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Introduction: When Construction Companies Outgrow QuickBooks

If you run more than a handful of projects or entities, you do not need another workaround. You need clean consolidations, job-level truth, and planning you can trust. IES was designed for that. It gives owners and accountants a shared system for projects, costs, and decisions, without ripping out the QuickBooks habits your team relies on.

At RedHammer we get the same question all the time: what is the best construction accounting software? The honest answer is, it depends on your size, work mix, and team. QuickBooks is a solid start, but once contractors cross roughly $5 to $7 million in revenue, the cracks show. Many “upgrades” feel like a step back in technology, integrations, and everyday usability. Earlier this year I wrote an article about this Construction Software Gap. IES is the first serious attempt to close it.

Intuit Enterprise Suite, IES for short, is a real shift in construction accounting. It is built for multi-entity companies that have stretched past traditional QuickBooks. You keep the familiar workflow, then add what growing contractors need: clean consolidations, dimensional job costing, stronger approvals, and reporting that ties back to the job. In short, it feels like QuickBooks, but it works like the system you wish you had years ago.

This comprehensive guide covers everything construction companies need to know about Intuit Enterprise Suite, from core features and AI automation to implementation strategies and real-world applications.

Table of Contents

1. What is Intuit Enterprise Suite?
2. Who Should Use IES?
3. Core Multi-Entity Capabilities
4. AI Agents: Automation That Actually Works
5. Construction-Specific Project Management
6. Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing
7. Financial Planning & Business Intelligence
8. Workflow Automation & Approvals
9. Payroll Integration for Construction
10. Customer & Vendor Management
11. IES vs QuickBooks Desktop vs QuickBooks Online Advanced
12. Implementation & Migration Guide
13. IES Pricing
14. Common Questions About IES
15. IES Update Release Summary
16. Is IES Right for Your Construction Company?

What is Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES)?

Intuit Enterprise Suite is Intuit's next-generation accounting platform designed for growing businesses that operate multiple entities, manage complex projects, or require sophisticated financial reporting beyond what QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online Advanced can provide.

Released in September 2024 with continuous quarterly updates through 2025, IES is built on a modern cloud architecture that enables true multi-entity management, AI-powered automation, and construction-industry-specific functionality.

The Four Strategies of IES - As We See It

1. Multi-Entity Architecture
Unlike QuickBooks, which treats each company file as a separate island, IES connects multiple legal entities into a unified system. You can navigate between companies, run consolidated reports, manage intercompany transactions, and oversee users across all entities from a single dashboard.

2. AI-Powered Intelligence
IES includes four distinct AI agents (introduced in the July 2025 release) that automate complex accounting tasks, provide financial insights, and help with decision-making. These aren't simple automation rules; they're intelligent systems that learn from your data and adapt to your business patterns.

3. Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing
IES provides up to 20 custom dimensions for tracking income and expenses, far exceeding QuickBooks' basic class and location capabilities. This dimensional depth enables sophisticated job costing by project, phase, crew, equipment type, location, and any other category critical to your business. You can assign multiple dimensions to single transactions and generate multi-dimensional reports that reveal profitability insights impossible with traditional accounting software.

4. Construction-Industry Focus
Job costing in IES combines project budgets, expanded reporting, and a superior project dashboard with a Project Agent powered by AI. Users track budgets vs. actuals, change orders, and progress in real time, while the agent analyzes data and flags issues. Integrated revenue recognition and job-based accounting address construction’s unique needs for accuracy, compliance, and streamlined management. IES’s job costing features include project budgets, detailed reporting, and an upgraded project dashboard alongside its AI-powered Project Agent. Track budgets versus actuals and change orders in real time while the agent analyzes project data, spotting issues early. Integrated revenue recognition and job-based accounting ensure construction businesses get the accuracy, compliance, and management efficiency they need.

‍The Future Vision of Intuit Enterprise Suite

Intuit is making significant investments in IES as the bridge solution for mid-market companies. According to their product roadmap, future enhancements will focus on deeper construction-specific features, expanded AI capabilities, and enhanced integration ecosystems.

“Mid-market companies are turning to Intuit Enterprise Suite to reduce the cost and complexity of growing their business. This release further streamlines multi-entity financial management and gives customers proactive business intelligence. Through the power of AI, we’re giving businesses access to more accurate data, faster, so they can make more informed decisions and focus on driving growth”.  - Ashley Still, Executive Vice President of Intuit Mid-Market⁴

Future development priorities include enhanced equipment tracking, more sophisticated WIP reporting, expanded certified payroll capabilities, and deeper integrations with leading construction management platforms like Procore and Autodesk Build.

Who Should Use Intuit Enterprise Suite?

IES is purpose-built for specific business profiles. Here's who benefits most:

Ideal IES Candidates

Multi-Entity Construction Companies
You operate multiple entities for different projects, regions, or business lines. You need consolidated reporting but maintain separate legal entities for liability protection or tax optimization. For construction companies operating multiple entities, IES eliminates the painful manual consolidation process that used to require hours of Excel work.

Growing General Contractors
You've outgrown QuickBooks' basic project tracking. You run 10+ concurrent projects, work with numerous subcontractors, and need sophisticated job costing to protect profit margins.

Specialty Contractors Scaling Up
You're moving from residential to commercial work, adding project managers, and need approval workflows to maintain financial control as you delegate responsibility.

Construction Companies with Complex Job Costing
You need to track costs by project, phase, crew, equipment type, and location. QuickBooks' basic class and location tracking no longer provides the granularity you need.

Is Intuit Enterprise Suite Right for Your Construction Company?

Compare your current needs to determine if Intuit Enterprise Suite or QuickBooks Online is the best fit, guided by what matters most—clean consolidations, reliable job costs, and usable reports.

Schedule a Demo See Detailed Comparison

Why Should You Consider IES?

Growth Ready

• ✓ You manage multiple construction entities and need automated consolidation instead of manual spreadsheet work.
• ✓ Your construction company requires detailed job costing by project, phase, and cost code for accurate WIP reporting.
• ✓ Your contractor business has 5 or more QuickBooks users and needs advanced third-party integrations.
• ✓ You're manually eliminating intercompany transactions between construction divisions each month.
• ✓ Revenue exceeds $5M annually and you need enterprise-level construction accounting without ERP complexity.
• ✓ Your construction business needs multi-level approval workflows for purchasing and accounts payable automation.
• ✓ You need construction-specific features like change order tracking, AIA billing, and subcontractor management.

Why Should You Stay with QBO?

Simple & Effective

• ✓ You operate a single construction company with basic accounting needs and no multi-entity requirements.
• ✓ Simple job profitability tracking by QuickBooks customer or class meets your construction business needs.
• ✓ Your contractor business has 5 or fewer QuickBooks users with minimal third-party integration needs.
• ✓ QuickBooks Online class and location tracking provides sufficient visibility for your construction operations.
• ✓ Your construction company's annual revenue is under $5 million with straightforward job costing needs.
• ✓ Basic approval processes work for your construction business without workflow automation requirements.
• ✓ Standard QuickBooks Online reports provide adequate construction job cost and financial reporting.

Core Multi-Entity Capabilities

Multi-entity management is where IES fundamentally differs from QuickBooks. These features address the core challenge of operating multiple legal entities while maintaining unified financial visibility.

Multi-Entity Navigation & Hub (September 2024)

The Multi-Entity Hub provides centralized control over all connected entities. From a single interface, you can:

• Switch between entities without logging out and back in
• View entity status, health indicators, and key metrics
• Access user management across all entities
• Navigate to specific entity functions quickly

Enhanced in July 2025, the hub now displays intercompany debits and credits directly, providing a holistic view of intercompany activity without navigating to individual entities.

This eliminates the QuickBooks Desktop workflow of closing one company file and opening another, or the QuickBooks Online process of logging out and selecting a different company.

Consolidated View (November 2025)

The new Consolidated View represents a fundamental shift in multi-entity access, democratizing financial visibility across your entire team without admin bottlenecks.

Single Entry Point for Multi-Entity Data:Teams now access a unified dashboard displaying all entities they have permissions to view, eliminating the need to switch between entity logins or request admin assistance for basic reporting tasks. For construction companies with separate entities for general contracting, equipment ownership, real estate holdings, and specialty divisions, this consolidated view provides bird's-eye visibility into the entire organization.

Role-Based Multi-Entity Permissions:Admins can now grant bookkeepers, A/P managers, project accountants, and controllers specific multi-entity capabilities without elevating them to full admin status. Delegated permissions include:

• Managing shared chart of accounts and dimensions
• Setting intercompany account mapping
• Configuring elimination accounts
• Performing manual eliminations
• Running consolidated reports
• Executing intercompany transactions

Construction Impact:For construction CFOs, this means delegating intercompany reconciliation to accounting staff, freeing executives from repetitive monthly tasks while maintaining appropriate segregation of duties. Teams can now complete month-end consolidation without executive involvement, typically saving 15-25 hours per month.

Note: Access to Consolidated View requires completing a one-time transition process (see Experience Enhancements section).

Consolidated Financial Reporting (December 2024)

IES generates true consolidated financial statements that automatically eliminate intercompany transactions, providing accurate pictures of overall business performance.

Available Consolidated Reports:

• Consolidated Balance Sheet
• Consolidated Profit & Loss Statement
• Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
• Consolidated Trial Balance
• A/P Aging Summary and Detail (multi-entity) - added July 2025
• A/R Aging Summary and Detail (multi-entity) - added July 2025
• Expenses by Vendor (across entities) - added July 2025
• Transaction Detail Reports (with intercompany visibility) - added July 2025

Key Consolidation Features (July 2025 Enhancements):

• Choose which entities to include in each report
• Side-by-side scrolling with fixed columns for easy comparison
• Multiple export options (Excel, CSV, Spreadsheet Sync)
• Drill down to transaction level from high-level reports
• Intuit Assist helps clean up vendor lists and chart of accounts

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities (November 2025 Enhancements):

• Drilldown without shared chart of accounts: Construction companies can now drill into consolidated reports even without implementing a fully shared chart of accounts across entities, accommodating situations where different divisions maintain specialized account structures
• Enhanced intercompany visibility: Consolidated reports now display relevant intercompany transactions from child entities with full dimensional detail including projects, customers, and cost codes. Intercompany transactions are clearly labeled with "(IC)" designation
• Expanded team access: With consolidated view enabled, accountants and bookkeepers can directly access consolidated reports without admin intervention, dramatically speeding up month-end close processes and ad-hoc analysis requests

Note: Enhanced reporting capabilities require completing a one-time transition process.

