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Industries/Construction

Audit file prep for construction contractors.

Contractor audits turn on the work-in-process schedule. CORAA builds the standard pack from the client’s QuickBooks books, and your reviewer takes the contract-level judgments.

What every file gets

The pack is the same on every file, in every industry. It is built from the client’s QuickBooks books and the documents your firm sends.

Lead schedules
Every trial balance account classified to a US GAAP line, in Excel and PDF, with prior-year final, per-books, adjustment and final columns.
Tie-out of the draft
The client’s draft statements re-added and every line agreed to the trial balance. Differences are findings about the draft, never silent changes to the books.
Fixed-rule ledger checks
Revenue cutoff, duplicate payments, journal entry testing, split purchases, opening balances, flux analysis, bank reconciliation and more. Each finding names its rule.
Proposed entries
A finding cites the evidence line and the standard, and proposes an adjusting entry. Nothing is posted to the books.
Review trail
A reviewer decides each finding and records a reason. Initials and dates travel with the working papers.
Inputs received and missing
The file shows what arrived and what did not, tied to the findings that need it.

Where the judgment sits on a contractor file

These areas decide the file. Industry-specific schedules are not part of the standard pack. Whether CORAA drafts any of them for a given file is agreed on the intake call before anything is uploaded, and what is not agreed stays with your team.

Areas your team will spend its time on

  • WIP schedule tie-out
  • Over and under billings
  • Estimate changes and flags

Typical PBC items from the client

PBC items from the client

  • Year-end WIP schedule with estimates by contract
  • Contract and change order files for the largest jobs
  • Job cost reports from the ledger
  • Bonding and surety correspondence and the latest bank covenants
  • Subcontractor list, retainage balances and lien waivers on file
  • Backlog report and prior-year WIP schedule

Where contractor files go wrong

Stale estimates
A WIP schedule that was not updated at year end overstates or understates earned revenue.
Cost coded to the wrong job
Costs posted to a profitable job from a loss job move gross profit between periods.
Unrecorded losses
A job projected to lose money needs the full loss recognized.

What stays with your firm on contractor files

Fulfilled by CORAA means CORAA AI drafts the file and CORAA Network reviewers clear every flag, with a line-by-line review log. Your manager and partner then review it as they would any staff-prepared file. Your firm keeps the client, the engagement letter, the professional judgment and the signature.

CORAA never signs, issues or reports on anything, and never contacts your client unless you ask us to. Your first audit is free, so you can judge the pack on a real file. After that the fee is flat, set by entity size, and messy books are included.

Free resources for this work

Guides, templates and calculators on this site that cover the same ground. All free to use.

GuideConstruction Contractor Audits: Percentage of Completion, WIP Schedules and SuretyGuideTesting the Construction WIP Schedule: Over and Under Billings, Step by StepGuideAuditing the Estimate to Complete and Loss Contracts in ConstructionGuideSurety Bonding and CPA Reports: What a Contractor's Financial Statements Must DeliverTemplateAudit Program: Construction ContractorTemplateConstruction WIP Schedule (Over / Under Billings)ToolPercentage of Completion Calculator (Cost-to-Cost, ASC 606)GuidePBC List: How to Build a Prepared-by-Client Request List for an Audit

Questions firms ask

No. The client or your firm supplies the contractor’s WIP schedule. The estimates stay management’s, and the evaluation of them stays with your firm.
Yes, as the working papers. Your firm issues the audit or review report the surety asks for. CORAA never signs or issues a report.
The trial balance and general ledger, the year-end WIP schedule, job cost reports, contract files for the larger jobs and the usual bank and bonding documents. The PBC list on this page is the starting point.
Yes. For reviews, the file centers on trial balance mapping, flux analysis and the draft statements tie-out. See the review engagement file prep page for the steps.
Your first audit is free. After that, a flat fee per audit, set by the size of the entity: revenue, transactions and number of entities. Messy books are included, never a surcharge.

Sources: FASB ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)

More in industries
IndustriesReal estate companiesRent, property cost and debt: the pack, the PBC list and the judgment areas.IndustriesManufacturersInventory costing, reserves and cutoff: the pack, the PBC list and the judgment areas.IndustriesStartups and venture-backed companiesPreferred stock, SAFEs and equity awards: the pack, the PBC list and the judgment areas.
For US CPA firms

Join the CORAA waitlist

CORAA AI drafts audit working papers from your client’s QuickBooks books and does the first pass: lead schedules, tie-out, memos, draft notes and letters. CORAA Network reviewers clear every finding. Your firm reviews and signs.

  • First audit free, so you can judge the quality on a real file
  • Flat fee by entity size; messy books included
  • We work only with CPA firms, never their clients
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