Subcontractor Costs

Use Subcontractor Cost transactions to enter subcontractor expenses. You can enter the hours they work, or the invoices that they give you.

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Accounting Software | Accounts Payable Software | Expense Tracking Software | Job Costing Software

Creating Subcontractor Costs

To enter Subcontractor Costs, follow these steps:

Choose Subcontractor Costs from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or choose New Record from the Edit menu.
Enter details for the cost.

QUICK SETUP HINT-- You only need to enter Subcontractor, Brief Description, Gross Price, Payment Method and Details. For job costs, fill in the Job and Category fields.

Data Fields

Enter the following info for each Subcontractor Cost record:

Subcontractor-- Enter the subcontractor whose work is entered in this record.
Brief Description-- Enter a brief description of the work that was done. This text will appear in menus.
Time Used-- Enter the number of hours or other time units that this subcontractor worked on this item. If the subcontractor has given a fixed price bill, choose Dollar Billing as a time unit.
Charge Rate-- If you entered time units, choose the charge rate that you'll pay to the subcontractor for this work. Goldenseal enters the subcontractor's usual charge rate here.
Gross Price-- If you are using Dollar Billing, enter the amount of the bill. Goldenseal fills in this number if you use time charges.
Sales Tax-- Enter the sales tax rate that will be charged for this work.
Net Price-- The total cost with sales tax is computed automatically.
Invoice Number-- Enter the subcontractor's billing number, if available.

Date-- Today's date is entered automatically. Change it if the work was done some other day.
Record Number-- A record number is entered automatically.
Job Class-- Choose the type of job where this work was done.
Job-- Choose the job where work was done.
Apply To-- If the purchase is an ordinary expense, leave this field as none. Otherwise choose the special conditions that apply.
Transaction-- If you are applying this purchase to an Allowance, Change Order or Purchase Order, enter it here.
Payment Method-- Choose the payment method used for this purchase.
Payment Details-- Enter the payment terms or the account used to pay for this transaction.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this work.

More Info

Click the More Info button to enter more details for this cost.

Job Cost & Billing Amounts
T&M Billing Rate-- Choose the billing rate to use for time and materials billing. Goldenseal fills in the usual billing rate.
T&M Amount-- The total amount that will be billed for time and materials work is calculated automatically.
HINT-- If the project is not time-and-materials, the T&M number will not be used.
Job Cost Rate-- Choose the billing rate to use for job costing. Goldenseal fills in the usual job cost rate.
Job Cost Amount-- The total labor cost that will be charge to job costing is calculated automatically.

Job Cost Details
Category-- Enter a cost category, under which this work will be costed.
Subcategory-- Enter a cost subcategory, under which this work will be costed.
Location-- Use the clairvoyant field to enter a location at which the work is being done.

Billing Details
Vendor Withholding-- If you deduct taxes from this sub or get a GST credit, Goldenseal fills in the amount.
Billing Date-- Goldenseal shows the billing date for items that were not prepaid.
Retainage-- If you deduct retainage from this subcontractor, Goldenseal fills in the amount deducted.

Apply To

Some subcontractor costs have special conditions-- they apply to another transaction, or receive special treatment in expense accounting. To enter a special condition, choose an item in the Applies To field.

Some subcontractor costs apply to a linked transaction which you will enter into the Transaction field:

Allowance-- project work that applies to an allowance. Goldenseal will include this item when you do Allowance billing.
Bid-- work that applies to a prior bid from this vendor. Goldenseal warns you if the total amount of purchases exceeds the bid amount.
Change Order-- project work that applies to a change order. Goldenseal will include this item when you do Change Order billing.
Purchase Order-- this work will be applied to a prior work order for this vendor. When you complete the transaction, Goldenseal will warn you if the total amount of work exceeds the work order amount, or if work orders are required and none has been entered.

You can also use the Applies To field to identify other special conditions:

Capital Improvement-- work that adds to the asset basis value of an investment, equipment or real estate account, rather than being handled as an expense.
Credit-- a transaction that reduces the amount owed to the subcontractor. The gross amount of a credit is a negative amount.
Finance Charge-- a payment for interest on overdue items.
Return-- a transaction that reduces the amount owed to the subcontractor, and reduces the inventory quantity of any items that it includes. The gross amount of a return is a negative number.
Prepaid Expense-- work that will be used over a future time period. In some financial reports, the pre-paid amount is considered as an asset.
Special Order-- work that has not yet been received, or that gets some other special handling.

Status Field

All subcontractor bills start with Completed as a status.
When payment has been made for this item, the affected invoice will be marked as Part Paid or Paid.
If you are pre-entering an estimated future purchase, change the status to Planned.
If you are disputing the legitimacy of a subcontractor bill, mark its status as Disputed (see page ).
If an order is still waiting or not completely delivered, mark its status as Incomplete.
If you are entering past purchases that will be used only to calculate job costs, change the status to Job Cost Only.
If you are entering a price quote that does not include an actual purchase, change the status to Pricing Only.
To cancel a purchase, change its status to Void.

Payment Methods

Enter one of the following into the Payment Method field:

Cash-- If you paid cash for an instant purchase. Enter the Cash account you used into the Details field.
Check-- If you wrote a check for an instant purchase. Enter the Checking account into the Details field. When you close the record, Goldenseal will ask you which checkbook to use.
Checking Debit-- Enter the Checking account into the Details field.
Credit Card-- If you made an instant purchase by credit card. Enter the Credit Card account that you used into the Details field.
Barter-- For purchases paid for by an exchange of items. In the Details field, enter the barter transfer that serves as payment.
Employee Reimburse-- For purchases made by an employee. In the Details field, enter the employee who made the purchase. When you close the purchase, Goldenseal will automatically create a reimbursement transaction.
Escrow Check-- Enter the Escrow account into the Details field. When you close the transaction, Goldenseal creates an instant purchase and will ask you which checkbook to use for the purchase.
Escrow Debit-- Enter the Escrow account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase
Gift-- For items given to you free. There will be no payment transaction or billing for the item.
Investment Debit-- Enter the Investment account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase
Loan Debit-- Enter the Loan account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase
Savings Debit-- Enter the Savings account into the Details field. Goldenseal creates an instant purchase
Vendor Invoice-- Choose Vendor Invoice as a payment method if you'll be billed later for this item. Goldenseal automatically enters the vendor's usual payment terms into the Details field. If this purchase uses other payment terms, change the contents of the Details field. You'll pay for the item later with the Pay Bills command.

For more about purchase payments, click here.

Category Breakdowns

Enter Category into the Breakdown field to itemize work by cost category. The Category breakdown shows you a breakdown table where you can type exactly what work was done.

For more about category breakdowns, click here.

Item Breakdowns

Enter Item into the Breakdown field to include specific Cost Items or Assemblies in a subcontractor cost. The Item breakdown shows you a breakdown table where you can type exactly what work was done.

For more about item breakdowns, click here.

Using Subcontractor Costs

If you didn't pay for subcontractor work with an instant purchase, use the Pay Bills command to pay it when it is due.

Goldenseal automatically includes Subcontractor Costs in Job Costs reports and Time and Materials billing.

Use the Find command to locate a specific record.