Overview
GL-Based Costing calculates job and project costs using the same General Ledger (GL) accounts that drive your financial statements.
If your organization uses an external accounting platform (such as Vista, Spectrum, or a similar system) as your primary financial system, this article explains what GL-Based Costing provides, what to verify in your configuration, and what changes to expect. GL-Based Costing operates within ServiceTitan and does not replace or interfere with your external accounting platform.
Who uses this feature
Administrators, accountants, bookkeepers, and managers
Primarily benefits Commercial Service and Replacement business types, and Commercial Construction business types
Applies to all trades
Feature configuration
Account configuration is required to use this feature. Contact Technical Support for details.
The View Job Financials and Access Financial Dashboard permissions are required to use this feature. Contact the account administrator on your team.
Things to know
Your external accounting workflow is not affected. GL-Based Costing does not send data to or receive data from your external accounting platform unless you configure an integration.
GL-Based Costing uses journal entries internally within ServiceTitan to calculate and display job costs. You do not need to integrate with ServiceTitan journal entries or change how data flows to your external accounting system.
The Job Financials, Customer Financials, and Accounting Financials Dashboard views are available in the ServiceTitan UI after GL-Based Costing is enabled.
The legacy Job Costing and Project Costing flyouts are replaced by the Job Financials and Project Financials views after GL-Based Costing is enabled.
Non-inventory materials on invoices only produce job costs when they are tied to purchase orders with receipts or bills. Inventory items consumed on jobs continue to produce cost.
How GL-Based Costing differs from legacy costing
With legacy (operational) costing, costs are created based on activity in the system, such as creating a purchase order, receiving materials, or entering a bill. The system calculates job cost from those actions, and the General Ledger is updated afterward. Accounting alignment is secondary.
With GL-Based Costing, costs are created based on how transactions affect the General Ledger. Each job cost ties directly to a journal entry and a GL account. Costs follow accounting rules, respect accounting periods, and can be audited. Accounting is the source of truth.
What you get with GL-Based Costing
GL-Based Costing provides the following capabilities:
Costs organized by GL account: Job profitability is broken down the same way your accountant sees it, by the GL accounts transactions are assigned to.
Period-based reporting: Costs are tied to accounting periods, so job profitability aligns with month-end financial statements.
Stronger audit trail: Every cost ties back to a journal entry.
Job Financials view: A ledger-backed view on the job record that shows Budget vs. Actuals, revenue and expense breakdowns by GL account, and key financial KPIs. This replaces the legacy Job Costing flyout.
Project Financials view: An updated project-level financial view powered by GL account data. This replaces the legacy Project Costing flyout.
Customer and Location Financial Summary: A rollup view of lifetime revenue, expenses, and margin data from the customer or location record.
Accounting Financials Dashboard: A centralized view of Over/Under Billing (WIP), Customer Balances, and Project Financials with configurable columns, filters, and data grouping.
Verify your configuration
After GL-Based Costing is enabled on your account, verify the following areas. Even though your GL of record is managed externally, ServiceTitan needs GL accounts configured to drive the internal costing engine.
Verify permissions
Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.
In the side panel, go to People > Role Permissions.
Click Edit next to the role you want to update.
Verify that the following permissions are enabled for owners, administrators, and accounting roles:
Access Financial Dashboard
View Job Financials
View Balance Fields
View Revenue Field
View Cost Fields
View Journal Entry Landing Page
When finished, click Save.
Verify GL accounts
Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.
In the side panel, go to Accounting > General Ledger Accounts.
Review the default GL accounts that appear after GL-Based Costing is activated. These GL accounts drive the internal costing engine within ServiceTitan.
Tip: Aligning GL account names between ServiceTitan and your external accounting platform is not required, but consistent naming conventions make cross-referencing simpler.
Verify Payroll GL Mapping
Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.
Search for Payroll GL Mapping.
Confirm GL expense accounts are assigned to payroll activities.
Go to Pricebook > Services and assign a Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) GL account to track budgeted labor.
What changes after GL-Based Costing is enabled
Area | Before | After (GL-Based Costing) |
|---|---|---|
Job Costing view | Job Costing flyout on the job record (if visible) | Replaced by the Job Financials view with GL-backed job profitability data within ServiceTitan |
Project Costing view | Project Costing flyout on the project record (if visible) | Replaced by the updated Project Financials view with GL-backed data |
Customer record | Basic balance and revenue fields | Customer Financials summary with lifetime revenue, expenses, and margin data |
Non-inventory materials | Non-inventory items on invoices produce job costs automatically | Only non-inventory items tied to purchase orders with receipts or bills produce job costs |
Impact on external accounting | N/A | None. GL-Based Costing operates within ServiceTitan. It does not send data to or receive data from your external accounting platform unless you configure an integration |