Intercompany Transaction Management

Managing transactions between related entities is notoriously complex. IES automates this process:

‍Intercompany Chart of Accounts Setup (September 2024)
Standardize how intercompany transactions are recorded across entities. IES automatically creates offsetting entries, ensuring transactions balance across your corporate structure.

Manual Eliminations (December 2024)
When automatic eliminations don't fully capture complex intercompany relationships, you can make manual adjustments that affect consolidated reports without posting to individual entity books. This ensures GAAP-compliant consolidated statements.

Intercompany Sales Tracking (July 2025)
Streamline intercompany sales by invoicing other entities; those invoices automatically appear as bills in the receiving entity. Once accepted, bills become linked transactions that flow into consolidated reports. These linked transactions can be reviewed separately from external transactions in the multi-entity hub, making reconciliation significantly faster.

Multi-Entity Allocations (March 2025, Enhanced July 2025 & November 2025)

IES learns from your historical allocation patterns and automates the distribution of shared costs across entities. The November 2025 release dramatically expands allocation capabilities with comprehensive transaction coverage and revolutionary account-level allocation.

Expanded Intercompany Expense Allocations (November 2025)

Previous versions limited intercompany allocations to bills, checks, and expenses. The November 2025 update expands coverage to address the full complexity of construction entity relationships:

All Vendor Expense Types:Allocations now cover refunds like credit card credits and vendor credits—critical for construction companies receiving rebates, returning materials, or processing warranty credits that need proper allocation across entities.

Extended Account Type Support:Allocations now work with assets (like prepaid insurance or deposits), liabilities, and revenue accounts (equity excluded). This enables construction companies to properly allocate:

• Prepaid expenses for annual insurance policies
• Deposits on future projects
• Revenue splits between related entities

Enhanced Usability Features:

• Reference numbers and dates on allocations improve cataloging and audit trails
• Filters for allocated vs. unallocated transactions streamline reconciliation
• Auto-attach uploaded documents to all selected entities during allocation
• Delete capability for intercompany transactions and their associated eliminations

Dynamic Allocations (November 2025)

The most significant time-saver in the November 2025 release, dynamic allocations enable construction companies to allocate entire account balances across entities instead of processing transactions one-by-one.

How It Works:At month-end, select an entire account balance—like general liability insurance, home office rent, or executive salaries—and allocate it across entities using pre-defined allocation methods. The system distributes the balance according to your chosen methodology without requiring individual transaction selection.

Flexible Allocation Filters: Shape allocations using filters like:

• Customer (for revenue-based allocations)
• Vendor (for vendor-specific cost pools)
• Employee (for labor-driven allocations)
• Class or location (for geographic divisions)
• Dimension (for project type or trade-specific allocations)

Construction-Specific Applications:

• Insurance premiums: Allocate annual general liability premium across entities based on revenue percentage
• Equipment depreciation: Distribute equipment costs based on utilization hours tracked in each entity
• Executive compensation: Split owner and executive salaries based on entity revenue or project activity
• Overhead costs: Allocate home office expenses using square footage or headcount

Time Savings:For construction companies processing dozens of intercompany allocations monthly, dynamic allocations reduce month-end close time by 3-5 days.

Note: Intercompany account mapping must be set up before using allocation capabilities. Dynamic allocations require completing a one-time transition process.

Done-for-You Transaction-Level Allocations (July 2025)

For transaction-level expense allocations, you can continue using the standard allocation tool with AI-powered suggestions:

• AI suggests allocation percentages based on prior transactions
• Applies to bills, expenses, checks, and bank feed transactions
• Saves draft transactions for review before posting
• Maintains consistent allocation methodologies
• Calculates allocations based on percentage of sales, expenses, or assets across entities

Common Construction Allocations:

• Equipment costs across multiple project entities
• Shared administrative overhead
• Insurance premiums covering multiple LLCs
• Central procurement distributed to project companies

Note: Automated allocations are not enabled until you have sufficient intercompany allocation history. The system learns from your manual patterns to improve suggestion accuracy.

Shared Resources Across Entities (July 2025)

Maintain consistency across your organization by standardizing key elements:

Shared Chart of Accounts
Create a master chart of accounts that automatically applies to all linked entities. When you add or modify an account, the change propagates to all relevant entities and transactions.

Shared Dimensions
Establish standard dimensions (classes, locations, departments, custom dimensions) across entities for consistent reporting and analysis. Dimensions are also available on intercompany journal entries.

Centralized User Management (September 2024, Enhanced December 2024)

Manage user access, roles, and permissions across all entities from a single dashboard.

User Management Features:

• View all users and their entity access in one place (December 2024 enhancement)
• See which entities each user can access, their roles, and current status
• Assign roles and permissions by entity
• Modify access without navigating between entities
• Role-based permissions with multi-entity considerations

Available Roles:

• Standard admin, standard employee, standard accountant
• Custom Invoice Approver (September 2024)
• Project Manager (September 2024)
• HR Manager (December 2024)
• Custom roles for forecasts and budgets (September 2024)

AI Agents: Automation That Actually Works

The July 2025 release introduced four AI agents that go beyond simple automation rules. These agents understand context, learn from your data, and make intelligent recommendations.

"As businesses grow, so does the complexity of running their business. Intuit Enterprise Suite fuels growth by helping customers run their business on one end-to-end business platform. This mid-market solution is powered by Intuit's data and AI platform, boosting productivity through powerful automation, and unlocking business intelligence with actionable insights."  - Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit CEO⁵

Accounting Agent

The Accounting Agent tackles one of the most tedious tasks in construction accounting: transaction categorization and bookkeeping accuracy.

What It Does:

• Automatically suggests categories and matches for incoming bank transactions
• Identifies frequent vendors (material suppliers, subcontractors)
• Detects accounting anomalies in financial statements
• Provides personalized category and matching suggestions with explanations
• Handles tedious bookkeeping tasks with best-in-class accuracy.
• Extracts transactions from PDF statements and identifies errors (November 2025)
• One-click posting for high-confidence transactions (November 2025)
• Real-time receipt capture via mobile alerts for Mastercard purchases (November 2025)
• Facilitates collaborative resolution for transactions needing clarification (November 2025)
• Refreshed banking grid with inline editing and transparent AI explanations (November 2025)

Real-World Impact:
A construction company processing 200+ weekly transactions across multiple suppliers and subcontractors can save 15-20 hours weekly on transaction categorization. The agent learns that Home Depot purchases should be categorized to Materials with the appropriate project dimension, while transactions from ABC Concrete always go to Subcontractor Costs.

With November 2025 enhancements, the agent now automatically extracts transactions from uploaded credit card PDFs, identifies discrepancies between statements and IES records, and sends instant mobile notifications when you swipe your Mastercard at the lumber yard, prompting you to snap a receipt photo that updates your books in real-time.

Why It Matters:
Boost time savings by increasing bookkeeping accuracy and consistency. Your Accounting Agent handles tedious bookkeeping tasks with best-in-class accuracy in a fraction of the time, allowing accounting staff to focus on analysis and strategic work. The November 2025 PDF extraction and real-time receipt capture eliminate the month-end reconciliation scramble, reducing reconciliation time by 60-70% for contractors managing multiple credit cards across entities.

Finance Agent

The Finance Agent provides financial analysis and risk assessment that would typically require a dedicated financial analyst.

What It Does:

• Consolidates data from P&L and Balance Sheet to deliver monthly financial summaries
• Continuously monitors financial performance and proactively identifies anomalies
• Analyzes trends and deviations from goals and budgets
• Analyzes performance across key metrics and projects potential variances from forecasts
• Provides quick answers and detailed drill-downs through an assisted panel
• Customizable time periods for any month, quarter, or year analysis (November 2025)
• Editable AI-generated insights with PDF export for stakeholder reports (November 2025)
• Next action recommendations to address risks and anomalies (November 2025)
• Dynamic ranking showing highest variance KPIs first with comprehensive insights (November 2025)
• Dimensional chat queries for transaction-level A/R and A/P analysis (November 2025)
• KPI drilldown by dimensions across income, expense, COGS, and margins (November 2025)

Construction Application:
Ask the Finance Agent, "Which projects are at risk of missing profit targets?" and receive immediate analysis showing that Project A's labor costs are trending 15% over budget while Project B's material costs increased unexpectedly due to recent change orders. The agent identifies specific cost categories driving variances and suggests corrective actions.

With November 2025 enhancements, you can now ask dimensional questions like "Show me gross profit margin by project type for Q3" and receive instant analysis. The agent provides next action recommendations ("Review labor rates on commercial projects" or "Investigate material vendor pricing"), then you edit the AI-generated summary to add context about weather delays before exporting a polished PDF for your board meeting.

Value for Construction:
Transform financial performance management from a reactive, time-consuming process into a proactive, insightful, and efficient driver of growth. Improve productivity, decision-making, profitability, and customer confidence. The November 2025 enhancements enable construction CFOs to conduct sophisticated dimensional analysis through conversational queries, customize reporting periods for seasonal comparisons, and create board-ready PDF reports with editable AI insights, all without leaving IES.

Payments Agent

The Payments Agent streamlines accounts payable and receivable processes, ensuring timely payments and healthy cash flow.

Automation:

• Analyzes customer payment behaviors
• Implements personalized payment strategies to accelerate cash flow
• Automates recurring payments, invoice reminders, deposits, and late fees
• Drafts and sends personalized messages sharing new payment options
• Assesses business cash flow and uncovers effective payment levers
• Autofills estimates based on Gmail lead content with pricing suggestions (November 2025)
• Proactively drafts recurring invoices without manual reminders (November 2025)

Value for Construction:
Maintains strong subcontractor relationships by optimizing payment timing while managing cash flow strategically. Discover more efficiency and better money outcomes with tailored payment strategies that increase invoices paid in full, strengthen customer relationships, and provide visibility into cash flow.

Real-World Scenario:
The agent learns that Customer A typically pays within 15 days of invoice, while Customer B requires two reminders and pays at 45 days. It automatically adjusts reminder schedules and payment term strategies for each customer, accelerating overall collections without damaging relationships.

With November 2025 enhancements, when a property manager emails detailed specs for a monthly maintenance contract, the Payments Agent automatically populates an estimate with line items, quantities, and pricing based on the email content and your historical rates. For recurring revenue like equipment rentals or service agreements, the agent proactively drafts invoices on schedule, ensuring consistent billing without administrative effort.

