Why Your WIP Report Is Lying to You (and How to Fix It)

Work-in-progress (WIP) reports are supposed to be your north star for financial visibility- telling you how each job is performing, how much revenue you can recognize, and what your projected profitability looks like.

But for many builders, that WIP report isn't telling the whole truth.

If your numbers don’t match what’s actually happening on the jobsite- or worse, you don’t trust them at all, it’s usually not because your team doesn’t care or your bookkeeper missed something. The issue is almost always deeper: bad inputs, inconsistent workflows, and outdated systems.

‍

Let's take a look at how WIP reports get off track, and how to clean them up so they become the powerful financial tool they’re meant to be.

What Is a WIP Report (and Why Does It Matter)?

A WIP report tracks each project’s financial status over time. It tells you:

• How much you’ve billed vs. how much you’ve earned
• How far along the job is (percent complete)
• Whether you’re under or overbilled
• Your projected final cost and margin

In short, it’s how contractors and finance teams connect the dots between field progress and financial reality.

‍

But here’s the problem: your WIP report is only as accurate as the data feeding it.

Why WIP Reports Go Wrong

WIP reports can become misleading when they’re built on delayed, missing, or inaccurate job cost data. Some of the biggest culprits include:

1. Uncoded or Misallocated Expenses

If costs aren’t accurately tied to the right job or cost code, they won’t show up where they should. That throws off percent-complete calculations, projected margins, and final profitability.

2. Missing or Late Receipts

When field teams delay submitting receipts (or skip them entirely) costs fall behind. This creates timing mismatches, underreporting, and confusion when the numbers don’t align with reality.

3. Manual Spreadsheets and Batch Updates

Many teams rely on manual entry or end-of-month updates to build their WIP reports. That means the numbers are always lagging and often outdated by the time leadership sees them.

4. Poor Communication Between Field and Office

If project managers aren’t aligned with accounting, change orders, material overages, and labor costs can slip through the cracks- distorting your actual cost-to-complete.

How to Fix It (and Trust Your WIP Again)

The key to accurate WIP reporting is real-time visibility, which comes from cleaning up your workflows and using the right tools to close the gap between field and finance.

Here’s where to start:

1. Tighten Up Job Costing

Every expense should be:

• Assigned to the correct job
• Categorized to the right cost code
• Tracked in real time (not two weeks later)

Using a system like Adaptive, this process becomes more automated—with AI-powered suggestions, receipt capture prompts, and cost code tagging that happens at the point of spend.

2. Standardize Your Field-to-Office Workflow

Make it easy for field teams to code purchases, submit receipts, and communicate job-related costs. That might mean:

• Using charge cards with receipt prompts
• Training PMs on cost code use
• Assigning a point person in the office to catch inconsistencies early

The goal is consistency. If your process depends on memory or guesswork, your WIP will never be accurate.

3. Move Toward Real-Time Reporting

Your WIP report shouldn’t just reflect the past- it should help you project the future. By tracking actual costs as they happen and comparing them to your budget, you can:

• Spot overruns early
• Adjust your billing and budget proactively
• Forecast profit more accurately across the project lifecycle

Remember: Garbage In = Garbage Out

The WIP report itself isn’t the problem. It’s the data feeding it.

‍

If your team is still entering receipts manually, tracking costs in spreadsheets, or scrambling to reconcile expenses at the end of each month, you’ll never have the visibility you need to make smart financial decisions.

‍

Clean data leads to confident reporting. Confident reporting leads to better business decisions.

What Builders Are Doing Instead

Forward-thinking contractors are investing in platforms like Adaptive to automate cost capture, clean up their books, and build WIP reports they can actually rely on.

‍

With real-time transaction tracking, cost code automation, and field-to-office workflows all in one place, Adaptive helps teams:

• Keep WIP reports accurate
• Close books faster
• Project margins with confidence

If your WIP report isn’t helping you make decisions—it's time to fix the system behind it.

‍