Construction

Foundation Reports You’ll Miss, and How to Rebuild Them in QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor

Written & reviewed by Ram Singh, founder, Numerawise Solutions · Last reviewed October 15, 2026

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Most of the Foundation reports a contractor runs every month have a counterpart in QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor: a work-in-progress report, a committed costs by job report, job estimates vs. actuals, and job profitability reports. Three things need real rebuilding. QuickBooks has no dedicated retainage report, it tracks change orders without a pending/approved status report, and quantity and production reporting is thin. Map each report before cutover and tie the first month-end to your last Foundation reports. Sources: Foundation’s Job Costing, Purchase Order & Subcontract, Accounts Receivable and DataGenie report pages on foundationsoft.com; Intuit’s QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Job Costing and Construction & Contractors pages, “Customize customer, job, and sales reports in QuickBooks Desktop” (updated 8/5/2026) and “Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Desktop” (updated 8/5/2026); all read 15 October 2026.

Ram Singh · Published October 15, 2026

This page is about the reports you run after go-live. For what happens to balances and open WIP on the day you switch, see Foundation to QuickBooks: on the cutover date. For the feature-by-feature product comparison, see Foundation vs QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor.

The report map: Foundation report, QuickBooks equivalent, and the gap

Foundation’s own pages list the reports contractors lean on: over/under billing or WIP reports, job histories, estimated vs. actual, committed costs by job, A/R aging and retainage by job, change orders by status, and custom DataGenie reports. Intuit’s Job Costing page lists what Enterprise brings to the same jobs: a Job Costing Center, a committed costs by job report, a work-in-progress report, job costs by job, a report that finds expenses not assigned to jobs, and change-order management. Here is how they line up.

Foundation report you use today	Closest report in QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor	Gap, and how to close it
Over/under billing (WIP) report	Work-in-progress report (Contractor edition)	The report shows the position. Plan on booking the over/under billing journal entry yourself at each month-end, with your CPA agreeing the method.
Committed cost report by job (PO & Subcontract module)	Committed Costs by Job	In our experience the report reads open purchase orders. Enter every subcontract as a purchase order against the job, or it will not show as committed.
Estimated vs. actual by cost code (revenue, cost, hours, quantities)	Job Estimates vs. Actuals Summary and Detail	Cost codes become items, and the job estimate becomes the budget. Enter job costs on the Items tab of bills and checks so each one lands against a cost code. Quantity tracking is weaker than Foundation’s.
Job histories and job cost transaction logs	Job Profitability Detail; Job Costs by Job; Transaction Detail filtered by job	Covers activity from cutover forward. Pre-cutover history of closed jobs stays in the Foundation reports you saved before access ended.
A/R aging and retainage by job	A/R Aging Detail by customer:job; no dedicated retainage report	Book retainage to its own account through a retainage item, then memorize a report of that account totalled by customer:job.
Retainage payable by subcontractor	No dedicated report	Same approach on the payable side: a retainage payable account, reported by vendor and job.
Change orders by status (pending, approved, internal)	Change orders recorded against the job estimate	Approved changes update the estimate. Pending ones have nowhere to sit, so keep a change-order log outside QuickBooks or as a separate estimate clearly marked pending.
AIA pay application forms	Progress invoices from the estimate; Job Progress Invoices vs. Estimates	The report tracks how much of each estimate you have billed. The G702/G703 form itself usually needs an app or template; see AIA progress billing in Enterprise vs Online.
DataGenie custom reports and drill-downs	Memorized reports; Advanced Reporting	Rebuild only the ones someone actually reads each month.

One report runs the other way. QuickBooks’ report of expenses not assigned to jobs has no direct Foundation twin, because Foundation forces job coding at entry. In QuickBooks, a missed job on a bill is the most common reason a WIP report looks too good. Run it before every WIP meeting.

Rebuild them in this order

Save the Foundation answer key first. As of the cutover date, export the over/under billing report, job cost detail, committed costs by job, A/R and A/P aging by job, and both retainage reports, to PDF and Excel. They are your check figures.
Set up items to match your cost codes. Keep the same codes and the same level of detail. Collapse 40 codes into 8 items and the reports can’t answer your project managers’ questions.
Enter each open job’s budget as an estimate. Include approved change orders. This is what Job Estimates vs. Actuals and the WIP report measure against.
Re-enter open subcontracts and POs as purchase orders for the remaining unbilled amount only. Then compare the Committed Costs by Job total to Foundation’s committed cost report. They should match job by job.
Build and memorize the month-end pack. Work-in-progress, Committed Costs by Job, Job Estimates vs. Actuals Summary, Job Profitability Summary, expenses not assigned to jobs, A/R Aging Detail, and the two retainage account reports. Intuit’s report help shows the steps: open the report, choose Customize Report, set filters, then Memorize. Put them in one memorized group so the pack runs in one go.
Tie the first month-end. Before the first post-conversion financials go to a surety or lender, the QuickBooks WIP position at cutover should equal Foundation’s final over/under billing report, job by job.

A worked WIP check, using made-up numbers

Use this to test that the QuickBooks report and your over/under entry agree. Job 2417 has a contract value of $1,200,000 including approved change orders and an estimated total cost of $1,000,000. Cost to date is $450,000, so on the cost-to-cost method the job is 45% complete. Earned revenue is 45% of $1,200,000, or $540,000. Billed to date is $600,000, so the job is overbilled by $60,000. That $60,000 is what the month-end entry should carry as billings in excess of costs for this job. If the QuickBooks report shows a different percent complete, the usual causes are a cost entered without an item, a bill with no job, or an estimate that missed a change order.

Whether you use cost-to-cost or another method, and how long-term contracts are treated for tax, is your CPA’s decision, not ours. The point of the check is that QuickBooks and your WIP schedule agree.

What you will still keep outside QuickBooks

Production and unit reports. Foundation tracks hours and quantities against budget by cost code. QuickBooks carries hours from timesheets, but quantity-installed reporting usually moves to a spreadsheet or a field app.
A change-order log with status, dates and who approved it.
Bonding-schedule formatting. Your surety’s WIP schedule layout is usually built in Excel from the QuickBooks WIP report plus the retainage reports.
Certified payroll. This is a payroll question rather than a reporting one. It is covered in our Foundation vs QuickBooks comparison.

If that list is long for your firm, weigh it before you move. The Foundation renewal vs QuickBooks Enterprise worksheet is where to weigh it.

Frequently asked questions

Does QuickBooks Enterprise have a WIP report like Foundation?

Yes. Intuit lists a work-in-progress report among QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise job costing features for contractors. Plan on posting the over/under billing journal entry yourself at month-end, with the method agreed with your CPA.

How do I see committed costs by job in QuickBooks Enterprise?

Run the Committed Costs by Job report. In our experience it reads open purchase orders, so subcontracts must be entered as purchase orders against the job to appear as committed.

Is there a retainage report in QuickBooks Desktop?

There is no dedicated retainage report. Record retainage through a retainage item posting to its own account, then memorize a report of that account totalled by customer:job, and do the same for retainage payable by vendor. Confirm the account setup with your CPA.

What happens to Foundation job history I don’t migrate?

Closed-job history usually stays in Foundation as saved reports in PDF and Excel, exported as of the cutover date before access ends. Open jobs move with their to-date numbers.

We are not a CPA firm or tax adviser. Have your CPA approve the WIP method and the opening over/under billing entry. Ready to move? Our Foundation to QuickBooks conversion sets up cost-code items, job estimates, open purchase orders and retainage accounts, and ties them to your saved Foundation reports before go-live. If you are going to the Desktop product specifically, see Foundation to QuickBooks Enterprise.