Security guard companies
Accounting software for security guard companies: hours by site, overtime and workers' comp
A guard company sells hours. The margin is the gap between the bill rate and the loaded cost of the guard, and overtime can wipe it out. AcboBooks logs hours by guard and by client site, bills them, and runs payroll with overtime and workers' comp on the same hours.
For contract security, patrol and event security firms in the US and Canada, $399.99 once.
No card, no account. Windows 10 and 11. United States and Canada.
What it means
In practice
Hours by guard and site
Each client is a customer and each post or site is a job. Hours are logged by employee against the site, billable or not, and pulled onto the client's invoice.
Overtime you can see coming
Payroll handles regular and overtime hours at their own rates, with vacation and sick time accruing per period. The P&L by site shows when overtime is eating a contract.
Workers' comp per guard
Each employee carries a workers' comp class code and rate per $100 of wages. The premium accrues with every payroll so the audit is not a surprise.
Overtime, vacation and workers' comp on each run.
Bill every hour you staff
Guards' hours go into time tracking against each site. At the end of the period, invoice each client from the unbilled hours, and run payroll from the same week.
Set the monthly contracts that bill a flat fee as memorised invoices that enter themselves each month.
What is in the licence
The whole job, in one price
Accounts to set up
Billing
Payroll
Profit
Site hours billed to the client.
What it does not do
· No guard scheduling, post orders, GPS tours or incident reports.
· Payroll hours are entered on the paycheque; they are not pulled from time tracking automatically.
· Windows 10 and 11 for now (a Mac version is coming soon); no phone app.
· It imports your bank's statement file rather than connecting live to the bank.
Questions people ask
Before you download
Do I charge sales tax on security services?
In some states, yes: Texas and New York, for example, tax guard and patrol services. In Canada, GST/HST applies to security services. Set your service items to match where you operate.
Can I see profit for each client site?
Yes. Make each site a job under the client. Invoices and costs carry the job, and the Job Profitability report shows each one.
Can wages be split by site?
Paycheques are not tagged to a job in this version. Track billable hours by site in time tracking, and use classes for divisions on the expense side.
Does it handle overtime?
Yes. Enter overtime hours and rate on the paycheque, and taxes are calculated on the full gross.
Coming from something else?
How it compares to what you use now
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Guides, tools and templates for this
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Every staffed hour billed, every guard paid right.
Log a week of site hours in the trial and invoice them.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.