Managing project-based financial reports requires careful coordination between time tracking, resource allocation and billing. The Acumatica Project Accounting module offers powerful features that can significantly improve efficiency when configured correctly. These tips demonstrate practical ways to optimize your project setup and workflows:
1. Use Non-Stock Items to Track Services for Better Reporting
Why This Matters: Many service-based businesses skip setting up non-stock items because they do not sell physical products. However, non-stock items provide a structured way to track different service types and generate detailed metrics outside standard financial reports.
How to Implement:
- Navigate to Inventory > Non-Stock Items
- Create an item for each distinct service type your team delivers
- Assign appropriate GL sales accounts to each item
- Use descriptive IDs that make sense to your team (e.g., “CONSULT-SENIOR” or “DESIGN-UI”)
The Benefit: This structure enables you to report on service utilization by type, analyze which services generate the most revenue and identify trends without running complex financial reports. You can quickly answer questions like “How many hours of senior consulting did we deliver last quarter?” without digging through time entries.
2. Leverage Default Labor Items to Speed Up Time Entry
The Problem: When employees consistently deliver the same type of service, repeatedly selecting the labor item in time entry becomes tedious and error-prone.
The Solution:
- In employee setup, populate the “Default Labor Item” field with the service they most frequently provide
- This value auto-populates when creating time entries for that employee
- Users can still change it when needed, but the default handles 80% of cases
Real-World Impact: For a team of 20 consultants each entering time daily, this seemingly small change eliminates hundreds of extra clicks per week and reduces data entry errors.
3. Organize Projects with Task-Level Granularity
The Setup: Projects in Acumatica support unlimited tasks, allowing you to break work into logical components. Each task can have its own:
- Budget allocations
- Billing rules
- Resource assignments
- GL account mappings
- Start and end dates
Best Practice: Think of tasks as the “what” within the “who” (project). For consulting engagements, tasks might represent deliverables or phases. For ongoing services, tasks might represent different service categories or locations.
Navigation Tip: Use the side panel view to quickly review task details without opening each one separately. The panel displays task information while keeping your main project view accessible.
4. Master the Excel Import/Export Workflow for Bulk Updates
When to Use: Adding multiple tasks to a project, updating billing information across several projects or loading initial project data during implementation.
Step-by-Step Process:
- Create Your Template:
- Navigate to any screen with a transaction grid
- Click the export icon to generate an Excel file
- This file becomes your template with the correct column structure
- Prepare Your Data:
- Edit the Excel file with your new or updated information
- Critical: Ensure column headers match Acumatica field names exactly (spaces matter)
- Example: “Task ID” with a space ≠ “TaskID” without a space
- Import Back to Acumatica:
- Click “Load records from file” icon
- Browse and select your Excel file
- Choose your mode:
- Insert all records (skips duplicates)
- Update existing records
- Review the column mapping screen
- Map any unmapped columns manually if headers did not match exactly
- Click OK to load
Pro Tip: If column names do not match, the system prompts you to manually map them. Keep a standardized template saved so you do not need to remap each time.
5. Utilize Side Panels for Multi-View Navigation
The Feature: Acumatica’s side panels let you view related information without leaving your current screen.
Common Side Panels in Project Accounting:
- Customer Panel: Shows AR customer information while working in projects
- Project Transaction Details: Displays real-time financial activity
How to Use Them:
- Toggle panels open/closed using the icons on the right side of the screen
- Click the pencil icon next to customer fields to open the full record in a new window
- Keep panels open for quick reference or close them for more workspace
Why It Helps: Instead of constantly switching between projects, customers and transaction screens, keep relevant context visible. This is especially valuable when discussing projects with customers on the phone.
6. Configure Time Entry to Flow Directly to Project Costing
The Integration: Time entries in Acumatica automatically post to projects when properly configured, capturing both costs and creating billable transactions in one step.
Setup Requirements:
- Assign employees to projects (or allow them to select from active projects)
- Configure labor items with appropriate GL accounts
- Set up billing rules at the project or task level
- Mark activities as billable or non-billable
The Workflow:
- Employee enters time via browser or mobile app
- Selects project and task
- Chooses labor item (or accepts default)
- Time automatically calculates
- Upon approval, costs post to project
- Billable time becomes available for invoicing
Efficiency Gain: Eliminates duplicate data entry and ensures project costs are always current for accurate margin analysis.
7. Implement Billing Rules at the Task Level for Flexibility
The Capability: Acumatica allows different billing configurations for each task within a project, providing flexibility for complex engagements.
Configuration Options:
- Time & Materials with different rate tables per task
- Fixed-price for specific deliverables
- Non-billable for internal tasks
- Different markup percentages by task type
Use Case Example: A single project might have:
- Task 1: Discovery phase at senior consultant rates (T&M)
- Task 2: Implementation at blended team rates (T&M)
- Task 3: Training as fixed-price deliverable
- Task 4: Internal project management (non-billable)
Setup Location: Configure billing rules in the task setup under the project record, accessible via the Tasks tab.
8. Track Budgets at Both Project and Task Levels
Budget Tabs Available:
- Revenue Budget: Track expected income
- Cost Budget: Track expected expenses
- Balances: View actuals against budget in real-time
Best Practice: Enter budgets by period to track performance over time, not just against total project budget. This helps identify timing issues early.
Real-Time Visibility: The system calculates:
- Actual Income vs. Budget
- Actual Expenses vs. Budget
- Margin percentages
- Variances by period
When to Review: Make budget review part of your regular project status meetings. The real-time nature of Acumatica means your data is always current.
9. Use Search Functionality to Navigate Faster
The Feature: Acumatica’s global search functionality helps you locate records quickly without drilling through menu structures.
When to Use It:
- Finding a specific project by ID or name
- Locating employee records
- Accessing customer information
- Pulling up transaction details
How It Works:
- Enter search terms in the global search box
- System returns matching results across modules
- Click to navigate directly to the record
Time Savings: For frequently accessed projects, searching is often faster than navigating through Projects > Project List > Filter > Select.
10. Customize List Views and Filters for Your Workflow
List View Options: Every major screen in Acumatica opens with a list view showing all records. You can customize these views:
- Create custom filters (by status, customer and date range)
- Save frequently used filter combinations
- Sort by any column
- Show/hide columns based on what you need
Example Filters:
- “My Active Projects” – Shows only projects you manage that are in-progress
- “Ready to Bill” – Projects with unbilled time activities
- “Over Budget” – Projects where actuals exceed budget
- “Ending This Month” – Projects approaching completion
Setup: Use the filter controls at the top of list screens, and save custom views for reuse.
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