Project Management Agent

The Project Management Agent brings intelligence to construction project oversight.

Functions:

• Automatically creates estimates and populates project details from uploaded documents
• Populates tasks, deadlines, and priorities from documents
• Suggests profitability targets based on historical project data
• Automatically allocates project costs for accurate costing and budget management
• Provides summaries and highlights of project performance when closing projects
• Converts signed contracts from Customer Hub directly into projects (November 2025)
• Async processing for large documents with completion notifications (November 2025)
• Automatically populates phase details from multi-phase documents (November 2025)
• Explains factors considered when recommending transaction assignments (November 2025)
• Creates budgets from uploaded spreadsheets or converts estimates to budgets (November 2025)
• Generates intelligent variance analysis identifying deviation causes at closeout (November 2025)

Real-World Scenario:
Upload a project RFP and scope document. The Project Management Agent automatically creates an estimate with line items, suggests pricing based on similar historical projects, populates standard tasks and timelines, and recommends a profitability target based on comparable work. With

November 2025 enhancements, a commercial contractor uploads a 50-page signed contract PDF at 4pm and selects "Close and notify later", receiving a notification the next morning that the full project is set up with phases, budget, and tasks ready for immediate cost tracking. At project closeout, the agent automatically generates variance analysis explaining that labor overruns resulted from owner-directed scope changes while material savings came from value engineering decisions.

Why It Matters:
Boost productivity, speed up project starts and billing cycles, improve project costing and cash flow management, and discover valuable insights. Rely on your Project Management Agent to handle the administrative burden of project setup and tracking.

The November 2025 enhancements eliminate manual project setup for complex multi-phase work, provide transparency into AI decision-making for cost allocation, and deliver intelligent closeout analysis that improves future estimating accuracy—transforming project administration from a time sink into a strategic advantage.

Customer Agent

The Customer Agent transforms how construction companies manage their sales pipeline by automatically identifying and tracking project opportunities buried in email communications.

What It Does:

• Sources leads automatically from Gmail inbox
• Drafts personalized email responses you can edit and send
• Tracks customer opportunities throughout your sales cycle
• Manages sales tasks and prioritizes leads based on buying signals
• Provides intelligent next-action recommendations (schedule appointment, send estimate, re-engage warm lead)
• Identifies project inquiries, RFP notifications, and bid invitations without manual entry

Real-World Impact:

A commercial contractor receives 35+ project inquiries monthly through email—some from architects, others from property owners, and many from general contractors seeking subcontractor bids. The Customer Agent automatically identifies these opportunities, extracts key details (project type, location, timeline, budget indicators), and creates tracked opportunities in your sales pipeline.

When an architect emails about a tenant improvement project, the agent drafts a response highlighting your relevant experience and suggests scheduling a site visit. For a warm lead from three months ago, it recommends re-engagement with a personalized message about your recent similar projects.

Why It Matters:

Save time and win more deals by focusing on high-value opportunities and automating lead generation, qualification, and nurturing. For construction companies juggling multiple project pursuits while managing active jobs, the Customer Agent ensures no opportunity gets overlooked in the inbox chaos. The system provides structure to your sales process without adding administrative burden, helping you track which opportunities are progressing and which need attention

Payroll Agent

The Payroll Agent eliminates the time-consuming administrative burden of collecting field crew hours and preparing payroll data.

What It Does:

• Creates customized payroll data collection plans for your business
• Determines which employees submit hours via text vs. Workforce app
• Sends automated messages to employees requesting hours, tips, and other payroll information
• Saves collected data directly to Weekly Timesheets in payroll drafts
• Detects anomalies and provides summary for review and approval
• Reduces manual data entry and collection hassle

Construction Application:

A specialty contractor with 45 field employees across 12 active job sites struggles with weekly timesheet collection. Project foremen call in crew hours, office staff manually enter data into spreadsheets, and payroll processing requires 6-8 hours of prep work. The Payroll Agent automates this entire workflow. On Thursday afternoons, field crews receive text messages: "Submit your hours for the week - which jobs did you work on and how many hours per job?" Employees respond directly from their phones.

The agent organizes responses by project and cost code, flags unusual patterns (like 60-hour weeks or missing time entries), and creates a payroll draft ready for final review. The office manager approves with confidence, knowing the agent's anomaly detection caught potential errors like duplicate entries or miscoded hours.

Why It Matters:

Save time and reduce the hassle of collecting hours and inputting them manually into QuickBooks. Feel confident knowing the Payroll Agent's anomaly detection and insights help keep your payroll accurate with every run. For construction companies, this means accurate job costing from day one, hours are coded to the correct projects immediately, eliminating the downstream reconciliation work that typically occurs when office staff guess at project assignments. The time savings (typically 5-10 hours per pay period) allow accounting staff to focus on analysis rather than data entry, while project managers get accurate labor cost visibility in real-time.

How AI Agents Learn and Improve

Unlike rule-based automation, IES AI agents:

• Learn from your specific business patterns and decisions
• Improve recommendations as they process more data
• Adapt to changes in your business operations
• Provide increasingly accurate suggestions over time
• Maintain context across related transactions and entities

‍Important Note: The AI agents require 30-60 days of transaction history to learn your patterns effectively. Initial suggestions may require more review, but accuracy improves significantly over time.

Construction-Specific Project Management

IES provides project management capabilities specifically designed for construction accounting, going far beyond QuickBooks' basic job tracking.

Project Setup & Structure (September 2024)

Project Overview Dashboard
Customizable dashboard displaying critical project KPIs in real-time:

• Estimated vs. actual income tracking
• Project progress monitoring
• Profitability metrics
• Cost variance analysis
• Timeline and milestone status

Project Task Templates (March 2025)
Create standardized task structures for consistent project management across similar jobs. Define standard phases, tasks, and workflows that can be applied to new projects, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Cost Code Templates (March 2025)
Establish predefined cost code structures for consistent project tracking. Essential for construction companies that bid on similar types of work and need comparable cost data across projects.

Change Order Management (September 2024)

Change orders are a reality in construction, and managing them properly protects profit margins.

Comprehensive Change Order Tracking:

• Document changes to original project estimates
• Customer approval workflows for scope changes
• Track both estimated cost and income impacts
• Link change orders to original estimates
• Monitor cumulative change order impact on profitability
• Maintain complete audit trail of project modifications

Profit Protection:
IES automatically calculates how change orders affect project profitability. If a change order adds $10,000 in costs but only $8,000 in revenue, the system alerts you to the margin compression before you approve it.

Real-World Scenario:
Client requests upgraded fixtures in a commercial buildout. You create a change order showing $5,000 in additional material costs and $2,000 in labor. IES calculates required markup to maintain target margin and generates a customer-facing change order document for approval. The system tracks the approved change and automatically updates project budgets and profitability forecasts.

Revenue Recognition Methods (September 2024)

Construction accounting requires specialized revenue recognition to comply with industry standards. IES supports multiple methods:

Percentage-of-Completion Method
Recognize revenue proportionally as work progresses. IES tracks actual costs incurred vs. total estimated costs to calculate completion percentage and recognize appropriate revenue.

Project Milestone Method
Recognize revenue when specific milestones are achieved. Define milestones with associated revenue amounts, and IES recognizes income as each milestone is completed and approved.

Compliance Benefits:
Proper revenue recognition ensures financial statements accurately reflect project progress and supports compliance with ASC 606 (Revenue from Contracts with Customers) and construction industry accounting standards.

Project Profitability Management (September 2024, Enhanced March 2025)

AI-Powered Profitability Goals
Set project profitability targets and receive AI-powered recommendations based on similar historical projects (enhanced with Project Management Agent in July 2025). IES suggests realistic profit margin goals considering project type, size, and market conditions.

Proactive Monitoring
IES continuously monitors project financials against targets and provides alerts when projects deviate from expected profitability:

• Cost overrun warnings before they become critical
• Revenue recognition issues requiring attention
• Variance analysis identifying specific problem areas
• Forecasted profit margin updates as work progresses

Project Profitability Reports:

• Real-time estimated vs. actual profitability
• Profit margin by project phase
• Project ranking by profitability
• Trend analysis showing improving or declining margins

Project Budgeting (March 2025, Enriched July 2025)

Enhanced Project Budgets with AI
Create detailed project budgets with AI assistance that suggests budget allocations based on historical project data and industry benchmarks.

AI-Import for Project Budgets (March 2025)
Automatically generate project budgets using artificial intelligence. Upload basic project parameters and IES creates a detailed budget based on similar completed projects. The July 2025 Project Management Agent enhancement further automates this process.

Enriched Budgeting Features (July 2025):

• Draft, lock, and track budget updates as part of construction project management
• Budget versioning and auditing to see how estimated costs changed over project course
• Link estimates to budgets for complete planned vs. actual visibility
• Budget tracker widget for immediate notification when costs exceed allocated amounts
• Projects by budget widget to identify and address potential overruns
• Monitor impacts of budget changes on profitability

Forecasted Profit Margins
As projects progress, IES updates forecasted final profit margins based on actual costs incurred, remaining work, and historical performance patterns.

Employee Cost Rate Calculator (July 2025)
Accurately calculate employee costs for project budgeting, including:

• Base wages and overtime
• Burden costs (taxes, insurance, benefits)
• Equipment operator premiums
• Union rate differentials
• Crew productivity factors

For companies using QuickBooks Payroll, employees' pay types and pay rates automatically appear in the calculator. Cost rates automatically apply to time events added to projects. Update cost rates for multiple employees at once to address organization-wide changes in benefits and overhead.

Deposits on Estimates (July 2025)

Handle customer deposits on project estimates properly:

• Request deposits on estimates from customers
• Record deposit payments as liabilities until estimate converts to invoice
• Accept deposit payments online by ACH, card, or Apple Pay (with QuickBooks Online Payments)
• Approved and paid estimates marked as approved (will not auto-convert to invoice)
• Proper accounting for upfront material and labor costs

Value for Construction:
Start projects with secure customer commitment and clear go-ahead to plan and allocate resources. Improve cash flow for upfront costs, mitigate financial risk of starting projects, and maintain accurate, transparent accounting.

Industry-Specific Reports (September 2024)

IES includes construction-specific reports not available in standard QuickBooks. It included 4 enhanced QBO Reports and 12 new reports.

