Ledgers vs Logs

PROBLEM

choosing between logs and ledgers for job costing in MacNail construction accounting software
In macnail, you make the choice for each basic cost type (labor, material, subcontractors subs, other or misc)

Diagnosis

When to use ledger: if you generally pay quickly, and most payments are for just one job or category (can use split payout if necessary to divide payments between two jobs or categories, but if it happens a lot, using a log will be faster).

when to use log: if bills often sit around unpaid for a while, or if many payments are divided between different jobs and/or categories. Also might want to use if doing accrual accounting

Solution

Most people do the following:
From Logs: LABOR, MATERIALS
From Ledger: SUBCONTRACTORS, MISC

Comments

Entered 4/10/96 by Vinay.