Skip to main content

2026 FAMILY OWNED, PRIVATELY OWNED AND OWNER-MANAGED BUSINESS SURVEY

Click here to find out more

Contract Accounting & WIP

Financial clarity for complex projects

You can have a full order book and plenty of activity on-site, but if your contract accounting is off, your business will eventually struggle. Managing the gap between the physical work happening on the ground and the financial reporting in the boardroom is the difference between a project’s success and sudden "margin fade."

We provide the specialist accounting frameworks required to bring total, unclouded clarity to your project performance.


Robust revenue recognition (FRS 102)

Knowing your true profit at any given time is much harder than it looks in this industry. Long-term contracts require a highly specific way of recognising revenue based on the stage of completion. We help you move away from guesswork and implement robust accounting standards (such as FRS 102). This ensures that the revenue you report to your board and your lenders accurately matches the reality of what has actually been delivered and certified on-site.

Work in progress (WIP) and job costing

A central pillar of our approach is the rigorous, unsentimental assessment of Work in Progress (WIP). Over-valued WIP leads to "paper profits," giving you a false sense of security and potentially creating unexpected tax bills. Under-valued WIP makes your balance sheet look weaker than it is, which can spook lenders.

We work closely with your commercial managers and quantity surveyors to refine your job costing systems, ensuring your valuations are realistic. Crucially, this detail allows us to identify loss-making or "onerous" contracts early enough for you to take proactive action, rather than finding out a project bled money six months after practical completion.

Managing retentions and cash flow

Retentions are the silent killer of construction profitability. Too often, businesses lose track of thousands of pounds locked up in old contracts because they lack the systems to chase them. We help you build better processes to track, manage, and recover these retentions the moment practical completion and defect liability periods end. By tightening up your reporting and your supply chain payment terms, we help you keep the cash flowing where it belongs—in your business.

FAQs: Contract Accounting & WIP

Practical guidance for all your needs.

WIP reflects the value of work done but not yet billed. Getting it wrong distorts your profitability, messes up your tax planning, and gives your lenders and board a completely false picture of your financial health.

It is a contract where the unavoidable costs of fulfilling your obligations are going to be higher than the economic benefits expected. Accounting standards require you to recognise this loss immediately in your accounts, not at the end of the project.

By setting up automated tracking within your monthly management accounts. This alerts your finance team the exact moment a defect liability period ends, prompting immediate invoicing rather than relying on a project manager's memory.

Contact us

Talk to our project accounting specialists today to ensure your financial reporting accurately reflects your on-site reality.

Contact the team

Get in touch

Get in touch to speak to one of our specialist advisers and explore how we can help you.

Contact us

Find your local office

Visit your local office. To find your nearest office just enter your town or city below.

Find an office

Latest news

Investment market update

Our Latest Investment Market Update – Goodbye Starmer, Iran Calmer

by Justin Rourke & Richard Cole - 22nd June 2026

Female GP wearing stethoscope looking at patient notes

How can GP partners manage the challenges of the 2026/27 Contract?

by Morag Miller - 17th June 2026

Adviser working with a couple to achieve financial goals

Why financial advice still matters in the age of AI

by Stuart Smith - 15th June 2026

Father and son of family manufacturing business

Inheritance Tax reform and how this impacts plans for succession

by Craig Reid - 15th June 2026

Tax Compliance Managers and apprentices at Armstrong Watson. Sitting at a desk with laptop

Armstrong Watson named again in Sunday Times Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers, marking

by Armstrong Watson - 12th June 2026