Use this spreadsheet in conjunction with our video Payroll Tip - Health Insurance Tracking Requirements for 2012 to determine the cost of employer paid health insurance costs for 2012.

The IRS will require that employer's report the cost of company paid health insurance on employee W-2's for informational purposes only - the costs of the health insurance is non-taxable.

This video will show you how to track the costs of 100% company paid health insurance so that it will display on employee paystubs and the W-2 at the end of the year.

Download our free Excel spreadsheet Calculating 100% Company Paid Health Insurance Costs to help you determine the amount of the company contribution based on the frequency in which you generate payroll.

Determining the cost-per-hour for each piece of equipment that your company owns and uses on a job site is a great tool for understanding, and even eventually, recouping the actual cost of the equipment itself.

Equipment cost-per-hour rates are calculated by adding together three (3) distinct pieces of information. 

Part of our QuickBooks Job Costing Equipment eBook.

The Equipment Cost Calculator is an Excel spreadsheet which has been designed to calculate the ACTUAL hourly rate it costs you to have a specific piece of equipment on the jobsite using the formulas that are outlined in the article "Determining Equipment Costs per Hour" (opens in a new window).

From the June 2010 edition of the QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter.

Most anyone will tell you that completing the AIA G-702 and G-703 forms by hand is frustrating and difficult.  To fill out one correctly, you pretty much have to:

• forget about any basic accounting principals you've ever learned
• ignore change orders that have been submitted or approved, but not processed
• ignore money that is still outstanding from previously submitted applications for payment

You need to realize that the payment applications that you submit are an important piece of your overall cash flow management.  When your payment applications get screwed up --- bad things happen; none of which put you in "good standing" with the General Contractor or Project Owner, and can ultimately damage your company's overall cash position.

The point is - you have NO choice except to learn how to fill out the AIA forms correctly!

This training file (zip file) is to be used in conjunction with the "What Is AIA Billing" page on our website.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid confusion the instructions contained in this articles are instructions for MANUALLY completing an AIA Billing form and HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE USE OF OUR AIA BILLING SOFTWARE.

The current economic situation has dealt a serious blow to both homebuilders and commercial contractors.  Like all downturns to the economy, this too shall pass; but, experts predict that it will take quite awhile for everything to stabilize.

However, all is not lost.....

Public Works construction could thrive.  If you listen to the news and read construction trade newsletters you hear that part of President-Elect Obama’s economic stimulus plan includes investing in our country’s infrastructure; which means public works construction projects.

4 pages, PDF format.  From the December 2008 Newsletter.

Whether you currently use QuickBooks or are thinking of using QuickBooks for your construction accounting package you need to be aware that QuickBooks, while a great software program, is a "generic" accounting program and will not do evrything that you may need it to for your business by itself, unlike more expensive construction specific software.

If you are like most contractors, you probably do not think of yourself as a "computer hardware/software expert' and turn this type of project over to someone else.  This unfortunately, is one of the major reasons that this type of project fails.

Read the complete article to find how you can make your project succeed!

6 pages, PDF Format.  From the October 2008 QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter.

As a busy business owner it is quite easy to fall into the habit of simply turning over your business's accounting to someone else; because your time is best spent in the field and not in the office doing paperwork.  Not only is this a bad habit, it can also become a dangerous situation.

While it is fair to say, most people don't steal, embezzlement does happen; we hear about it or read about it in the newspapers all of the time.  This article contains some simple ideas that you can implement in order to reduce your chances of becoming a potential victim.

5 pages, PDF Format.  From the October 2008 QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter.

Identity theft occurs when a thief uses your personal information without your permission to commit crime or fraud.

This article contains tips that you can use to protect yourself, your business, and your employees.

3 pages, PDF Format.  From the October 2008 QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter.

With computer technology becoming more complex and sophisticated, many business owners are hiring indeendent computer/IT conultants to update their existing computer systems and ensure that their business has the tools and training needed to run smoothly and efficiently.

The question is, as a business owner who is confused about more complex and sophisticated computer hardware and software -- HOW do you find a GOOD computer/IT consultant?

3 pages.  From the March 2008 Newsletter.

In Part 1 of our series on Email Etiquette (a series of articles that were done for another group) we'll talk about the importance of making a good first impression with your email communications.  After all, we only get one chance to meet a person for the first time - and first impressions do count!

3 pages.  From the January 2008 Newsletter.

In Part 2 of our series on Email Etiquette - What Is It and Why Is It So Important we will discuss why you need email etiquette in the first place.

3 pages.  From the January 2008 Newsletter.

Part 3 in our series on Email Etiquette focuses on manners and tone.  When we stop to think about it, communication between humans is approximately 90% body language, 8% tone of voice, and the final 2% what you actually have to say.  With email, you remove the first 98%!

2 pages.  From the January 2008 Newsletter.

Part 4 of our series on Email Etiquette discusses the importance of being concise and professional in your email communications with others.

2 pages.  From the January 2008 Newsletter.

Part 5 in our series on Email Etiquette discusses spelling, grammar, and attachments.

1 page. From the January 2008 Newsletter.

Part 6 of our series on Email Etiquette covers questions to ask yourself before you hit send.

Keep in mind, that with email the only impression others have us us may be the one they get when they read our email message.

2 pages. From the January 2008 Newsletter.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to stop and take a look at the events of the previous year, while it is still fresh in our minds.  This way we can make a plan for the upcoming year.

This is true whether you are a business owner or an employee.  Making New Year's resolutions (no matter how corny it may sound) should not be limited to just our personal life, we should remember to include our professional life as well - - after all our professional life does take up a great deal of our time.

3 pages.  From the January 2008 Newsletter.

It almost goes without saying that on any construction project, a contractor's ability to get paid for the Original contract, Extra Work Orders and/or Change Orders is vital to the business's profit margin.

It's the start of a new contruction season, is your job costing system in place?

10 pages.  From the June 2007 Newsletter.

Being lured into spreadsheet dependency is an easy and almost transparent event.  For many small contractors just starting out, spreadsheets are the first and seemingly only solution they need to get their company u and running.....quickly.

On almost a daily basis, we talk with contractors or their bookkeepers about our AIA Billing program and when we tell them that it is designed to work off the Estimating and Progress Invoicing features in QuickBooks they tell us --- "oh, but we don't do our Estimating in QuickBooks, we use Excel" --- our immediate response is "how do you handle your job costing?"

3 pages.  From the June 2007 Newsletter.

So you are ready to hire a bookkeeper or CPA to help you with your business and your books. Congratulations! We all know what a struggle it is to "try to do everything" yourself, and it almost goes without saying that as a busy contractor, we also know that time is best spent on the job and not in the office handling paperwork.

Before you hire someone to handle your books or your taxes, check their skills and lay the ground rules to make sure that you are getting the right person for your business and never make the big mistake of just "turning" it all over to someone (no matter how enticing that idea may be). Always keep an eye on what is going on.

If you are planning on hiring a bookkeeper or CPA, download our  Construction Bookkeepers Test (opens in a new window)

6 pages. From the April 2007 Newsletter.