Enhanced QBO Reports

• Estimates vs. Actuals
• Estimates & Progress Invoicing Summary by Project
• Estimates vs. Actuals by Project
• Work in Progress by Project

Project Financial Reports:

• Change Order Report
• Change Order Report
• Committed Costs by Project
• Cost to Complete by Project
• Open Balances by Customer and Project
• Profit and Loss by Project
• Project Costs by Vendor and Project
• Project Costs Detail
• Project Status
• Time by Employee and Project
• Unallocated Amounts to Projects
• Unbilled Time and Expenses
• Unbilled Time and Expenses by Project

Value for Bidding:
Historical project cost reports inform future bids. Know exactly what similar projects cost, including often-overlooked expenses, ensuring competitive but profitable bids.

Advanced Dimensions & Job Costing

Job costing separates profitable construction companies from those merely surviving. IES provides sophisticated dimensional tracking far exceeding QuickBooks' capabilities.

Understanding Dimensions in IES (September 2024)

Dimensions are categories by which you track income and expenses. QuickBooks Online Advanced offers classes and locations. IES provides up to 20 custom dimensions.

Standard Dimensions:

• Class (included by default)
• Location
• Department
• Portfolio

Customer-Defined Dimensions (19 Additional):
Create dimensions specific to your business needs:

Examples:

• Project Phase (Sitework, Foundation, Framing, MEP, Finishes)
• Crew/Team
• Equipment Type (Excavation, Concrete, Carpentry)
• Project Type (Residential, Commercial, Industrial)
• Revenue Stream (New Construction, Renovation, Service)
• Customer Type (Public, Private, Owner-Operator)
• Superintendent/Foreman
• Cost Category
• Building/Structure (for multi-building projects)
• Any other categorization your business requires

Use up to 20 customizable dimensions to analyze data by project, vendor, customer, or class. Allocate costs not just by job, but also by department, cost center, or any other dimension you define. The result is clear, segmented financial reporting that reveals profitability, project costs, and labor performance across the categories that matter to you.

Multi-Dimensional Job Costing

Traditional job costing tracks costs by project. Sophisticated job costing tracks costs by project AND phase AND equipment type AND crew.

Example Analysis Enabled by Multiple Dimensions:

Question: Why did Project Riverside cost more per square foot than similar projects?

Answer via Dimensional Analysis:

• Foundation phase costs were 18% higher than average
• Excavation equipment costs exceeded estimates by 22%
• Crew 3 showed lower productivity than Crews 1 and 2
• Costs concentrated in weeks 3-4 due to weather delays

This level of insight is impossible with QuickBooks' basic class tracking but automatic with IES dimensions.

Dimensions Throughout the System

Dimensions in Bank Feeds (December 2024)

Categorize transactions directly from your bank feed by specific dimensions, reducing later adjustments and improving accuracy from the start.

Enhanced Dimensions (July 2025, Expanded November 2025)

Assign dimensions to products, services, and fixed assets. When you add these items to transactions, dimensions automatically populate:

• Materials assigned to specific project phases
• Services linked to project types
• Equipment depreciation allocated to projects using that equipment

Bulk Dimension Assignment:

• Apply dimensions to transactions using "Apply to all" or "Apply to empty lines"
• Assign or update dimensions for multiple transactions simultaneously
• Support for delayed credits and delayed charges

AI-Powered Dimension Recommendations (November 2025):

IES now uses AI to automatically recommend dimension values for products, services, and fixed assets that lack default assignments—particularly valuable for construction companies with extensive item lists.

How It Works:

• System suggests appropriate dimension values based on historical usage patterns, item descriptions, related transaction context, and industry-specific logic
• Review suggested dimension values with explanations of AI reasoning
• Manually override suggested values if needed
• Confirm dimension assignments
• Once assigned, dimensions automatically pre-fill in future transactions using those items

Construction Applications:

• Material items automatically suggest appropriate cost codes based on item descriptions
• Equipment automatically assigns to the owning entity or division
• Labor categories automatically map to trade-specific dimensions
• Subcontractor services automatically suggest project phase assignments

Sample Reports:The system provides sample reports showing multi-dimensional analysis, helping construction companies understand the full value of consistent dimension tracking.

Dimensions in Spreadsheet Sync (November 2025)

New dimensions functionality in Spreadsheet Sync dramatically improves efficiency for bulk transaction management. Rather than manually applying dimension values to individual transactions, construction bookkeepers can now create and update dimension values for multiple transactions directly within Spreadsheet Sync—seamlessly integrating the data with IES.

Supported Transactions:

• Journal entries
• Invoices and bills
• Credit memos
• Vendor credits
• Expenses and sales receipts
• Estimates
• Purchase orders

Construction Workflow:Instead of manually applying dimensions (project, cost code, phase) to individual transactions in IES, construction bookkeepers manage dimension assignments in bulk through Spreadsheet Sync. This dramatically reduces data entry time for high-volume construction accounting operations—particularly valuable when processing dozens of subcontractor invoices, equipment rental charges, or monthly recurring expenses that need dimensional allocation.

Time Savings:For construction companies processing 50+ weekly invoices requiring dimensional allocation, Spreadsheet Sync reduces data entry time from 8-10 hours to 2-3 hours per week.

Dimensions in Budgets (September 2024)

Create budgets by any dimension combination:

• Project by phase budgets
• Department by location budgets
• Project type by quarter budgets
• Equipment type by project budgets

Payroll Cost Allocation (September 2024)

One of construction's biggest challenges is accurately allocating labor costs when employees work on multiple projects.

Multi-Project Time Tracking:

• Assign multiple project or class values to single employees within the same pay period
• Automatic transfer from QuickBooks Time for seamless labor tracking
• Detailed labor cost distribution across projects
• Support for different pay rates by project or task

Integration with QuickBooks Payroll:
Available with QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite. Time entries from QuickBooks Time automatically flow to payroll with proper project allocation, eliminating manual timesheet translation.

Real-World Application:
Carpenter works 30 hours on Project A (framing), 8 hours on Project B (finish work), and 2 hours on shop maintenance. IES automatically allocates 30 hours of labor cost to Project A framing, 8 hours to Project B finishes, and 2 hours to overhead, providing accurate project costs without manual calculations.

Dimensional Reporting

Every standard financial report in IES can be filtered, grouped, and analyzed by dimensions:

Profit & Loss by Dimension:

• P&L by project, showing profitability by job
• P&L by phase, identifying consistently profitable or problematic phases
• P&L by crew, comparing team productivity and profitability
• P&L by equipment type, understanding equipment-related costs

Dimensional P&L Forecasts (March 2025):

• Forecast profit and loss with dimensional breakdowns
• Project future profitability by project type
• Anticipate seasonal variations by dimension
• Model growth scenarios with dimensional detail

Balance Sheet by Dimension:
Understand how assets and liabilities relate to specific dimensions, crucial for project-based businesses with equipment allocated to specific jobs or regions.

Practical Job Costing Scenarios

Scenario 1: Equipment Utilization Analysis
Track excavation equipment costs by project. Discover that transporting equipment between projects costs more than estimated, informing decisions about equipment purchases or project scheduling to minimize moves.

Scenario 2: Crew Productivity Comparison
Compare labor costs by crew across similar projects. Identify that Crew A consistently completes framing 12% faster than other crews, informing crew assignments for time-sensitive projects.

Scenario 3: Project Phase Bidding
Analyze historical costs by project phase across all projects. Discover that MEP rough-in consistently runs 8% over initial estimates, allowing you to adjust future bids accordingly.

Scenario 4: Geographic Cost Variations
Track costs by location (city, county, or project site). Identify that projects in County X cost 15% more due to permitting delays and inspector availability, informing both bidding and project scheduling.

Financial Planning & Business Intelligence

IES transforms financial planning from spreadsheet exercises into integrated, real-time strategic tools.

3-Way Financial Planning (July 2025)

IES provides comprehensive financial forecasting across interconnected statements, a capability previously requiring specialized FP&A software.

Integrated Forecasting:

• Profit & Loss forecasting
• Balance Sheet projections
• Cash Flow statement forecasting
• Account linking between statements ensuring mathematical consistency

How It Works:
When you forecast increased revenue in the P&L, IES automatically updates the Balance Sheet (A/R increases) and Cash Flow (cash from operations increases based on your collection assumptions). This integration eliminates the spreadsheet errors that plague manual three-way forecasting.

Budget Conversion:
Convert existing budgets into forecasts with a single click, providing a starting point for more sophisticated planning without recreating everything manually.

AI-Powered Cash Flow Forecasting (July 2025)

Cash flow kills more construction companies than lack of work. IES provides sophisticated cash flow forecasting that adapts to your business patterns.

Forecasting Features:

• Create 13-week and 12-month cash flow forecasts
• AI learns from historical cash flow patterns
• Filter between monthly or weekly views for granular, short-term planning
• Accounts for seasonal variations in construction work
• Incorporates project-specific payment terms
• Models different growth scenarios
• Delve into transaction data that influences cash flow projections
• Fine-tune forecasts by adding or editing planned items

Construction-Specific Factors:

• Project payment schedules and milestone billing
• Retainage tracking and release timing
• Subcontractor payment terms
• Material supplier payment requirements
• Equipment financing obligations

Scenario Planning:
Model "what-if" scenarios: What happens to cash flow if you add three new projects next quarter? If material costs increase 10%? If a large client delays payment by 30 days?

KPI Scorecard (July 2025, Expanded November 2025)

Track your construction company's financial performance with IES's customizable KPI scorecard featuring nearly 100 pre-defined metrics (expanded from 44 in July 2025).

Each KPI includes detailed descriptions, calculation formulas, relevant time periods, and trend visualizations. Gain real-time visibility into profitability, liquidity, and efficiency metrics that drive strategic decisions and keep your team aligned on unified objectives.

