What to do with this checklist
Use this guide to evaluate where your current system is creating gaps, and to understand what a purpose-built construction finance platform looks like. Start with the self-assessment below to score your current system, then use the comparison table as a reference when speaking to vendors.
A financial management platform is a 5-10 year decision. The cost of choosing the wrong one is not just the implementation fee - it is the compounding cost of the wrong reports, the manual workarounds, and the system you will have to replace in 3 years when you have outgrown it again.
Is your current system ready for where you are going?
Before evaluating platforms, the more useful question is whether your current system has the capability to support your business at its next level of complexity. Answer each prompt based on how your system handles it today. Your score updates as you go.
Can you see which projects are making money - right now, without a spreadsheet?
If getting a project P&L requires an export and manual work, your system is telling you something. Real-time project profitability is the baseline requirement for a construction finance platform.
Do you have a live WIP position for every active project?
Committed costs, variations, and WIP schedules prepared manually each month are a sign your system was not built for the volume and complexity of your project load.
Do you know your total retention held and retention owed across all projects at any given moment?
If this lives in a spreadsheet or requires a manual report, the risk of missed claims and unrecorded liabilities is real. This is one of the most common financial control gaps in construction businesses.
Is your month-end close taking longer than it should?
A well-configured construction finance platform should close in 2-3 days. If yours takes longer, the system is the bottleneck - not the team.
If you have more than one entity, how do you produce a consolidated view?
Exporting and merging data across entities in spreadsheets is not a scalable model. As the business grows, this process compounds - and the risk of error compounds with it.
How long does it take to prepare a board pack or a bank reporting pack?
If the answer is more than a day, your reporting infrastructure is not keeping pace with your governance and funding obligations. This becomes more visible - and more costly - as you scale.
Is the system you are running today the right one for the business you will be in three years?
Most construction businesses that contact LimeLedger already know the answer. The question is usually not whether to move - it is when, and whether the timing is right.
If your score is Amber or Red, your business has likely outgrown its current setup. The right next step is a conversation - not a software demo. LimeLedger will give you an honest assessment of where your gaps are and what the right path forward looks like for your specific business.
How the major platforms compare on construction requirements
Score your current or prospective platform against these requirements. Every item marked below is a genuine construction accounting need - not a feature wish list.
| Requirement | Sage Intacct | Xero | MYOB Advanced | Cheops / Jobpac |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project accounting | ||||
| Job-level cost tracking (committed, actual, forecast) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
| WIP (Work in Progress) accounting - native | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ |
| Progress claim / billing schedule management | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ |
| Retention tracking (receivable and payable) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ |
| Subcontractor cost management | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
| Purchase order and committed cost tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✓ |
| Multi-entity and structure | ||||
| Multi-entity in a single subscription | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ~ |
| Intercompany transactions - automated elimination | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Consolidated financial reporting across entities | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Australian compliance | ||||
| TPAR reporting - automated from subcontractor payments | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| BAS preparation from GL - no manual extraction | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| STP Phase 2 payroll integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Security of Payment Act billing workflow support | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ~ |
| Reporting and visibility | ||||
| Real-time project profitability dashboards | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ~ |
| Board-level financial reporting without Excel | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Drill-down from board report to transaction level | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Technology and integrations | ||||
| Cloud-native (not cloud-hosted legacy software) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Procore integration - native or published connector | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
| Open API for custom integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ |
| Automatic quarterly platform updates - no upgrade cost | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
✓ = native capability ~ = available with significant configuration or add-ons ✗ = not supported
Before you commit to a platform, sit with these
These are the questions worth asking yourself before you make a decision you will live with for the next 5-10 years.
Are you delaying the move to avoid short-term disruption?
The cost of staying on a system that cannot handle your complexity compounds quietly - in manual workarounds, in reporting gaps, in staff time. The disruption of moving now is almost always smaller than the disruption of moving in two years under pressure.
Is finance leading this evaluation, or has it been handed to someone else?
Platform demos are sales presentations. Without a CFO or financial controller asking how the platform handles your actual accounting entries - WIP, retentions, progress claims - you are evaluating features, not fit.
Are you comparing platforms on implementation cost?
A lower implementation fee almost always means something is excluded - typically data migration or integrations handed back to your team. The total cost of ownership, including your team's time, is the correct comparison.
Do you know what this platform looks like to run in 3 years, not just today?
On-premise and legacy-hosted systems require upgrade projects every few years. Cloud-native platforms update automatically. That difference compounds significantly over a 5-10 year horizon - and it is rarely factored into the initial comparison.
Bring this checklist to a 30-minute conversation with us.
We will walk through your specific requirements, tell you how each platform would handle them, and give you an honest recommendation - even if that recommendation is not Sage Intacct.
Questions? Email info@limeledger.com or call +61 423 613 612