Understand GL-Based Costing for journal entry integration

Overview

GL-Based Costing calculates job and project costs using the same General Ledger (GL) accounts that drive your financial statements.

If your business already exports journal entries to your accounting platform, this article explains what GL-Based Costing provides, what to verify in your configuration, and what changes to expect. Because you already use the journal entry integration, many of the foundational components are in place.

Things to know

• Your journal entry export workflow does not change. GL-Based Costing enhances how job costs are calculated and displayed by using the same journal entries you already export.

• You do not need to change your accounting integration method.

• 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.

• Costs are tied to accounting periods. Job profitability aligns with your month-end financial statements.

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

Because you already use the journal entry integration, most of your GL accounts and settings should be in place. After GL-Based Costing is enabled on your account, verify the following areas.

Verify permissions

1. Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.

2. In the side panel, go to People > Role Permissions.

3. Click Edit next to the role you want to update.

4. 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

5. (Optional) Enable the following permissions for accounting workflows:        

   • Accounting Period Management

   • Journal Entry Action - Exclude From Syncing

   • Journal Entry Action - Include In Syncing

6. When finished, click Save.

Verify GL accounts

1. Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.

2. In the side panel, go to Accounting > General Ledger Accounts.

3. Since you already use the journal entry integration, most accounts should be mapped. Confirm they match your accounting platform.

Verify Payroll GL Mapping

1. Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.

2. Search for Payroll GL Mapping.

3. Confirm GL expense accounts are assigned to payroll activities.

4. Go to Pricebook > Services and confirm a Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) GL account is assigned to track budgeted labor.

Verify accounting periods

1. Go to the navigation bar and click Accounting.

2. In the side menu, click Accounting Periods.

3. Confirm your accounting periods are current and align with your month-end schedule. If they need to be regenerated, click Regenerate.

Verify JE and auto-batching settings

1. Go to the top toolbar and click Settings.

2. In the side panel, go to Accounting > Journal Entries and Auto-Batching.

3. Review your existing settings. No changes are required unless you want to adjust sync frequency or export type.

What changes after GL-Based Costing is enabled

Want to learn more?

• See Understand Budget vs Actuals

• See Run job costing reports

• See Costing Settings

• See Understand Project Financials