Industry
Accountants for engineering businesses
Project costing, long-term contracts, R&D relief and skilled-labour payroll for engineering firms.
Overview
Your sector, in practice
Engineering businesses live on projects, and projects distort accounting. Revenue is earned across periods, costs are incurred before payment arrives, and the profit on a job is often unknown until it is finished — by which point it is too late to change the outcome.
We support mechanical, electrical, structural and industrial maintenance engineering firms in and around Scunthorpe, including businesses working on shutdowns and planned maintenance for major industrial sites.
Challenges
What makes this sector different
Long-term contract accounting
Recognising revenue and profit across accounting periods requires a defensible stage-of-completion method, not a best guess.
Project cost overruns
Variations agreed on site and never invoiced are one of the most reliable sources of lost margin in the sector.
Skilled labour costs
Overtime, call-out, shutdown premiums and travel time make payroll unusually complex and cost recovery hard to track.
Design and development spend
Substantial development work is often expensed without any consideration of the reliefs available.
Tax and accounting
Key considerations
Revenue recognition policy
Stage of completion should be measured consistently and evidenced by surveys or cost-to-cost calculations.
R&D relief
Bespoke design, prototyping and process engineering frequently qualify where technical uncertainty existed.
Capital allowances
Machine tools, test equipment and workshop fit-out generally attract relief.
Retention and payment terms
Terms negotiated at tender stage determine the working capital the contract will consume.
How we help
Our work for these businesses
- Project costing systems with committed cost tracking
- Contract revenue recognition policies and year-end WIP
- R&D tax relief assessment and documentation
- Payroll covering shift, overtime and shutdown premiums
- Management accounts showing margin by project
- Funding and asset finance support for equipment purchase
Watch out
Common mistakes we see
- Failing to invoice site-agreed variations
- Recognising profit on a contract before the risk has passed
- Under-recovering overhead on time-and-materials work
- Assuming R&D relief only applies to laboratory research
- Quoting from tender rates that no longer reflect labour costs
FAQs
Engineering questions
Generally by reference to the stage of completion, provided the outcome can be estimated reliably, with foreseeable losses recognised in full immediately. We help set a policy and apply it consistently at each year end.
Enquire
Tell us about your business
A short conversation is usually enough for us to tell you whether we can improve on what you have now.
Related services
Services that work alongside this
- PayrollFully managed payroll with RTI filing, pension auto enrolment and payslips delivered on schedule, every period.
- Management AccountsMonthly or quarterly reporting that shows margin, cash and tax exposure while you can still do something about them.
- Corporation TaxComputations and CT600 filing, with the reliefs, allowances and extraction strategy reviewed before the return is submitted.
- Business AdvisoryPractical commercial support: forecasting, funding, pricing, growth planning and preparing a business for sale or succession.
Related industries
Businesses we work with
- ContractorsLimited company contractors and CIS subcontractors — status, extraction and cash flow handled properly.
- ConstructionCIS, reverse charge VAT, retentions and contract-level costing for builders and civils contractors.
- ManufacturingProduct costing, stock, capital allowances and R&D relief for manufacturers in an industrial town.
- Limited CompaniesEverything a Scunthorpe limited company needs — accounts, tax, payroll, VAT and director planning in one place.