Posting Job Costs

After you start a project, you will start accumulating job costs for it in the Ledgers and Logbooks. You can use the MacNail construction accounting software to 'post' these costs to each of your current jobs.

NOTE-- In 2000, MacNail was replaced by Goldenseal construction job costing software. Goldenseal is an integrated program that includes general accounting, job costing, payroll and project billing, plus estimating and other features. It automatically posts job costs to each project, without need for a separate posting command.

The updating of job costs will take one to five seconds for each transfer, depending on the speed of your computer. If you have a large number of entries to update, run it during lunch, or at some other time when the computer is free for a sufficient amount of time.

To set Job Cost options:
1. Before you begin updating, decide which items will be job costed from Logbooks, and which will be job costed from Ledgers (see page 52). For now, we will use Logbooks for labor and materials, and Ledgers for subcontractors and miscellaneous items.
2. Choose *Job Cost Options from the OPTIONS menu. A dialog box will be displayed --set it as shown below.

To update job costs:
1. Choose *Post to Job Costs from the DATA menu.
2. A dialog box will ask which files to use. Click Main files, then click OK.
3. A dialog box will ask which items to update. Check all of the items, then click OK.
4. All job costs will be posted to a job cost control file, if one is available. The process will take several minutes.