I left my last construction accounting job because of the paperwork. My boss would ask for a subcontractor's payment records and every invoice they'd submitted, and pulling that together meant hours in binders, email, and bank statements. At my new company, the same request takes 10 minutes.
I've been an accountant at a local general contractor for three months.
Why I left the last job
Accuracy is the job, but the situations were genuinely complex: multiple contracts, change orders, contract invoices, regular invoices, reimbursements, vouchers, payments to suppliers. To confirm the records were right, I had to search through binders, emails that weren't all in my inbox, and bank statements. Getting a straightforward answer took most of a day.
The pressure got to be too much, so I found my current job.
What changed
My current company runs all its accounting through APARBooks. What used to take me eight hours now takes 10 minutes. I record every invoice transaction as it happens, and when my boss asks for numbers, they're already there on the subcontractor ledger.
It's the first time I've felt stress-free doing this job. I think it's also why the company runs on high revenue with only a few people on paperwork, and why everyone seems fine rather than stressed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is pulling a subcontractor's payment history so time-consuming?
When contracts, change orders, invoice types, reimbursements, and supplier payments are spread across binders, email, and bank statements, reconstructing one subcontractor's full record means cross-checking all of those sources. It took this accountant most of a workday.
How does APARBooks cut that time down?
Every invoice transaction is recorded in one system as it happens, so a subcontractor's payment history and submitted invoices are already assembled. A request that took eight hours takes about 10 minutes.
Built for Contractors. Built for Construction Accounting.
APARBooks is purpose-built construction accounting software for general contractors and bookkeepers. Manage job costing, AIA progress billing, subcontractor payments, retainage, change orders, lien compliance, and WIP reporting in one place.
