Choosing the Best Construction Financial Software for Project Success

By

Tamara Aspeling

and Sarah Dean

Last Updated Jan 28, 2026

By

Tamara Aspeling

and Sarah Dean

Finance in construction isn’t like any other industry. It’s more complex, has far more moving parts involved in getting from order to final invoice, and requires collaboration across the entire organization. That’s why choosing the best construction financial software is an important step for any construction company.

Managing construction project finances is nearly as complicated as managing the project itself, but software can simplify many parts of the project. Here's how construction financial management software can meet the demands of the industry — and how to find and choose the best fit for your team.

Construction's Unique Financial Management Demands

Progress billing, change orders, and complex cash flow management are all recognizable financial management challenges that are mostly unique to the construction industry — but they’re not the only ones.

Some of the biggest financial management challenges in the construction world stem from how construction companies and projects are structured and who has financial input into those projects.

Usually, everything starts in the estimating department, where cost specialists calculate pricing for bids and quotes. Sourcing prices, accurately estimating labor requirements and productivity rates, and accounting for fixed costs, equipment, legal compliance, and more are all required to keep projects profitable.

After a project is awarded, project management, procurement, operations, and logistics might all be involved in financial matters, whether it’s ordering specialized services or materials, onboarding new vendors, or arranging the import of materials or equipment.

During the project, there’s a delicate balancing act between ensuring that all work happens on time, planning, ordering, and deliveries, and minimizing idle time for equipment, all while accurately predicting progress, billing, and ensuring it reaches the client’s team before the monthly cutoff date.

Most projects will have dozens or hundreds of change orders, all of which might raise or lower the overall contract value, and some of which might not be fully quantifiable for weeks or even months, and if a project runs over time, there’s a chance that penalties might come into play.

Finally, after (and sometimes during) project teams conduct detailed costing, comparing the initial estimate to the final cost, and using that data to make adjustments to future projects.

Construction financial software not only has to do everything a typical accounting system does, but also solve all of those specific issues.

Why Construction Financial Software Matters

When considering how many unique finance-related operations take place every day in the typical construction company environment, it’s really not surprising that choosing purpose-made financial management software for construction really does matter.

While some companies still use traditional accounting packages, they usually don’t integrate with all those other tools and processes, leading to more errors, less accuracy, and significantly increased rework.

Smaller construction companies might be able to re-enter the same data in several different systems, but the cost and manpower to do that becomes prohibitive as soon as they begin scaling. 

The thing that's going to make us most prone to errors is the volume of transactions.

And if you could find tools that will help you to handle that volume, group that volume and sort that volume very quickly — with not a lot of human effort — that could prevent a lot of errors.

TJ Forbes

Senior Solutions Engineer

Procore Technologies

Common Financial Challenges for Construction Companies Using Traditional Accounting Software

Many construction companies start out using traditional accounting software, and some adapt over time. However, once any construction business starts growing, its finance teams are likely to run into the same types of problems.

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  Data Silos

  With so many highly specialized software requirements in most construction companies, it’s highly likely that data will be siloed on those different platforms, and when integrations are limited or absent, extracting information is difficult and time-consuming.

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  Duplicate Entries

  When different departments are recording the same transactions in different ways and in various places, it’s easy to manually enter the same information more than once.

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  Slow or Inaccurate Reporting

  It can take a notoriously long time for construction finance information to get from the field to the estimating and project management office and then finally back to accounting, which can significantly delay important reporting.

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  Missed Billing Deadlines

  Most construction projects have strict progress billing deadlines, and if they are missed, it could mean a missed payment cycle. Using outdated accounting software can significantly increase the risk of this happening.

Key Features of the Best Construction Financial Software

There’s a lot more construction finance software out there than there used to be. On the one hand, that’s a good thing, because there’s more choice. But on the other hand, it can make choosing the right software much more difficult.

Fortunately, good financial management software for construction will always share some common features.

• Integration with Estimating Tools

  In many ways, estimating creates the financial framework for every project, so a construction finance software that integrates with your estimating software is a fantastic way to start strong.

• Project Budgeting Features

  Translating an estimate from the estimating office to projects and even field supervisors is another big milestone in the financial workflow of any construction project, so choosing a tool that can handle this process is a must.

