Percent-Complete Accounting: FloQast vs BlackLine for Engineering Firms

Unlike a fixed monthly subscription, a percentage-of-completion project's revenue this month depends entirely on an estimate: how much of the total scope has actually been delivered. That estimate typically comes from the project engineer, not from accounting, which means the close depends on getting a timely, honest number from someone whose primary job isn't finance. A project engineer who's optimistic about progress, even with good intentions, can push revenue ahead of where the work actually stands, and that gap tends to surface all at once at project close-out rather than gradually.

Here's how small a gap can compound. Say a project is actually 42% complete but the project engineer reports 50% out of optimism about an upcoming milestone, so on a $400,000 contract that's $32,000 of revenue recognized ahead of the work actually delivered. One project like that is a rounding error. A firm carrying a dozen active projects with the same optimistic bias can post a materially overstated month, one that then has to reverse itself at close-out, right when a lender or a partner buyout is looking closely at trailing profitability.

Most engineering firms bring in subconsultants for specialized scope, geotechnical work, environmental review, and similar disciplines, and those costs have to flow through the same percent-complete framework as the firm's own labor. A subconsultant invoice that arrives late, after the percent-complete estimate for the month was already locked, creates a mismatch that has to be caught and corrected, not silently absorbed into next month's numbers.

Clients commonly hold back a portion of each invoice, retainage, until a project milestone or final completion clears. That retainage sits on the balance sheet as a receivable that won't convert to cash for months, sometimes longer than a full project cycle. A close process that doesn't actively track retainage by project tends to lose visibility into how much cash is actually tied up this way until someone runs a special report, usually right when cash flow planning matters most.

A firm running a modest number of concurrent projects, with a project management team that reliably reports percent-complete on schedule, can run well on FloQast. The checklist model enforces the monthly percent-complete review and the subconsultant cost tie-out without requiring a heavy implementation, which matters for a firm whose accounting function is often lean relative to its technical staff.

A firm managing a large, concurrent project portfolio, multiple regional offices, or intercompany work across affiliated entities benefits from BlackLine's stronger matching and consolidation. The payables data backs this up directionally: firms in engineering and construction carry accounts payable for an average of 36 days¹, and a firm running meaningfully longer than that, especially with a growing pile of subconsultant invoices still waiting on review, is usually looking at a reconciliation bottleneck that a stronger matching engine is built to solve.

Ask each project engineer to confirm percent-complete on the same day every month, rather than whenever accounting happens to catch them between site visits. Consistency in timing matters almost as much as accuracy in the estimate itself, since an estimate given three days before close reflects different progress than one given three days after, and comparing month-over-month trends only works cleanly when the measurement date doesn't drift.

A project paused for a permitting delay or a client-side budget freeze creates an awkward accounting question: does percent-complete freeze along with the work, or does the firm need to reassess whether costs incurred to date are still recoverable. Treat a stalled project as its own review item rather than letting it carry the same percent-complete estimate forward unchanged for months, since an unreviewed stalled project is one of the more common sources of a write-off nobody saw coming.

A firm straddling the line, more projects than a boutique but not yet running multiple offices, should weigh how much reviewer time percent-complete and subconsultant reconciliation already consumes each month. If that review routinely runs past a few days and starts crowding out other close work, that's a stronger signal to invest in BlackLine's matching capability than headcount or entity count alone would suggest. Time spent on reconciliation, not org chart size, is the more honest measure of when a firm has actually outgrown a checklist-only approach.

Use these checks to place your firm:

• A modest project count, with engineers who report percent-complete on schedule, points toward FloQast's checklist model.
• A large concurrent project portfolio, multiple regional offices or intercompany work across affiliates points toward BlackLine.
• Percent-complete and subconsultant review that routinely runs past a few days and crowds out other close work is a stronger signal to invest in matching.
• Whichever you choose, track retainage by project as its own receivable rather than blending it into ordinary accounts receivable.