Finance software built for how contractors actually bill
Job costing, retainage tracking, AIA-style progress billing, WIP schedules, and certified payroll - in one AI finance operating system instead of a wall of spreadsheets.
Why construction finance breaks generic tools
A contractor’s books don’t follow a calendar - they follow jobs. Revenue is earned by percent complete, cash arrives on pay applications minus retainage, and labor cost only means something when it’s coded to the right cost code on the right job.
- Job costing: labor, materials, subs, and equipment must roll up by job and cost code, not just by GL account.
- Retainage: 5–10% of every billing is withheld until completion, so invoiced amounts never match cash.
- Progress billing: AIA-style pay applications bill percent complete against a schedule of values.
- WIP schedules: over/underbilling must be computed each month or margins look wrong all year.
- Certified payroll: prevailing-wage jobs demand payroll reports generic payroll tools don’t produce.
How Fintra maps to contractor workflows
- AI accounting keeps a job-dimensional GL, so every transaction lands on a job and cost code and the month-end close reconciles billings to earned revenue.
- Budgeting and forecasting track estimate vs actual per job, flagging cost codes that are burning ahead of percent complete.
- Payroll with a verified tax engine handles multi-rate crews and the reporting behind certified payroll requirements.
- Bill pay manages sub invoices and lien-waiver-gated payments; expense management captures field purchases against jobs.
A worked retainage example
Retainage receivable
Billings to date × retainage rate = $300,000 × 10% = $30,000
Illustrative example: the withheld balance sits in a dedicated retainage receivable account so AR aging and cash forecasts stay honest.
Spreadsheets vs Fintra, side by side
| Workflow | Spreadsheets + generic tools | Fintra |
|---|---|---|
| Job cost reporting | Export GL, re-tag rows by job in Excel | Every transaction coded to job and cost code at entry |
| WIP schedule | Manual over/underbilling workbook each month | Computed from billings and percent complete in the close |
| Retainage | Tracked in a side spreadsheet, often stale | Separate retainage receivable, reconciled continuously |
| Certified payroll | Retype hours into report templates | Generated from payroll runs with a verified tax engine |
Getting started
From spreadsheets to job-level books
- 1
Connect and import
Bring in your chart of accounts, open jobs, and schedules of values.
- 2
Map cost codes
Fintra’s AI suggests job and cost-code mappings for historical transactions.
- 3
Run one close
Produce a WIP schedule and job margin report in your first month-end close.
Continuous controls for construction.
Fintra tests each control against your entire transaction population - not a quarterly sample. When an item fails, it opens an Exception with a tamper-evident receipt mapped to the exact SOX-404 control objective, reviewable in an auditor portal.
Tested continuously via the real certified-payroll framework (prevailing-wage / WH-347 reporting).
Tested continuously via the dual-approval test handler on every change order over threshold.
Tested continuously via the AP three-way-match handler across the pay application, schedule of values, and cost.
Attestation - a reviewer signs off retention release and lien-waiver status; no automated handler by design.
Honest scope: only controls marked Live map to a control test that runs today against the real transaction population. Roadmap and Attestation controls are shown for scope - where a population is not wired, Fintra says so rather than reporting a pass. It complements your GRC and external audit; it does not replace them.
See continuous assuranceFrequently asked questions
Does Fintra handle retainage?
Yes. Retainage withheld on progress billings is tracked in a dedicated retainage receivable account, separate from standard AR. You set the retainage rate per contract, and Fintra computes the withheld amount on each pay application so cash forecasts and AR aging reflect what is actually collectible today.
Can Fintra do AIA-style progress billing?
Fintra supports progress billing against a schedule of values: you bill percent complete per line, and the system carries previous billings, current billings, and retainage forward each period. Billings reconcile to earned revenue in the close, so over- and underbilling surface on your WIP schedule instead of hiding until year-end.
Does Fintra support certified payroll for prevailing-wage jobs?
Fintra’s payroll module runs on a verified tax engine and supports multi-rate crews, so hours coded to prevailing-wage jobs carry the right rates and the reporting behind certified payroll comes from actual payroll runs - not retyped timesheets. That removes the most error-prone step in public-works compliance.
How does job costing work in Fintra?
Every transaction - payroll hours, sub invoices, material purchases, field expenses - is coded to a job and cost code at entry, with AI suggesting the coding from vendor and memo patterns. Job margin reports and estimate-vs-actual views update continuously, so you see a cost code burning hot mid-job, not after closeout.
Stay in the loop
One practical finance briefing a week - new guides, checklists, and benchmarks.
Run job-level books without the spreadsheet wall
Talk to us - we will map it to your stack. Bring your open jobs and see a real WIP schedule in your first close.
Talk to us