead of something physical. Architecture practices work this way, so do engineering consultancies and the design side of marine engineering. Th....

Month-end in accounts payable rarely breaks down over anything complicated; it breaks down over volume and format. One supplier sends a clean PDF. The next sends a scanned delivery note photographed on a phone. A third transmits through InvoiceNow, and a fourth still mails a hard copy. Each one has to be identified, keyed in, matched to a purchase ....

Financial reporting software generates balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and management reports by pulling directly from a company’s accounting and operational data. The category covers 4 different types of products, and picking the wrong type is the most common and most expensive mistake in this purchase. If you need t....

Fixed asset accounting software helps maintain the company’s asset register, calculate depreciation, record additions and disposals, and support fixed asset accounting and reporting. It can be a standalone app or as part of an ERP system. In most cases, a stand-alone fixed asset system will be adequate for Singapore SMEs if the asset base is ....