Accounting and payroll, built in
Accounting lives in the same place as the work, so there's no second program and no double entry. Invoices, payments, expenses, bills and payroll post themselves, and the bookkeeper's tools are there when you need them.
The intro, in words
From the finished job to a closed month
This is accounting and payroll in CrewBarn, followed one invoice at a time: sent, paid, matched to the bank, and closed into the month.
At Harlow and Finch, Dana runs the office, and the books. There's no second program, and nothing typed in twice.
Billing: Finished, so it's billed
Thursday, Sam taps Check out on Mrs. Rivera's water heater, and the invoice is made from the job as a draft.
Dana's Money desk is a to-do list. Under Finished but not billed, the Rivera job is waiting. She presses Send.
The invoice turns Sent, and it posts to the books on its own: one thousand three hundred and eighty dollars owed to Harlow and Finch.
Billing: Sent is in the books. Email is to her.
Sending makes it real in the books, but it doesn't email anyone. So Dana opens View / Print invoice and presses Email.
The button says Emailed, and Mrs. Rivera gets the invoice in her inbox. Text would send her a link to view and pay it online.
Getting paid: Paid, and posted
The next Tuesday, Mrs. Rivera's check comes in the mail. Dana opens the invoice and presses Record payment.
She picks Check, types the amount and the check number, and presses Save payment.
The invoice turns Paid, and the payment posts to the books by itself. Dana takes the check to the bank.
Getting paid: Paid online, or reminded
If Mrs. Rivera had paid by card in her portal instead, the invoice would turn Paid the moment she did, and the payment would post the same way.
And if nothing came at all, once it's past due the invoice moves to Late on the Money desk. Dana presses Remind, and a reminder goes out with a pay link.
The bank: Every deposit has its payments
Two days later, the deposit shows up in the bank feed. The Money desk lists it under Bank deposits to match, and Dana presses Review.
Bank match has already guessed: the row is Suggested, with Mrs. Rivera's check payment beside it.
Dana presses the suggestion. It asks, Match this bank row to the payment? She says yes, and the row is Matched.
The bank: A promise is not a payment
Now a bank transfer. Priya, in accounts at Bayside Property Group, opens their invoice in the portal and picks bank transfer. She sees Harlow and Finch's bank details.
She sends the money from her bank, then presses I've sent it. That's a promise, not a payment: Dana's invoice shows a transfer on the way, and stays unpaid.
The bank: It lands, and it's paid
Harlow and Finch has bank watching on. When Bayside's deposit arrives, its description carries the invoice number, and the amount is the balance.
So CrewBarn records the payment, marks the invoice Paid, and matches the row, with nobody touching it. Anything less certain waits in Bank match, with the invoices offered as suggestions.
The bank: Every row gets an answer
Money going out with no match, like a hardware store run, gets Create expense, or Split across more than one. Mark other files it as something else, and Ignore skips it.
At the end of the statement, Dana types its dates and ending balance and presses Save reconciliation. The difference is zero, so she knows it balances.
The bank: Nothing typed twice
From Check out to a matched bank row, the invoice, the payment and the deposit each went into the books once, by themselves.
Payroll: Worked out the way it will post
Payday. Sam's and Jo's rates and commission live in their pay profiles. Dana picks the dates of the pay period.
Check before posting shows what each of them would be paid, worked out the same way the posted run will be. Looking changes nothing.
Under Not billed yet, one job finished this period was never invoiced, so it isn't in anyone's pay. She can bill it first, or post anyway.
Payroll: Posted, and locked
Dana presses Post payroll closeout and confirms the total. The period's pay goes into the books, and the period is locked.
CrewBarn works out pay and records it. It doesn't send the paychecks, so Dana pays the way she always has.
Month end: Nothing missing from the books
End of the month. Dana opens the general ledger: the income statement, the balance sheet, and every account's balance.
The posting check says: everything in this period has made it into the books. If an invoice, payment, expense, bill or payroll run hadn't, it would be listed to fix.
Month end: Filed, and the profit by job
It's quarter end too, so she opens Sales tax: what her invoices collected, split the way she files it. She files, then enters the amount and presses Post payment.
Then she asks a report a plain question: which jobs actually made money? The answer is revenue minus parts, labor and subs, for every job.
Month end: Closed, so nothing moves
Last, Dana presses Close on the month. When her accountant has looked it over, she presses Lock, and nothing new can change it. Reopen is there if it ever has to be.
And if the accountant keeps QuickBooks Online, CrewBarn syncs with it, so they work from the same numbers.
The whole tree: Check out to a locked month
That's one invoice, start to finish: made from the job, sent, emailed, paid, matched to the bank, and closed into a locked month.
And every branch had an answer: a card in the portal, a late reminder, a bank transfer that paid itself off, money out with no match, and payday.
No double entry, the bank matched, and the profit on every job.
Accounting & payroll: One place for the work and the books
That's accounting and payroll in CrewBarn.
CrewBarn is in beta, and free for life for trades that help test it.
The general ledger
Everything CrewBarn records lands in the books as proper bookkeeping, and most of it posts itself. You get an income statement, a balance sheet, every account's balance, every journal entry and where cash came from and went. A check confirms that every invoice, payment, expense, bill and payroll run for the period made it into the books, and lists anything that didn't.
For a bookkeeper there are manual journal entries for opening balances and corrections, owner draws, the year-end close into retained earnings, and closing or locking a month you've reviewed so nothing new can change it.
Bank matching
Line your bank statement up with what CrewBarn recorded, so every deposit has its payments. Bank rows with no match yet, or a guess waiting for you, are listed to confirm. Type a statement's dates and ending balance, and the review is saved with the difference, so you know it balances. With bank watching turned on for your account, new deposits from your business checking land in bank match and pay off invoices on their own.
Sales tax
See the tax your invoices collected for a month, a quarter or your own dates, split into taxable and non-taxable sales and by each tax and who you pay it to. Record the payment when you file, and it goes into your books. Every invoice behind the total is there, with a PDF and a spreadsheet.
Expenses and vendor bills
Keep an expense register by category, with expenses you can bill back to customers. Techs send receipts from their phones, and reimbursements wait for approval. Vendor bills track what you owe and when it's due, with part payments and aging. You can see which contractors you've paid enough to need a 1099, and who's missing a W-9.
Payroll and job profit
Set each person's pay rate and commission in their pay profile. For each period, CrewBarn works out what everyone earned, the same way the posted run will, along with paid time off and reimbursements. Check it, then post the period to lock it and put it in the books. CrewBarn works out pay and records it; it doesn't send the paychecks. You also see revenue, labor and margin for each tech, so you know who's making you money, and profit by job.
Reports
Reports are asked as plain questions, like who owes me or which techs make the most. The answer comes first, then the table behind it, with PDF and spreadsheet downloads. Save the views you use most.
QuickBooks, if you keep it
Prefer to keep your accountant's QuickBooks Online? Connect it, and CrewBarn pulls in customers, items and invoices, and pushes customers and invoices that aren't there yet, without duplicating what's already linked. Mappings match your accounts, tax codes and items to theirs, and you can export journal entries for any date range.
How it works
- Work as usual: invoices, payments, expenses and bills post themselves.
- Match bank rows and save each statement review.
- Record sales tax payments and vendor bill payments as you make them.
- Check the payroll period, then post it to lock it.
- Close the month, and read the reports your accountant asks for.