Management Accounts: Monthly Numbers That Show What’s Actually Happening on Site
A bank balance that looks healthy can hide a job running at a loss and a retention payment quietly stuck for another six months. Our construction accountants build monthly management accounts with work in progress, retention tracking, and project level profit built in, so you know how the business is performing now, not what it did last year .
- Cash Flow Specialists
- Built for Contractors and Developers
£3.1m+
CIS Recovered
100 %
HMRC & MTD Ready
50+
Five-Star Reviews
Construction
Tax EXPERTS
Fixed Fee
No hidden charges
HMRC Compliance
Who We Are
Accountants who report on the job, not just the company
A standard profit and loss looks backwards and treats the whole business as one number, which tells you nothing about which specific contracts are making money and which are quietly losing it. We produce project level reporting inside your monthly pack, so a site running over budget shows up in the numbers weeks before it shows up in your bank balance.
Project level profit and loss alongside your overall company position
Monthly reporting cadence, not quarterly or year end only
Management Accounts That Show Real Job Margins
Your management accounts should show whether your margin is covering the office, not just the materials
Retention clauses commonly withhold 5% of contract value until practical completion and again until the defects period ends, tying up cash for six months or more on a single job. On a contractor turning over £500,000 a year, unreleased retention alone can represent tens of thousands of pounds sitting outside the business at any given time.
We track every retention balance and release date against your contracts, and build payment terms into your client agreements that protect your cash position from day one.
100%
CIS Compliance Rate
Getting Work in Progress Right
Without a proper WIP valuation, your monthly profit is a guess
Work in progress accounts for costs already spent on a job that hasn’t been invoiced yet, and without adjusting for it, a standard report can show a loss in the exact month you’re actually on track, simply because the invoice hasn’t gone out. We value WIP job by job each month, comparing costs to date against total estimated costs, so the profit figure you see reflects the work actually done, not just what’s been billed.
WIP valued monthly, job by job, against sales price and estimated total cost
Retention shown separately from ordinary debtors, so you always know what’s held and when it’s due
Common Pain Points
What Standard Accounts Miss for Construction Businesses
Most construction management accounting problems trace back to a handful of recurring gaps.
Work in Progress Left Out Entirely
Reporting profit based on invoices raised rather than work completed makes monthly figures swing wildly and hides real performance.
Retention Treated as an Afterthought
Money held back on a completed job is still owed, yet it’s easy to write it off mentally and never chase it if it isn’t tracked separately.
No Project Level Visibility
A healthy company wide P&L can mask one contract quietly running at a loss while another carries the business.
Overheads Not Absorbed Into Pricing
Quotes built on material and labour costs alone, without a true overhead recovery rate, mean growing turnover without growing profit.
CIS Position Disconnected From the Numbers
Subcontractor deductions and cost to complete tracked separately from the main accounts create blind spots on your biggest variable cost.
Free Consultation
Let’s talk about your construction accounting challenges
Book a 30-minute call with our specialist accountant for construction business. We’ll look at how your business is set up and flag quick wins you can act on straight away.
- CIS and VAT reverse charge handled correctly
- Deep expertise in contractor, subcontractor tax rules
- Forward-looking advice, not just year-end filing
- Transparent fixed fees, no surprises
Our Services
Complete Management Accounts for Construction Businesses
We build a monthly pack that reflects how construction actually works, as your construction accountant.
Project Level Profit & Loss
We report profitability by individual contract, not just company wide, so you know exactly which jobs earn and which don’t.
Work in Progress Valuation
We value WIP job by job every month, so your reported profit reflects work completed, not just invoices raised.
Retention Ageing Reports
We track every retention balance, release date, and defects liability period so nothing gets forgotten.
CIS Position & Cost to Complete
We reconcile your CIS deductions and flag subcontractor cost variances as they happen, not at project close.
Overhead Absorption Analysis
We calculate what each project needs to contribute to overheads, so pricing decisions are based on real numbers.
Monthly Reporting Cadence
We deliver your management pack on a monthly rhythm, giving you time to act before a small issue becomes a large one.
Client Stories
Real feedback from real construction businesses
★★★★★
“I’d been under-claiming CIS repayments for two years without realising it. They found and recovered £14,000 within weeks of taking us on. Nobody had ever explained the scheme to me this clearly before.”
★★★★★
“We had no real idea which contracts were making money until they built us a proper job-costing system. Now we price the next tender based on actual data, not guesswork.”
★★★★★
“Every site brings its own VAT and SDLT questions, and they have never once been slow to answer. Switching from our old firm was the easiest financial decision we have made in years.”
FAQS
Commonly Asked Questions about Construction Management Accounts
What should be included in construction management accounts?
Why does WIP matter so much for construction reporting?
Construction projects span months, and WIP ensures profit is recognised in the period the work actually happened rather than only when an invoice is raised, avoiding artificial monthly losses or gains.
How often should management accounts be produced?
Monthly at minimum, since waiting for quarterly or year end figures in a fast moving trade is often too late to fix a job that’s already gone wrong.
How does CIS affect our management accounts?
CIS affects both cash flow and liability, and your accounts need to reflect deductions taken from subcontractors and withheld from your own payments accurately, or reconciliation issues and penalties follow.
Can a smaller construction firm benefit from monthly management accounts?
Yes, knowing which jobs are actually profitable and seeing cash requirements ahead of time can be the difference between growth and running into trouble, regardless of size.
What's a realistic gross margin to expect in UK construction?
Margins vary by sector, but most contractors aim for 15 to 25 percent gross margin, and management accounts show whether you’re hitting that and why if you’re not.
Does Construction Tax Accountants work with the software we already use?
Yes, we work within Xero and similar platforms, setting up tracking categories and CIS modules properly so your management accounts stay accurate without changing how your team already operates.
Still have questions?
Our construction accountants are ready to answer any questions about your specific tax situation with no obligation for an initial conversation.
- Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm