Challenges
The manual work this trade still runs on, what it costs, and what changes.
Running bills are typed up in Excel from the site engineer's measurement sheets
- How it is done today
- Measurements are written in a register at site, copied into a spreadsheet, then retyped into Tally or a Word bill format
- Cost or risk
- Every bill is keyed two or three times; a wrong quantity or rate is found only when the client's engineer rejects the bill, delaying payment by a cycle
- With Finocket
- Raise the Running Account Bill once with L x B x H or area lines and a rate per unit, with the RA bill no., bill period and measurement-book ref. printed on it
The client pays net of TDS and nobody can say which bill it belongs to
- How it is done today
- Bank credits are matched to bills by memory; TDS is chased in Form 26AS at year end
- Cost or risk
- Unclaimed TDS credit and bills that look unpaid when they are settled
- With Finocket
- Record each payment with the TDS the client withheld so the bill closes at gross and the TDS stays visible as a receivable
TDS on sub-contractor payments is worked out by hand
- How it is done today
- The accountant deducts by rule of thumb, deposits late and prepares the quarterly return from a sheet
- Cost or risk
- Interest and late-filing fees, and disallowed expense if TDS was not deducted
- With Finocket
- Deduct TDS when you pay a sub-contractor, record the deposit and keep the return data ready
Nobody knows whether a site made money until the job is over
- How it is done today
- Material, sub-contract and site expenses sit in one ledger; site profit is guessed from the bank balance
- Cost or risk
- Loss-making sites are found months late, after more money has gone in
- With Finocket
- Tag bills, purchases and expenses to a cost centre per site and read the site-wise P&L any day
Material is bought on phone calls with no order or receipt on record
- How it is done today
- Supervisors call suppliers; delivery challans are collected in a bag and matched to supplier bills at month end
- Cost or risk
- Paying for material that never reached site, or paying twice
- With Finocket
- Raise a purchase order, record the goods receipt at site and match the supplier's bill against both
Work order references go missing from bills
- How it is done today
- Site name and work order number are written in by hand or left off
- Cost or risk
- Clients send bills back for the reference, and payment waits
- With Finocket
- Site, work order number and date sit on every bill, and a location on every line
Material leaves for site without the right e-way bill
- How it is done today
- The e-way bill is made on the portal separately, sometimes after the truck has left
- Cost or risk
- Vehicles stopped and penalties on the consignment
- With Finocket
- Generate the e-invoice and e-way bill from the same document that records the movement
Year end means handing a box of bills to the CA
- How it is done today
- The CA rebuilds the books from bank statements, bills and spreadsheets
- Cost or risk
- High CA fees, late returns, and site-wise schedules that are never quite right
- With Finocket
- Invite the CA into the same books with reports, or export to Tally