• Job Cost Tracking

  Any company that is only costing jobs once they’re signed off and finished is taking a big risk. Job costing should be an ongoing process, and construction finance software that allows this during the project is a must.

• Mobile Access and Field Reporting

  Not every invoice will arrive conveniently at the company's head office, addressed to the CFO. That’s why it’s important that modern construction finance software includes mobile access and field reporting tools.

• Granular Access and Security

  Robust and customizable security and access control features are important, especially at companies implementing software across diverse levels of business with many different types of parties who need access.

• Automated Audit Trails and Compliance

  Good financial management software for construction will have automated and integrated audit trails and compliance assurance, so everything is above board and legally compliant.

• User-friendly Interface

  Modern construction software of any kind — including construction finance software — must be intuitive, easy to use, and easy to master. Easy onboarding tools and legacy system migration are a definite bonus here, and help to take some of the pain out of adopting a new system.

• Custom Reporting

  Financial reports are essential for decision-making, identifying problems, improving systems, and so many other elements of running a successful construction business. Different departments and managers need to see distinct types of data, presented in different ways, so a construction finance software system that offers flexible, customizable reports for every situation is key.

The truth is, construction finance software must do so much more than a typical accounting system — and with the fast pace of modern construction, it must do it all in as near to real-time as possible.

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Comparing Financial Software for Construction

Choosing any new software system or digital platform for a construction business is a daunting task, but because of how crucial financial management is to construction company success, there’s an extra layer of difficulty when selecting this type of system.

Every company will have a slightly different path to finding the right fit, but there are a few key elements that should form part of the process.

Involve other departments.

While choosing construction finance software is ultimately a management decision (usually driven by a CFO or accountant) there are many other departments that will be contributing directly to the success of the system that is chosen.

Getting feedback and input from those departments can help to identify elements that might otherwise be missed.

Look for scalable solutions.

Unless you are never planning to grow your construction business, the construction finance software you need today and the one you need in five years might be vastly different. Many software companies have considered this and offer a tiered system that can grow and scale with your company.

As the company scales, so does the complexity of its projects. At a certain point, most contracting firms find that they need more sophisticated solutions.

Brendan McGurk

Strategic Product Consultant - Construction Financials

Procore Technologies

Never skip the trial.

Even when a company has a product demo with a sales team, it’s hard to really get a feel for the software in question without actually using it. That’s why it’s always a good idea to request a free trial and really use it to stress-test the system and see if it will actually get the job done.

Consider how existing systems fit.

Some construction companies might already have tools and systems for estimating, project management, procurement, and other departments and divisions.

Ideally, any new construction finance system should be as compatible as possible with those systems, with direct integration wherever possible. Some software companies will offer APIs, bridges, and plugins to facilitate this, so providing a list of the existing tech stack is always wise.

Focus on support and onboarding.

Because changing any digital system for another can be one of the most difficult events in a company’s evolution, make sure that the software that is ultimately chosen offers world-class technical support and onboarding assistance. The more help there is to hit the ground running, the better.

Financial Software: Delivering the Full Package

Good financial software for construction is more than just an accounting package. It’s a collaboration and communication tool that links all of the many departments and processes within construction companies, creates a centralized, single source of financial truth, and allows for real-time data capture, reporting, and analysis.

While it won’t fix estimating errors or productivity problems, it can certainly help to identify them, and that can be as good as money in the bank. So take some extra time when choosing this type of software. It could very well be a game-changer.

Written by

Tamara Aspeling

Writer & Construction Estimator

12 articles

Tamara Aspeling is a trained construction estimator and project manager with 25 years of industry experience. She started writing professionally in 2008 and has since written extensively for the construction industry, including publications like Modular Advantage magazine. She is also a traditionally published nonfiction author and the owner of The Construction Writer Inc. Tamara studied at Western Province Technical College in South Africa and completed her national certificate in 1999. She also holds an SEO Certification from Google and a Content Marketing Certification from HubSpot.

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Sarah Dean

Senior Content Editor | Procore Technologies

Sarah Dean is the Senior Content Editor for Procore Technologies and has been writing and editing in the construction space since 2020.

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