How do you account for Construction Retentions?

Retention does not refer to a company’s ability to keep customers or employees long-term. Retention also does not equate to cost effectiveness – hiring an expensive accountant will not necessarily result in more significant savings for a business. Sometimes, this security may act as a token of good faith between two parties.

• Retention receivable is recorded by general contractors and subcontractors and is the number of funds due from a contractor’s customer for retention.
• The head project worker and subcontractors cure the imperfections and, when they have done as such, the works are examined again and, whenever made great, the equilibrium of retention is paid.
• The retainage amount should not be so large that the contractor is forced to finance a project.
• Additionally, it is essential to monitor when the Retention is released and to ensure that this information is regularly updated.
• Though federal and state projects have a lower retention rate, private jobs usually have a retention rate of around 7.5%.
• Another key change is it will no longer be possible to use the retention fund as working capital.

However, the laws surrounding liens require contractors to act quickly. This means you might be required to file a lien for missed payments before retention payments are even due. Since liens usually include all payments owed for a project, they can include retention payments. Construction companies need the ability to leverage lien rights to avoid missed payments. However, lien payments occasionally affect construction retention payments.

Calculating Retainage

This is a very unique practice specific to the construction industry, but within the industry, it’s extremely popular. Most construction contracts mandate that a certain percentage of the contract price (frequently 5% or 10%) iswithheld from the contractor until the entire project is substantially construction bookkeeping completed. This creates cash flow challenges in an already cash-poor industry, the practice is too frequently abused, and of course, it’s subject to complicated regulations that make it tricky to execute. Many in the construction industry consider retainage an unavoidable evil of doing business.

• Ben has been a part of the team driving Flashtract’s membership in the ABC Tech Alliance, as well as being a member of the CFMA Microlearning Task Force.
• When a project takes several months, or even years, to complete, retainage payments should be in the mail immediately upon project completion.
• However, lien payments occasionally affect construction retention payments.
• In practice, when a contractor earns revenue under an accrual method like CCM or PCM, they have the right to issue an invoice and record the amount as an account receivable (A/R) until it’s collected.
• By putting the withholdings from progress payments into an escrow account, a contractor could earn interest on it and use that interest earned to pay down-the-chain expenses and retainage.

Therefore, they must be kept separate from the uncollectible,” Peterson says. Because a statute of limitations could theoretically last forever, construction firms should work with advisors to decide a retention policy for project documentation. Taxes are a mandatory contribution levied on corporations or individuals to finance government activities and public services. Days payable outstanding is a ratio used to figure out how long it takes a company, on average, to pay its bills and invoices. Assume ABC Construction signs an agreement to build an office building for $1.6 million over a two-year period and that ABC’s profit is $600,000.

Alternatives to retainage

That the Aldous Bill has significant support demonstrates that the industry is ready for change when it comes to retentions. However, further research and money will need to be spent on ascertaining how the proposed retention deposit schemes will operate in practice, in terms of both holding monies and resolving disputes regarding retention. There is also the issue of training those using the schemes to ensure retentions are managed properly. Neither is there anything within the standard forms of contract that specifies where, or how, retention is to be held or treated by the parties. Those forms only concern the amount of retention and the timing of its release.

During the progress billings process, a value is assigned to each phase as part of the schedule. Also, the completion percentage can be established for each phase as progress is made on the overall project. That leaves contractors and construction accountants with a choice of revenue recognition method. The method they choose will determine when income and expenses “count.” In some cases, they might use one method for their own bookkeeping and one for tax reporting, as long as they remain consistent over time. In construction accounting, the main options have traditionally included cash-basis, completed contract and percentage of completion.