Job costing software
Job costing software for small business: know what each job made
Set up each job as a customer or a sub-customer, tag the bills, checks and card charges that belong to it, and the Job Profitability report shows income, cost and profit for every job. It suits contractors, agencies, event companies and anyone who builds or sells to order.
It is part of AcboBooks, the desktop accounting program bought once for $399.99. Our guide to job costing for contractors and the page on accounting software for contractors go further for the trades.
No card, no account. Windows 10 and 11. United States and Canada.
What it means
In practice
Costs land on the right job
Every bill, check and credit card charge has a Customer:Job box. Pick the job and the cost counts against it. Invoices and sales receipts count as that job's income by themselves.
Profit per job, any period
Job Profitability lists each customer and job with its income, cost and net profit for the dates you choose, with a total line. Export it to Excel or CSV for a closer look.
Bill the job as it goes
Turn an estimate into invoices in stages with progress invoicing, by percent or by line. Hold back retainage and release it when the work is accepted. Mark costs billable and pull them onto the next invoice.
Invoices count as income for the job they are made out to.
Find the job that lost money before you quote the next one
A wedding, a kitchen remodel or a website build: each is a job with its own bills, its own hours and its own invoices. At the end of the month the report shows which ones paid well and which ones ate the margin.
Log hours by employee and job in Time Tracking, then turn unbilled time into an invoice. Classes add a second view, such as by crew, office or department, with a P&L by Class report.
What is in the licence
The whole job, in one price
Jobs
Costs
Billing
Reports
Reports by job and by class, from the same books.
What it does not do
· No estimates-versus-actuals report yet: compare the estimate with the Job Profitability figures yourself.
· Paychecks are not split across jobs; time is tracked by job for hours and billing, not as a labour cost on the report.
· Purchase orders are not tagged to a job; the bill or check they become is.
· Job Profitability is a summary by job; open the bills and invoices from their lists for the detail.
· Windows 10 and 11 for now (a Mac version is coming soon); no phone app.
· One company per file; open as many files as you have businesses.
Questions people ask
Before you download
How do I set up a job?
Add the client as a customer, then add each job as a sub-customer under them. It shows as "Client:Job" in every Customer:Job box. A one-job client can simply be the customer.
Which costs count toward a job?
Any bill, check or credit card charge where you pick the Customer:Job. Invoices and sales receipts count as income for the customer they are made out to. Untagged costs stay in your books but not on the job report.
Can I compare the estimate with what the job actually cost?
Not in one report yet. Run Job Profitability for the job and set it beside the estimate. Progress invoicing shows how much of the estimate you have billed so far.
Does it handle construction retainage?
Yes. Hold a share of a job's receivable as retainage and release it to bill when the work is accepted. Retainage is tracked as a separate balance per job. See our guide to job costing for contractors for a worked example.
Is it the same as job costing in QuickBooks Desktop?
It follows the same model: customers and jobs, a Customer:Job on costs, billable expenses and a job profitability report. QuickBooks Desktop also has job estimates-versus-actuals reports, which AcboBooks does not have yet.
Coming from something else?
How it compares to what you use now
Get started
See what every job really made.
Add a job, tag a bill and an invoice in the trial, then run Job Profitability.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.