CONTROLQORE WIP REPORTING
FOR SUBCONTRACTORS.
A WIP schedule shows whether each job is overbilled or underbilled relative to actual cost incurred, using percentage-of-completion accounting. ControlQore calculates this automatically from live job cost data instead of a manually rebuilt spreadsheet, so the WIP schedule reflects reality every month instead of a snapshot that's already stale by the time it's reviewed.
Most subcontractors either don't run a WIP schedule at all, or rebuild one manually in a spreadsheet every month, pulling numbers from three different systems and hoping they reconcile. Both approaches produce a WIP schedule that's already out of date by the time anyone reads it. ControlQore ties the WIP calculation directly to live job cost and billing data, so overbilling and underbilling positions update automatically as costs and billings happen, not once a month after the fact.
WHAT IT ACTUALLY SHOWS.
A WIP schedule compares billing to date against the percentage of the job actually complete, based on cost incurred versus total estimated cost. When billing exceeds that percentage, the job is overbilled, cash collected ahead of work performed. When billing lags behind it, the job is underbilled, work performed ahead of cash collected.
Bonding companies and banks read the WIP schedule specifically to judge whether a contractor's revenue recognition is healthy or aggressive. A portfolio with heavy overbilling can signal cash flow that's borrowed from future billing, not actual profit.
THE SPREADSHEET PROBLEM.
A manually maintained WIP schedule requires someone to pull cost-to-date from the accounting system, pull billing-to-date from invoicing records, and pull the total estimated cost from the original bid or a revised cost-to-complete, then reconcile all three by hand every month.
Any delay in that process means the WIP schedule reflects last month's position, not this month's. On a fast-moving job, that lag can hide an underbilling or overbilling swing until it's already a real cash problem.
THE CALCULATION, LIVE.
ControlQore ties WIP calculation directly to the same cost code data used for job costing, so cost-to-date, billing-to-date, and percentage complete all pull from one live source instead of three reconciled by hand.
Cost-to-complete estimates get updated as job conditions change, and the WIP position recalculates automatically, so the schedule SPM reviews each month reflects the job's actual current state, not a stale snapshot from four weeks earlier.
WHAT MATTERS MOST.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG.
Common belief: "We don't need a WIP schedule, we just track job profitability at closeout."
What's actually true: Closeout-only tracking misses the entire point of WIP reporting, which is to catch overbilling or underbilling while the job is still active and there's time to respond.
Common belief: "Our WIP schedule is basically accurate, we update it every quarter."
What's actually true: Quarterly updates on a WIP schedule miss the monthly swings that matter most, especially on fast-moving jobs where billing and cost can shift meaningfully in a matter of weeks.
Common belief: "Overbilling is fine, it just means we have more cash."
What's actually true: Overbilling means cash was collected ahead of work performed, which is fine short-term but becomes a problem if the job's actual cost-to-complete comes in higher than estimated, since that cash has already been spent or reported as revenue.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