November 2025 Enhancements:

• Expanded KPI library: Nearly 100 pre-defined KPIs covering growth, profitability, cash flow, liquidity, and efficiency measures
• Custom KPI creation: Build unlimited custom KPIs tailored to construction-specific metrics like backlog burn rate, equipment utilization by division, estimating accuracy, or safety incident rates
• Consolidated KPI tracking: Select KPIs can now be tracked at the consolidated level for enterprise-wide performance monitoring while maintaining entity-level detail for operational management
• Dashboard and report integration: Include KPIs in dashboards and management reports for comprehensive performance visibility

IES KPI Scorecard

▶ Finance

50 metrics

Growth

Revenue

Cost of Goods Sold

Number of Invoices

Value of Invoices

Total Expenses

Profitability

Gross Profit

Gross Profit Margin

Net Profit

Net Profit Margin

Operating Expenses

Operating Expense Ratio

Expenses vs Net Revenue

Net Operating Revenue

Operating Margin

Liquidity

Cash On Hand

Current Assets

Non Current Assets

Total Assets

Current Liabilities

Non Current Liabilities

Total Liabilities

Working Capital

Current Ratio

Quick Ratio

Total Equity Ratio

Total Equity

Gearing

Debt to Equity Ratio

Debt to Asset Ratio

Cash Flow

Total Cash In Bank

Operating Cash Flow

Net Cash by Operating Activities

Net Cash by Investing Activities

Net Cash by Financing Activities

Cash Flow Margin

Net Cash Flow

Efficiency

Return On Equity

Return On Assets

Capex to Operating Cash Flow Ratio

Activity

Accounts Receivable Balance

Accounts Receivable Days

Accounts Receivable Turnover

AR Balances Past Due

Accounts Payable Balance

Accounts Payable Days

AP Balances Past Due

Open Invoices

Overdue Invoices

Bills Due

Number of Vendors

▶ Sales

5 metrics

Growth

Number of Active Customers

Number of New Customers

Number of Contacts

Net Sales

Average Revenue Per Customer

▶ Projects

10 metrics

Activity

Active Projects

Open Project Invoices

Overdue Project Invoices

Growth

Project Backlog Value

Average Project Value

Profitability

Project Income

Spend

Unbilled Cost

Committed Costs

Total Purchase Orders

Top Category Spends

▶ HR

7 metrics

Payroll

Average Employee Count

Payroll Cost per Employee

Revenue per Employee

Payroll Cost

Payroll Cost Ratio

Employee Turnover Rate

Employee Retention Rate

▶ Inventory Management

4 metrics

Activity

Inventory Turnover Ratio

Days Sales of Inventory

Average Inventory Value

Gross Margin Return on Investment

‍Budget Collaboration and Approvals (September 2024)

Move beyond finance-team-only budgeting to collaborative planning with accountability.

Collaborative Budgeting:

• Involve department heads and project managers in budget creation
• Each stakeholder provides input for their areas of responsibility
• Finance team reviews and consolidates departmental budgets
• Approval workflows ensure proper review before finalization

Budget Versioning:
Maintain multiple budget versions for comparison:

• Initial draft budgets
• Revised budgets after feedback
• Board-approved budgets
• Revised budgets after market changes

Dimensions in Budgets:
Budget by any dimensional combination:

• Project-level budgets for estimated costs and revenues
• Department budgets by location
• Equipment budgets by project type
• Labor budgets by crew and phase

AI-Powered Financial Goal Setting (September 2024)

IES doesn't just track goals; it helps set realistic ones using AI analysis.

Goal Categories:

• Income goals by period, project type, or dimension
• Expense management goals by category
• Profit margin targets by project or overall
• Working capital goals
• Growth rate targets

AI Recommendations:
Based on historical performance, industry benchmarks, and current market conditions, IES suggests achievable but ambitious goals. The system explains its reasoning, helping you understand what drives the recommendations.

Goal Monitoring:
Track progress against goals in real-time with alerts when performance deviates from targets. IES identifies specific factors contributing to goal achievement or shortfalls.

AI-Powered Report Insights (July 2025)

Financial reports contain valuable information, but extracting insights requires time and expertise. IES surfaces key insights automatically.

Automated Analysis:

• Streamline financial report review with AI-powered insights on P&L and Balance Sheet
• Surface changes in trends you should be aware of
• Provide more detail in visualization of historical data
• List contributing factors with links for further exploration
• Identify unusual variances requiring attention
• Compare current performance to historical patterns

Example Insights:
"Material costs increased 23% compared to last quarter, primarily driven by lumber and concrete price increases affecting Projects A, D, and F. This represents a 5% margin compression that requires attention in upcoming bids."

Why It Matters:
Free up valuable time for strategic initiatives and help drive business growth by optimizing financial statement review. Quickly identify trends and anomalies using your latest data without relying on manual interpretation of financial statements—at the speed of AI.

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Enhanced Reporting Capabilities

Spreadsheet Sync with Google Sheets (December 2024, Enhanced November 2025)

Create custom reports in Google Sheets using live IES data:

• One-click updates to refresh data
• Real-time collaboration on financial analysis
• Combine IES data with external data sources
• Create custom dashboards and visualizations
• Maintain version control in Google Drive
• Dimensions support for bulk transaction management (November 2025) - Create and update dimension values for multiple transactions directly within Spreadsheet Sync, including journal entries, invoices, bills, credit memos, vendor credits, expenses, sales receipts, estimates, and purchase orders

Granular Report Permissions (December 2024)

Control who can view and edit reports with fine-grained permissions:

• Limit access by report group or individual report
• Protect sensitive financial information
• Enable delegation while maintaining data security
• Different permission levels for different roles

In-Platform Report Styling (November 2025)

Construction companies can now style both standard and custom reports directly within IES without exporting to Excel, eliminating the time-consuming export-format-share workflow that introduces version control issues.

Styling Capabilities:

• Highlights and color-coding: Emphasize key metrics or variances
• Banded rows: Improve readability for transaction-heavy reports
• Gridlines: Provide structure for complex financial statements
• Variance arrows: Visually indicate performance trends
• Global formatting settings: Ensure consistent presentation across all reports

Construction Applications:

• Style WIP reports highlighting projects with margin fade
• Color-code AR aging by collection risk level
• Format project profitability reports for owner review
• Create presentation-ready financial packages for bonding companies

These capabilities eliminate the export-to-Excel workflow, saving hours per reporting cycle while ensuring everyone works from a single source of truth.

Note: Enhanced styling requires completing a one-time transition process.

Dashboards (November 2025)

The new dashboard functionality transforms how construction executives monitor business performance by providing real-time visibility into critical metrics instead of waiting for month-end financials.

Prebuilt Construction-Focused Dashboards:

• Profitability Dashboard: Tracks gross margin by project type, identifies underperforming projects, monitors cost overruns
• Cash Flow Dashboard: Displays DSO trends, upcoming retention releases, payment application status, cash position forecasts
• Project Performance Dashboard: Shows active project status, budget consumption rates, change order impacts, estimated completion dates

Custom Dashboard Builder:Construction companies can create custom dashboards using drag-and-drop widgets for:

• Charts: Visualize trends (margin by project type, revenue by entity, backlog by quarter)
• KPI widgets: Display current values vs. targets
• Tables: Show top performing/underperforming projects
• Text blocks: Provide context or strategic commentary

AI-Powered Insights:Dashboards include AI-generated summaries highlighting trends in plain language, for example, "Commercial projects are trending 12% below estimated margins due to labor cost increases, while residential projects are performing 8% above expectations."

Multi-Entity Support:Dashboards can display entity-level views or consolidated views, enabling division managers to monitor their specific operations while executives track enterprise-wide performance.

Note: Dashboard functionality requires completing a one-time transition process.

Management Reports (November 2025)

The new management reports feature enables construction companies to create board-ready financial packages without external tools, combining financial statements, KPIs, charts, and narrative into cohesive presentations.

Key Components:

• Cover pages with company branding and logo
• Executive summaries providing high-level conclusions
• Financial statements styled for professional presentation
• KPI sections displaying key metrics with trend analysis
• Charts and visualizations illustrating performance drivers
• Written insights providing context and strategic perspective

Construction Applications:

• Board packages: Quarterly financial reviews with project portfolio analysis
• Bonding submissions: Annual financial statements with backlog and capacity analysis
• Bank presentations: Loan renewal packages with covenant compliance documentation
• Owner reports: Project-specific financial summaries with profitability analysis

Consolidated Reporting Support:Management reports support consolidated reporting for multi-entity structures, enabling construction companies to present enterprise-wide performance while maintaining entity-level detail.

Value Proposition:Turn standard financials into branded, presentation-ready packages that combine reports, KPIs, charts, and narrative into a cohesive story. This lets executives and stakeholders quickly understand business performance without relying on third-party apps, eliminating the time-consuming process of manually assembling financial packages in PowerPoint or Word.

Note: Consolidated management reports require completing a one-time transition process.

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Granular Report Permissions (December 2024):
Control who can view and edit reports with fine-grained permissions:

• Limit access by report group or individual report
• Protect sensitive financial information
• Enable delegation while maintaining data security
• Different permission levels for different roles

Workflow Automation & Approvals

As construction companies grow, maintaining financial control while enabling operational speed requires sophisticated workflows. IES provides enterprise-grade approval automation.

Estimate Approval Workflows (September 2024)

Prevent costly estimation errors by requiring internal review before customer-facing estimates go out.

Approval Process:

• Estimators create project estimates
• Workflow routes estimates to designated approvers (senior estimator, project manager, owner)
• Approvers review for completeness, accuracy, and profitability
• Feedback loop if revisions needed
• Final approval before customer presentation

Templates and History:

• Create approval workflow templates for different project types or sizes
• Maintain complete history of estimates, reviews, and approvals
• Track who approved what and when for audit purposes

Quality Control:
A second set of eyes catches common estimation errors like forgotten costs, unrealistic labor hours, or material quantity miscalculations before they become contractual obligations.

Custom Invoice Approver Role (September 2024)

Separate invoice creation from invoice approval, a critical control as you scale.

Duty Separation:

• Project managers or team members create invoices
• Finance or senior management approves before sending
• Non-admin users can be granted invoice approval permission
• Maintains visibility and control over customer billing

Prevents Common Issues:

• Billing for incomplete work
• Incorrect pricing or missing change orders
• Premature billing before milestones complete
• Invoice errors that damage customer relationships

Multi-Condition Bill Approvals (September 2024)

Complex approval routing for vendor bills based on multiple conditions ensures appropriate authorization.

Approval Routing Rules:

• Bills over $X require owner approval
• Bills from new vendors require additional review
• Bills for specific accounts require department head approval
• Multi-level approval for large purchases

Shareable Workflow Templates:

• Create approval templates in one entity
• Share across all linked companies for consistency
• Customize when needed for entity-specific requirements
• Update templates and changes propagate appropriately

Real-World Example:
Subcontractor bills under $5,000 go to project manager approval. Bills $5,000-$25,000 require project manager and senior PM approval. Bills over $25,000 require project manager, senior PM, and CFO approval. Emergency bills can follow expedited approval paths.

