Sage records invoices by nominal code, so you only see what a job cost after the money has gone. Planyard tracks budget, committed cost and cost to complete for every job and cost code, and posts approved costs to Sage.
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Sage has no budget per job, and you cannot assign a purchase order to a project. A cost appears when the invoice is entered, often weeks after it was committed.
Sage’s Job Costing add-on for Sage 50 lost support in October 2021, and most contractors went back to tracking costs roughly in spreadsheets.
Sage tracks nominal codes, not packages
Cost shows up with the invoice
They show what has already gone
Updated roughly, when someone has time
"Because it’s such a well-designed system to look at and review, you find yourself using it much more often. It isn’t difficult to understand exactly how a project is performing, which makes staying on top of the details a lot more intuitive."
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Your QS thinks in packages and cost codes, and accounts think in nominal codes. Import the estimate or an Excel budget with your own headings, and map each line to a Sage nominal code once.
See construction budgeting for Sage users for how the budget is set up.
BudgetingHeadings and cost codes come across as they are
Trades for the QS, nominal codes for accounts
The revised budget is kept separately
Templates for repeat work
"Planyard is much more open in terms of how you can structure a budget and a client contract. That flexibility is probably one of the best things about it."
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Spending most of the plumbing budget by week four should be obvious in week four. Purchase orders and subcontracts count against the budget the day they are raised, so an over-ordered package shows up straight away.
Purchase ordersNot from the day the bill is entered
Before the next order goes out
Flagged at the order, before the invoice
Agreed changes move the budget
"When we used to do our month-end CVRs it could usually take 3-4 days to put them together. It now takes me 10-15 minutes to just quickly go through the jobs and check that I haven’t missed anything."
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| The question you are asking | Sage Accounting alone | With Planyard |
|---|---|---|
| What is this job’s budget, line by line? | No budget per job |
Imported from the estimate |
| Which purchase orders belong to this job? | Orders are not linked to jobs |
Every order has a job and a budget line |
| Is this package over budget yet? | Only after the invoices are entered |
As soon as the order is raised |
| What will this job make? | Worked out by hand |
Expected margin, live with every approval |
| Who files VAT and CIS? | Sage |
Still Sage, from bills that arrive coded |
Most jobs make money, and one bad one can wipe out the profit on the rest. Every job shows its expected margin next to the margin you priced, and which cost code is moving it.
Approved costs post to Sage pre-coded, so both systems work from the same invoices.
CVR reportingThe gap shows as soon as cost is committed
Drill to the order or invoice
Board reporting without a spreadsheet
Approved once, posted once
"I found it quite tricky to maintain accurate project records in our accounting software because it was constantly lagging behind the actual reality of the project's finances."
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Import a budget, raise a purchase order and approve an invoice on the free trial. Your accountant sees the bill arrive in Sage.
We've got your questions covered. If you can't find the answer below, then feel free to contact us via the chat.
No. Sage Accounting covers invoicing, bank feeds, VAT and CIS, but it has no budget per project or cost code, and purchase orders are not linked to a job.
Sage Job Costing was an add-on for Sage 50 Accounts, and Sage withdrew support for it on 1 October 2021. Planyard covers the same ground, budget against cost per job, and adds committed cost and forecasts.
Yes. Every order is raised against a job and a budget line, so it counts against that budget the day it is raised.
Yes. Every cost code shows budget, committed, invoiced and remaining, so a section that is over shows up even when the job looks fine in total.
It matches for every cost that is approved through Planyard. Costs entered straight into Sage do not reach the job, so send every supplier invoice through Planyard first.
Yes, with a basic handoff. Sage 50 Cloud still runs on your own server or desktop, so approved invoices are emailed to your accounts inbox or exported as CSV for entry.
If you want invoices to post on their own, Sage Accounting is the version with the full integration.
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