A surety reviews your construction WIP report alongside your financial statements and other information when evaluating a bonding request. As your backlog grows from multimillion-dollar contracts to billion-dollar data center projects, quarter-end reporting must bring together more contracts, phases, joint ventures, and legal entities. Manual exports can make it harder to deliver current, auditable figures.
A late, incomplete, or hard-to-reconcile WIP report can prompt requests for more detail, delay the review, or complicate the surety’s assessment of how much capacity to support. The schedule must help the underwriter see how each contract is performing and how those results add up across your portfolio:
Why Data Center Backlogs Raise the Stakes for Surety Review
Rapid growth in data center construction gives sureties a larger, more complex backlog to evaluate. MSI Economics’ Sizing the Surge report projects U.S. data center construction spending will rise from $11 billion in 2022 to $86 billion in 2026. In Turner & Townsend’s latest 2026–2027 Data Centre Construction Cost Index, 56% of respondents identified access to power as a major delivery obstacle, and 81% listed utility availability among their top two power constraints. Fortis Construction’s data center executive told Building Design + Construction that clients expect partners to meet tight schedule and cost requirements. These pressures can change schedules, procurement plans, and cost-to-complete estimates — the inputs that shape the WIP a surety reviews.
One general-contractor program may span multiple campuses, each with its own subcontractor commitments and job costs. A consistent WIP view helps the surety assess the backlog across that program. MEP contractors working on data center programs face similar reporting pressure as they coordinate labor, equipment, and commitments.
The surety also needs to see whether reported forecasts reflect current project conditions. Grid delays and long-lead equipment can push projects away from the assumptions in a cost-to-complete forecast. When changes do not reach accounting and finance before the reporting date, data center project forecasts become harder to keep current, and WIP reporting for data center contractors can fall out of step with field conditions.
On a hypothetical $4 billion program, a one-percentage-point difference in estimated completion equates to $40 million in earned revenue when applied to the full contract value. As contract values grow, small WIP errors can create material dollar variances in the picture an underwriter sees when evaluating backlog.
What a Surety Underwriter Looks for in a Construction WIP Report
An underwriter uses your WIP report to understand the status and expected profitability of your open contracts. For each contract, the schedule brings together its value, costs to date, billings, estimated cost to complete, earned revenue, and projected gross profit. These figures help the surety assess each project and the portfolio as a whole. The National Association of Surety Bond Producers explains that underwriters also consider a contractor’s financial strength, experience, equipment, management capacity, and character. WIP is one part of that broader review.
To rely on the picture the WIP presents, an underwriter needs your figures to be supported by project records and reconciled with the financial statements. Contract values should reflect approved scope, and costs and commitments should be current. Cost-to-complete estimates should account for schedule shifts, procurement changes, and data center construction budget pressures. Approved change orders should reach the forecast, since late scope updates can extend the close cycle. Billings and earned revenue should follow your company’s documented accounting policies.
When WIP figures don’t tie to the general ledger or project records, the underwriter may request a reconciliation or more detail before deciding how much capacity to support. Your accounting and finance team needs to be able to identify the records behind the reported figures and explain how they were calculated.
Manual WIP Reporting Makes the Portfolio Harder for a Surety to Assess
When your accounting and finance team exports job costs, updates spreadsheet forecasts, reconciles entities, and assembles WIP reporting by hand, figures can come from different points in the close. A project manager may revise cost to complete after the monthly job-cost export, leaving the WIP with a newer forecast but older cost data. That can make reported project margins harder to support when a surety asks how the backlog is performing. Craft labor and payroll accuracy also affects the job-cost figures behind that view.
Formula checks and reconciliations take time your team could use to review backlog, margin changes, and bonding needs before a surety review. Current project data also gives executives a clearer view of portfolio margin before consolidation is complete, helping them spot and explain trends that shape the WIP.
When WIP Figures Need Correction
A material error in previously issued financial statements may require a restatement. Even if an error is limited to WIP, your CFO may need to send revised figures to a lender or surety. An owner may also need updated information if it relied on the original figures during prequalification. These corrections can prompt questions about how the earlier WIP was prepared and reviewed.
A traceable record of estimates, approvals, and changes helps your accounting and finance team explain what changed and when. It also supports discussions with lenders, sureties, and owners about backlog, margin, and cash requirements. The same figures guide internal planning: underbillings, overbillings, costs, and collection timing affect working capital. Keeping them current supports an accurate cash forecast for data center construction.
Automate WIP Reporting and Support a More Traceable Review
To address the reporting challenges described above, Sage Intacct Construction can automate monthly WIP statements, create general ledger transactions for overbilling and underbilling, and retain WIP data in the ERP system. Automation can make statement preparation more consistent, while project managers and accounting and finance teams remain responsible for forecast assumptions and cost-to-complete estimates.
Automation handles preparation; it does not determine how a contract’s revenue should be recognized. Sage Intacct supports revenue recognition schedules based on percentage of completion and milestones. Under ASC 606, a company first determines whether a performance obligation qualifies for recognition over time. If it does, the company must use a consistent input or output method that depicts progress toward satisfying the obligation. Contract terms and the company’s accounting policy determine which treatment applies.
A surety’s review also depends on being able to understand how reported figures changed. Sage Intacct audit trails record who changed supported records and when. Role-based permissions let administrators control access to information and functions. Audit trails are useful for WIP review only when the relevant records and events are covered. For WIP forecasts specifically, the cost forecast history feature in Sage Intacct 2026 R3 remains in Early Adopter status and is available to select customers.
GeoTechnologies, an engineering firm, reported saving 15 hours a month on project-based revenue reports after reducing Excel work; it said Sage Intacct paid for itself in less than five months. The profile also says Sage Intacct sped up annual delivery of financial data to the company’s insurance carrier for policy underwriting, a process that previously took multiple weeks in Excel. This example concerns insurance underwriting, not contractor WIP or surety bonding, but it shows how manual reporting can complicate external review.
Superior Masonry, a masonry contractor, moved to Sage Intacct Construction after database corruption made its prior system unusable, forcing staff to process paperwork manually and halting operations. The company integrated Sage Intacct Construction with Procore to connect project management and financial reporting. The move gave Superior a multi-tenant cloud platform with ongoing software updates. That example speaks to continuity and integration through a cloud transition; it does not establish hyperscaler security compliance. Data center contractors still need to address each owner’s security documentation requirements and broader cybersecurity risks in data center construction.
Give Your Surety a Construction WIP Report It Can Follow
An accurate, supportable construction WIP report gives your surety a clearer view of your active work as it considers a larger bond request. When figures do not reconcile across your portfolio, the surety may need more detail before it can assess how much capacity to support.
Contact SWK Technologies to discuss your WIP reporting requirements and how Sage Intacct Construction can support your team as your portfolio grows.