Automated Recurring Reminders (September 2024)

Stop chasing payments, estimates, and bills manually. IES automates follow-up communications.

Customizable Reminders:

• Set start times for reminder sequences
• Define repeat intervals (daily, weekly, custom)
• Establish end conditions (invoice paid, estimate accepted, bill paid, PO closed)
• Choose notification methods (tasks, email to team, email to customers)

Reminder Scenarios:

Invoice Reminders:‍

• Day 1 after due date: Friendly reminder email to customer
• Day 7: Second reminder with payment link
• Day 14: Escalation notice
• Day 21: Final notice before collections
• Stops automatically when payment received

Estimate Follow-Up:

• ‍‍Day 3 after sending: "Following up on our estimate" email
• Day 7: "Available to discuss any questions"
• Day 14: "Estimate expires in X days"
• Stops when estimate accepted or declined

Purchase Order Closure:
Remind internal team to close completed POs, ensuring accurate committed cost reporting and preventing forgotten open orders.

Recurring Payments from Customers (December 2024)

Automate payment collection for customers with regular, predictable billing.

Setup Options:

• Customizable payment frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• Flexible timing (1st of month, 15th of month, every Monday)
• End dates or ongoing until cancelled
• Automatic payment method charging

Construction Applications:

• Service contracts with monthly fees
• Retainer agreements for maintenance work
• Progress billing on long-term projects
• Rental income from owned properties

Improved Cash Flow:
Predictable, automated payments improve cash flow visibility and reduce collections effort. Available with QuickBooks Online Payments.

Payroll Integration for Construction

Construction payroll is complex, with multiple pay rates, certified payroll requirements, and project cost allocation needs. IES integrates deeply with QuickBooks Payroll for construction-specific functionality.

Multi-Project Time and Labor Allocation (September 2024)

Payroll Cost Allocation:
Assign multiple project or class values to employees within the same pay period. When an employee works on three different projects in one week, costs automatically allocate to the correct projects.

QuickBooks Time Integration:
Seamless integration with QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets):

• Employees clock in/out by project and task
• Time data automatically transfers to payroll
• Project allocation flows from time tracking to job costing
• Eliminates manual timesheet entry and allocation

Available with:
QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite subscription is required with IES.

BigTime Integration (December 2024)

For companies using BigTime project time tracking:

Bidirectional Sync:

• Pay types sync from BigTime to QuickBooks Payroll
• Hours assigned to projects flow to payroll processing
• Labor codes map to job cost categories
• Task-level time tracking supports detailed job costing
• PO numbers transfer for proper cost allocation

Benefits:
Maintain single source of time tracking data (BigTime) while leveraging QuickBooks Payroll for processing and IES for financial reporting and job costing.

Employee Cost Rate Calculator (July 2025)

Accurately calculate true employee costs for project budgeting and bidding.

Calculation Components:

• Base hourly wage or salary
• Employer payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, SUTA)
• Workers' compensation insurance
• General liability insurance allocation
• Health benefits and other fringe benefits
• Union benefits if applicable
• Paid time off burden
• Equipment operator premiums

QuickBooks Payroll Integration:
For those using Payroll, employees' pay types and pay rates automatically appear in the calculator. Once calculated, cost rates automatically apply to time events added to Projects.

Output:
True hourly cost for each employee or employee class, ensuring project budgets include full labor burden rather than just wages.

Advanced Payroll Features

Effective Dating for Pay Types (July 2025):
Schedule changes to employee compensation (base pay and additional pay types) to take effect in future pay periods. For one-off pay type assignments, add start and end dates so pay types can be automatically assigned and unassigned from the employee.

Paycheck Corrections for Closed Quarters (July 2025):
For a closed quarter in the current year or year before, you can now void, edit, and record past paychecks. As you record a past paycheck, decide whether to sync the transaction to your books. With Payroll Elite, request an amendment in IES and Intuit will work with tax agencies directly to amend and process necessary tax payments.

Employee Compensation Enhancement (July 2025):

• Account mapping visibility for pay types
• Taxability settings for different compensation types
• Mixed salary/hourly compensation support (add hourly rate for salaried employee)
• Multiple pay rate handling within single employee

Retirement Partnerships (March 2025):
Expanded retirement plan options and partnerships, making it easier to offer competitive benefits packages that help attract and retain skilled construction workers.

Performance & Scalability (November 2025)

Run Payroll Processing Improvements

Payroll now runs faster for companies with larger employee counts. Loading employee lists is smoother and no longer lags when processing payroll.

Performance Optimization:

• Optimized to support companies with up to 200 employees
• Quicker performance for every payroll run
• Enhanced load times and more reliable experience
• Smoother processing that scales with business growth

Construction Impact:

For growing construction companies crossing the 100-employee threshold, these enhancements ensure the platform scales seamlessly without performance degradation during critical payroll processing windows.

W-2 Scalability

Larger construction companies can now access and print W-2 employee copies instantly, even with 100+ employees.

Capabilities:

• W-2 PDFs load quickly for large organizations
• View, save, and print large sets of employee W-2s whenever needed
• Direct access through Payroll Tax Center or W-2 Center
• No more errors or lagging load times

Value:

Rather than running into errors or lagging load times when trying to generate W-2 PDFs, construction companies can access W-2s faster and more reliably for peace of mind during year-end filings, critical for meeting employee and tax agency deadlines.

Workforce Management (March 2025)

Employee History:
Comprehensive tracking of employee information including:

• Position history and changes
• Pay rate history
• Project assignments over time
• Performance documentation
• Training and certifications

Organizational Charts:
Visual organizational structure management showing reporting relationships, making it easier to understand company structure as you grow.

Direct Deposit Payment Reversals (March 2025):
Ability to reverse direct deposit payments when necessary (employee termination before payment clears, payment errors, etc.).

Compliance Support

1099 Automation (December 2024):
AI-powered 1099 service for subcontractor reporting:

• Automatically identifies contractors requiring 1099s
• Collects missing W-9 information
• Prepares 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms
• Review and approval workflow
• Electronic filing support

Bill Payment Enhancements

New updates consolidate and strengthen bill payment controls, speed up vendor payments, and improve cash flow management, all on one connected platform designed for construction operations.

Bill Payment Release Approvals (November 2025)

Construction companies can now create payment release approval workflows to maintain control over cash flow and internal processes while enabling efficient A/P operations.

What It Does:

• Designate an approver to provide final approval before funds are released, similar to an authorized signatory on a check
• Customize approval workflow based on criteria like amount, vendor, delivery method, or who scheduled the payment
• Give admins the ability to approve or reject payments before they occur
• Payments requiring approval show a new "waiting for approval" status
• During approval stage, bill balance locks to prevent duplicate payments and no journal entry posts until approval is granted
• Once approved, payments move to scheduled status and the bill is marked paid

Why It Matters:

Use automated approval workflows to limit spending with tighter control and stronger safeguards over your A/P process to help prevent errors, manage cash flow, improve compliance, and reduce workloads. For construction companies, this means CFOs maintain visibility and control over large subcontractor payments, prevent unauthorized payments during project disputes, ensure proper documentation exists before releasing retention, and manage cash flow strategically by controlling payment timing, all without creating bottlenecks in day-to-day A/P operations.

Note: This feature currently supports single-entity approvals only.

Instant Bill Payments (November 2025)

Construction emergencies don't respect ACH processing timelines. When critical situations demand immediate payment, the new instant payment option delivers funds to vendors within minutes instead of 1-3 business days.

What It Does:

• Pay vendor bills instantly, no more waiting a day or more for funds to reach payees
• Choose "instant payment" option to deliver funds to eligible vendors within minutes
• Available in addition to ACH and check payment options
• Provides flexibility to either schedule in advance or pay vendors instantly, depending on business need
• 1% fee with $10 minimum and $100 maximum per transaction
• Payments scheduled outside business hours run at the next available business time

Why It Matters:

Gain real-time flexibility to pay vendors when it matters most, helping you manage cash flow more precisely, avoid costly late fees, and strengthen your supplier relationships. For construction companies where a single day of project delay can cost thousands in overhead and liquidated damages, instant payments provide valuable flexibility. Reserve instant payments for time-sensitive scenarios where delay costs exceed the transaction fee, use standard ACH for routine payments where 1-3 day processing is acceptable.

Customer & Vendor Management

Strong relationships with customers and vendors drive construction business success. IES provides enhanced management capabilities.

Customer Hub (July 2025)

Centralized customer relationship management designed for service and construction businesses.

Customer Information Management:

• Comprehensive customer notes and history
• Customizable to-do lists and task tracking
• Custom fields for industry-specific information
• Communication history and preferences

Relationship Tracking:

• Referral source capture (how did this customer find you?)
• Feedback collection and management
• Project history with this customer
• Lifetime value calculations

Document Management:

• E-signature contract support
• Store customer agreements and documents
• Warranty information and terms
• Insurance certificates and bonds

Value for Construction:
Track long-term customer relationships, repeat business rates, and referral sources. Understand which marketing channels produce the most valuable customers. Efficiently manage sales opportunities and accelerate revenue growth from one place rather than relying on disparate platforms.

Vendor Management

While IES doesn't have a specific "Vendor Hub" like the Customer Hub, multi-entity vendor management provides significant benefits.

Vendor Performance Tracking:

• Historical cost and delivery data by vendor
• Quality metrics and issue tracking
• Payment history and terms compliance
• Insurance and bonding verification

Reports:

• Expenses by Vendor (multi-entity) - July 2025
• Project Costs by Vendor and Project - September 2024
• Unpaid Bills by Project & Vendor - December 2024
• Vendor comparison and analysis

Customer and Vendor Data Enhancements (November 2025)

For construction companies migrating from QuickBooks Desktop to Intuit Enterprise Suite, enhanced functionality and data compatibility for customers and vendors simplifies migration and ensures a seamless transition.

Customer Shipping Address Enhancements

Construction companies often manage projects at multiple locations for the same customer, whether a property management company with multiple buildings, a developer with various project sites, or a facilities maintenance client with multiple locations.

New Capabilities:

• Add and save multiple shipping addresses within a customer record
• Select a "Ship to" address as default from the saved addresses associated with a customer
• Adjust an existing "Ship to" address within a customer record

Vendor Transaction Enhancements

Construction vendor relationships often involve multiple contacts: the salesperson who quotes materials, the dispatcher who schedules deliveries, the accounts payable clerk who processes payments, and the operations manager who handles service issues.

New Capabilities:

• Multiple email contacts are now supported
• Add contact information as well as CC and BCC email addresses for each vendor record
• Select saved CC and BCC email addresses when creating purchase orders for a vendor

Improved Notes Support for Vendor Details

Construction vendor relationships require detailed documentation, including performance issues, delivery preferences, insurance certificate expiration dates, specific job requirements, and historical context that informs future decisions.

New Capabilities:

• Add or delete notes for each vendor added
• Add multiple comments to a specific note
• Mark important notes as favorites for quick access

Why It Matters:

Ensure a seamless move from QuickBooks Desktop with Intuit Enterprise Suite's enhanced features and data compatibility for customers and vendors. These enhancements eliminate workarounds and manual processes that construction companies developed in QuickBooks Desktop, providing native functionality for managing the complexity of construction customer and vendor relationships.

Payment Processing

QuickBooks Online Payments Integration:
Accept customer payments with integrated payment processing:

• Credit card and ACH acceptance
• Automated payment application to invoices
• Recurring payment setup for regular customers
• Payment status tracking and reconciliation

Vendor Payment Automation:
Streamline vendor payments with the Payments Agent assistance (July 2025):

• Payment scheduling and batching
• ACH payment support
• Check printing integration
• Payment approval workflows

IES vs QuickBooks Online Advanced vs QuickBooks Desktop

Understanding how IES compares to traditional QuickBooks helps determine whether migration makes sense for your business.

Architectural Differences

The architectural comparison reveals fundamental differences in how each platform operates and scales. QuickBooks Desktop requires local installation and network setup, while both QBO Advanced and IES offer cloud-based accessibility from anywhere. IES distinguishes itself with native multi-entity architecture and centralized user management, whereas QuickBooks platforms treat each company as a separate instance requiring manual consolidation.

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Feature Comparison: Multi-Entity Capabilities

Multi-entity management separates IES from traditional QuickBooks products, which were designed for single-company operations. While QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced require separate files or subscriptions for each legal entity with manual consolidation in Excel or third-party apps, IES provides a unified system with automated intercompany eliminations and shared chart of accounts.

This architectural advantage eliminates hours of manual consolidation work and reduces errors for construction companies operating multiple entities.

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Feature Comparison: Job Costing

IES delivers construction-specific Job Costing features that go beyond basic job tracking available in QuickBooks. While all three platforms offer fundamental job costing, IES provides AI-powered profitability forecasting, advanced revenue recognition methods, and automated committed cost tracking essential for construction accounting.

The platform's customizable project dashboards and employee cost calculator enable more accurate bidding and real-time project financial monitoring than QuickBooks Desktop or Online Advanced can provide.

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Feature Comparison: Dimensions & Job Costing

Dimensional tracking capabilities represent one of IES's most significant advantages over QuickBooks platforms. QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced limit users to single class and location assignments per transaction, forcing construction companies into workarounds for complex job costing needs.

IES supports up to 20 custom dimensions with multiple assignments per transaction, enabling sophisticated analysis by project phase, crew, equipment type, and any other business-critical category, providing the granular insights necessary for protecting profit margins.

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Feature Comparison: AI & Automation

IES's AI capabilities fundamentally transform how construction companies handle routine accounting tasks and financial analysis. While QuickBooks platforms rely on manual processes and basic rule-based automation,

IES employs six specialized AI agents that learn from your data patterns to automate bookkeeping, optimize payment collection, analyze financial performance, and manage projects. These intelligent systems provide predictive cash flow forecasting and automated intercompany allocations that would otherwise require significant manual effort and financial expertise.

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Feature Comparison: Financial Planning

Financial planning and analysis capabilities distinguish IES as an enterprise-level solution compared to QuickBooks' basic budgeting tools. Neither QuickBooks Desktop nor Online Advanced offers integrated forecasting or scenario modeling, limiting strategic planning capabilities.

IES provides comprehensive 3-way financial planning that links P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow forecasts with AI-powered insights, KPI scorecards, and variance analysis, giving construction companies the forward-looking visibility needed for growth and bonding requirements.

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Feature Comparison: Workflow & Approvals

Workflow automation becomes critical as construction companies scale beyond owner-managed operations. QuickBooks Desktop and Online Advanced offer limited approval capabilities that don't support the duty separation needed for larger organizations.

IES provides comprehensive, customizable approval workflows for invoices, estimates, bills, and purchase orders with multi-condition routing, shareable templates across entities, and automated reminder systems, ensuring financial controls keep pace with business growth.

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Feature Comparison: Reporting

Reporting capabilities reveal how each platform handles the complex financial visibility needs of growing construction companies. While all three offer standard financial reports and custom report creation, IES adds AI-powered insights that automatically identify trends and anomalies in your financial data.

The platform's automated multi-entity consolidation, comprehensive dimension-based reporting, and Google Sheets sync provide the analytical depth construction companies need without the manual spreadsheet work required by QuickBooks platforms.

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‍When to Choose Each Platform

Choose QuickBooks Desktop if:

• Single entity with no growth plans for additional entities
• Specific industry requirements only available in Desktop
• You require offline access and have unreliable internet
• You're comfortable with file size limitations
• Migration to IES is planned within 12 months (don't move to QBO first)

Choose QuickBooks Online Advanced if:

• Single entity with no growth plans for additional entities
• Under 5 concurrent construction projects
• Annual revenue under $5 million
• Basic class and location tracking meets your needs
• Team size under 15 people
• Don't need sophisticated multi-entity consolidation
• Budget-conscious and can supplement with third-party apps

Choose Intuit Enterprise Suite if:

• Multiple legal entities requiring consolidated reporting
• 10+ concurrent construction projects
• Need sophisticated job costing beyond basic class/location
• Outgrown QuickBooks limitations
• Require approval workflows and duty separation
• Annual revenue over $5 million
• Growing team requiring centralized user management
• Need AI-powered insights and automation
• Construction-specific project management critical

Implementation & Migration

What the “Technical Migration” Does

‍Intuit’s technical conversion is an automated utility that takes your legacy QuickBooks file and attempts to convert lists, transactions, and settings into Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES). It maps chart of accounts, customers/vendors, items/cost codes, open transactions, and some preferences into a new IES environment. It’s designed for speed and minimal decision-making, point the tool at your file, run it, and review the output. In practice, we’ve seen some technical conversions run over 10 hours end-to-end on larger files.

Reality check

‍While the tool can work, it’s not an implementation. Not everything maps 1:1, and most construction files need cleanup before go-live. Pushing a messy legacy file through the utility can drag list bloat, duplicate names, mis-mapped cost codes, broken job-cost detail, and equity roll-forward quirks into your new system.

Note on Intuit’s conversion utility: The out-of-the-box tool has predictable issues, duplicate/legacy lists, cost code mismatches, incomplete job-cost history, retained earnings oddities, and inactive list carryover. We’re aware of these patterns and have proven workarounds and pre/post-conversion cleanup steps to keep your IES environment clean and your reports tied out.

When to Avoid the “Full Technical Migration”

• Your legacy file has years of list bloat, duplicate names, or inconsistent cost codes.
• Job-cost detail in the ledger doesn’t tie out cleanly to estimates or WIP.
• You plan to change your chart of accounts, cost code structure, or dimensions in IES.
• You’re consolidating multiple entities and want standardized lists and reporting.
• You rely on billable expenses that need careful mapping to preserve job billing integrity.
• You have unique Advanced Pricing or line-level tax rules that don’t translate cleanly.
• You carry 10+ years of historical data and a very large database (better to scope and archive than force it through the tool).

Migration Path Best Practices

1. Assess & Clean: Fix naming, merge duplicates, standardize the COA and cost codes, close stale jobs, and reconcile AR/AP/WIP.
2. Decide Scope: Bring forward active customers, vendors, jobs, opening balances, and only the historical detail you truly use.
3. Design in IES: Set dimensions, approvals, and intercompany rules the right way—before any data lands.
4. Migrate & Validate: Load scoped data, run tie-outs (trial balance, AR/AP, WIP), and prove reports match.
5. Cutover & Train: Freeze legacy entry, go live, and train your team on the new processes and reports.

Why Engage a Partner Like RedHammer

• We are construction accounting experts with deep insight into the right way to configure IES for job costing, WIP, and retainage.
• We align your COA, cost codes, and dimensions to IES reporting from day one.
• We are a ProAdvisor Elite firm with 75+ ProAdvisor resources.
• We host design sessions and solution your IES architecture end-to-end, including third-party integrations and reporting
• We prevent noisy historical data from polluting your new environment.
• We manage reconciliations and tie-outs so executive reports are trusted on day one.
• We set up approvals, allocations, and intercompany flows the way you actually operate.

Common Questions About IES

General Questions

Q: Is IES replacing QuickBooks?
A: No. IES is a premium tier designed for businesses that have outgrown QuickBooks Online Advanced. QuickBooks Desktop, Online, and IES will all continue to be available. IES is for companies needing multi-entity management and advanced features.

Q: Can I use IES for a single entity?
A: Yes. IES has considerably better job cost functionality and reports than QBO.

Q: Does IES work on mobile devices?
A: IES is cloud-based and accessible via web browsers on any device. Mobile optimization continues to improve with each release.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes. IES uses the same security infrastructure as QuickBooks Online, including encryption, secure data centers, and SOC 2 compliance.

Q: Can I try IES before committing?
A: Contact Intuit or an authorized partner about trial or demo options. RedHammer is one of Intuit's select implementation partners with certified expertise in IES deployment for construction companies and can provide demonstrations.

Multi-Entity Questions

Q: How many entities can I link in IES?
A: There's no published hard limit, but IES is designed to handle 5-20+ entities efficiently. Consult with Intuit for very large multi-entity structures.

Q: Do linked entities need to be legally related?
A: No, though most users link related entities. You could link any companies where you need consolidated reporting and unified management.

Q: Can I remove an entity from IES?
A: Yes. Entities can be unlinked, though you'll lose multi-entity benefits for that entity. Historical data remains intact.

Q: Does each entity need its own EIN?
A: Yes. This is best practice.

Q: Can different entities use different fiscal years?
A: IES supports different fiscal years across entities, though consolidated reporting may require adjustments.

Feature Questions

Q: Can I use IES without AI features?
A: Yes. AI features provide recommendations you can accept or ignore. The platform works fine if you prefer manual control.

Q: What construction-specific apps integrate with IES?
A: Native integrations include Knowify (project management) and BigTime (time tracking). Many apps that integrate with QuickBooks Online work with IES.

Q: Does IES support percentage-of-completion accounting?
A: Yes. IES includes revenue recognition methods specifically for construction including percentage-of-completion and milestone billing.

Q: Can I track retainage?
A: Yes. IES supports retainage tracking on invoices and bills.

Q: Does IES handle certified payroll?
A: IES provides detailed labor tracking by project that supports certified payroll requirements. Specific certified payroll report generation depends on your QuickBooks Payroll subscription level.

Q: How long does it take for AI agents to learn my business?
A: AI agents require 30-60 days of transaction history to learn your patterns effectively. Initial suggestions may need more review, but accuracy improves significantly over time.

Support Questions

Q: What support is available for IES?
A: Each IES client get sassigned Customer Success Mnaager

Q: Is training included?
A: Basic training resources are included. Implementation partners often provide comprehensive training as part of migration services.

Q: Are there IES experts I can hire?
A: Yes. QuickBooks ProAdvisors are being trained on IES. Look for ProAdvisors with construction industry experience like RedHammer.

Q: Where can I learn more about new features?
A: Intuit releases quarterly product updates. Check the What's New section in IES, Intuit's website, or follow construction accounting experts like RedHammer.

Pricing Questions

Q: How much does IES cost?
A: Pricing is customized based on number of entities, users, and features needed. Contact RedHammer for Quote.

Q: Is pricing per entity or per company?
A: Pricing includes base subscription plus additional costs for additional entities and users. Exact structure varies.

Q: Are there discounts for migrating from QuickBooks?
A: Migration incentives are sometimes available. Ask about current promotions when requesting pricing.

Q: Can I add entities later?
A: Yes. You can start with core entities and add more as needed.

IES Release History: A Chronological Journey

Intuit has continuously enhanced Enterprise Suite since its September 2024 launch. Here's a summary of each major release with links to detailed coverage:

September 2024 - Initial Release

Launch Highlights:
The inaugural release established IES as a multi-entity platform purpose-built for growing construction companies.

Key Features Introduced:

• Multi-entity navigation and user management
• Automated recurring reminders for invoices, estimates, bills, and POs
• Custom invoice approver role and estimate approval workflows
• Fixed asset auto-detection and creation
• Intercompany chart of accounts setup
• Up to 20 customer-defined dimensions for granular job costing
• Budget collaboration and approvals with dimensional tracking
• Change order management with customer approval workflows
• Project overview dashboard and project manager role
• Revenue recognition methods (percentage-to-completion, milestone)
• Project profitability goal setting and monitoring
• Six construction-specific reports
• Payroll cost allocation across multiple projects
• Integration with Knowify for project data sync

Impact: Established IES as the bridge solution between QuickBooks and traditional construction ERPs.

Read the full September 2024 release notes

December 2024 - Multi-Entity & Compliance Focus

Release Highlights:
Enhanced multi-entity capabilities and introduced critical compliance automation.

Key Features Added:

• Manual eliminations for accurate consolidated financials
• Multi-entity consolidated reports (Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow, Trial Balance)
• User visibility across entities for centralized management
• Recurring payments from customers for predictable cash flow
• AI-powered 1099 service automating contractor reporting
• Dimensions in bank feed for immediate transaction categorization
• Enhanced reporting for projects including "Unpaid bills by project & vendor"
• Tailored tools for professional services with industry-specific KPIs
• Spreadsheet Sync with Google Sheets for custom reporting
• Granular permissions for reports
• Enhanced project planning with task priorities
• Knowify data integration for invoice payment processing
• BigTime data integration for payroll and job costing
• HR Manager role for dedicated payroll management

Impact: Transformed IES into a compliance powerhouse while strengthening multi-entity financial management.

Read the full December 2024 release notes

March 2025 - Advanced Planning & Forecasting

Release Highlights:
Introduced sophisticated financial planning tools and enhanced project budgeting.

Key Features Added:

• Multi-entity allocations with percentage-based distributions
• Multi-entity hub for centralized operations
• Enhanced consolidated reporting with entity selection and export options
• Project budgets with AI-powered features
• AI-import for project budgets
• Project task templates and cost code templates
• Third-party integration enhancement via new API
• Project profitability tracking and analysis
• Forecast reports and dimensional P&L forecasts
• Employee history tracking
• Expanded retirement partnerships
• Paycheck corrections for closed quarters
• Organizational charts
• Direct deposit payment reversals

Impact: Positioned IES as a comprehensive FP&A solution for construction companies.

Read the full March 2025 release notes

July 2025 - AI Revolution

Release Highlights:
Introduced four AI agents representing the most significant leap in construction accounting automation.

Key Features Added:

AI Agents:

• Accounting Agent for automated bookkeeping and anomaly detection
• Payments Agent for personalized collection strategies
• Finance Agent for financial performance management
• Project Management Agent for automated project lifecycle

Multi-Entity Financial Management:

• Four new consolidated reports (A/P aging, A/R aging, expenses by vendor, transaction detail)
• Intercompany debit/credit visibility in multi-entity hub
• Drill-down to transaction level from reports
• Intuit Assist for vendor/account cleanup
• Done-for-you multi-entity allocations with AI learning
• Intercompany sales with linked transactions
• Shared dimensions and chart of accounts across entities

Business Intelligence:

• AI-powered report insights on P&L and Balance Sheet
• KPI scorecard with 30+ pre-defined metrics
• AI-powered cash flow forecasting (13-week and 12-month)
• 3-way financial planning linking P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow
• Enhanced dimensions with automatic form population

Payroll:

• Effective dating for pay types
• Paycheck corrections for closed quarters
• Employee compensation enhancement with account mapping visibility

Projects:

• Deposits on estimates with proper liability accounting
• Employee cost rate calculator
• Enriched project budgeting with versioning and Budget Tracker widget

Platform:

• Global search with natural language processing
• Platform performance enhancements (2x faster loading)

Impact: Established IES as the most AI-advanced construction accounting platform available.

Read our comprehensive coverage: Summer 2025 Updates

Read the official July 2025 release notes

November 2025 - AI Expansion & Enterprise Controls

Release Highlights:Introduced two new AI agents, significantly enhanced all existing agents, and added enterprise-grade multi-entity controls with professional business intelligence tools.

Key Features Added:

AI Agents:

• Customer Agent for automated lead generation and sales pipeline management
• Payroll Agent for automated time collection with anomaly detection
• Accounting Agent enhancements: PDF statement extraction, one-click posting, real-time receipt capture, refreshed banking grid
• Finance Agent enhancements: customizable time periods, editable AI insights with PDF export, next action recommendations, dimensional chat queries
• Payments Agent enhancements: autofill estimates from Gmail, proactive recurring invoice drafting
• Project Management Agent enhancements: contract-to-project conversion, automatic phase population, spreadsheet budget import, intelligent variance analysis

Multi-Entity Financial Management:

• Consolidated view providing single entry point with role-based permissions for non-admin users
• Multi-entity reporting drilldown without shared chart of accounts
• Intercompany transaction visibility with dimensions, projects, and customers
• Expanded intercompany allocations for all vendor expense types including refunds
• Extended account type support for allocations (assets, liabilities, revenue)
• Dynamic allocations enabling account-level allocation instead of transaction-by-transaction

Business Intelligence:

• In-platform report styling with highlights, banded rows, gridlines, and variance arrows
• Expanded KPI scorecard with nearly 100 pre-defined KPIs (up from 30+)
• Custom KPI creation and consolidated KPI tracking
• Dashboards with prebuilt options (Profitability, Cash Flow, Project Performance) and custom builder
• Management reports combining financial statements, KPIs, charts, and narrative with branding

Dimension Enhancements:

• Spreadsheet Sync dimensions for bulk transaction management
• AI-powered dimension recommendations for products, services, and fixed assets

Bill Pay and Payroll:

• Bill payment release approvals with customizable workflows
• Instant bill payments delivering funds within minutes (1% fee)
• W-2 scalability for companies with 100+ employees
• Run payroll improvements optimized for up to 200 employees
• Streamlined paycheck corrections merging related corrections into single tickets

Experience Enhancements:

• New navigation and visual updates with modern interface and app-based navigation
• Customer shipping addresses supporting multiple addresses per customer
• Vendor transaction enhancements with multiple email contacts and CC/BCC support
• Improved notes support for vendor details with favorites
• One-time transition process required by January 31, 2026 for new capabilities

Impact: Transformed IES into a true enterprise platform with AI agents across the entire business workflow, democratized multi-entity access beyond administrators, and provided professional-grade business intelligence eliminating the need for external reporting tools.

Read our comprehensive coverage: Fall 2025 Updates

Read the official November 2025 release notes‍

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Final Thoughts

The construction industry operates on thin margins where better visibility, control, and efficiency directly impact profitability. IES provides the tools growing construction companies need to scale while maintaining financial control and operational efficiency.

At RedHammer, we specialize in construction accounting and software implementation. Our team understands the unique challenges of the industry and works closely with clients to ensure smooth transitions to new systems like Intuit Enterprise Suite. We've guided dozens of construction companies through this evaluation process and can help you determine whether IES is the right fit for your business.

For construction companies ready to move beyond basic accounting to strategic financial management, Intuit Enterprise Suite offers a clear path forward without the complexity and cost of traditional enterprise ERP systems.

Stay Current with IES Updates

Intuit continuously enhances IES with quarterly product releases. To stay informed about the latest features and construction-industry developments:

• Review our Intuit Enterprise Services Page about our IES migration services
• Check our blog for detailed release analysis and implementation guides
• Subscribe to our newsletter for construction financial management insights
• Follow RedHammer on LinkedIn for industry updates and best practices
• Contact RedHammer for personalized consultation on IES implementation

Related Articles:

1. IES Summer 2025 Updates: What Construction Companies Need to Know
2. Before You Ditch QBO: A Clear Look at the Construction Software Gap
3. Intuit Enterprise Suite: The Ultimate Project Accounting Solution
4. Intuit Launches New Agentic AI Experiences and Financial Management Capabilities for Intuit Enterprise Suite to Drive Mid-Market Business Growth
5. Intuit Introduces Intuit Enterprise Suite to Help Businesses Grow, Streamline Operations, and Scale

This guide is updated quarterly as Intuit releases new IES features. Last updated: November 2025. For the most current information about Intuit Enterprise Suite, visit Intuit's official website or contact an authorized partner.