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Empowering Car Wash Businesses: Leveraging Sage Intacct for Financial, Operational, and Construction Management

Car Washes Use Sage Intacct for Operational and Construction Management
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Car wash businesses operate in a demanding industry where efficient management of resources, finances, operations, and construction projects is crucial for success. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore how the Sage Intacct solution can empower car wash businesses by addressing their unique challenges and opportunities, including construction project management and using Intacct dashboards for enhanced visibility and decision-making.

Financial Management

Effective financial management is fundamental to the success of any car wash business, and Sage Intacct offers a powerful financial management solution tailored to meet the specific needs of car wash operations.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Intacct enables car wash owners to create detailed budgets and forecasts, considering factors such as seasonal fluctuations and project expenses. Car wash owners can accurately forecast construction costs for new facilities, including materials, labor, and equipment, ensuring efficient resource allocation.

Budgeting and Forecasting - Profit and Loss - Actual vs Budget-1

Accounts Receivable and Order Entry Invoicing

Intacct streamlines invoicing processes and manages accounts receivable, improving cash flow and reducing administrative overhead. Owners can generate invoices for construction services rendered, track payments, and manage project billing efficiently, ensuring timely revenue recognition.

Revenue Management for External Car Wash Software

In addition to construction billing management, Intacct can be configured to link to your external car wash. This will allow Intacct to bring in your revenue data via an API connection. Many of the same terms or dimensions used in this software can be configured within Intacct, allowing users to review data seamlessly in both systems.

Revenue Management for External Car Wash Software - Car Wash Sales Invoice Example-1

Financial Reporting

Intacct provides customizable financial reporting tools that offer insights into key performance indicators and financial metrics relevant to car wash businesses. Users can generate reports on project profitability, construction expenses, and cash flow projections, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Many of our clients enjoy using dashboards to display key metrics for business operations. Intacct allows users to create multiple dashboards for different user types (Examples include AP Manager, AR Manager, Controller, Project Management, CFO, etc). These dashboards allow users to display financial reports, performance cards (ex: Membership counts), and financial graphs.

Financial Dashboard showing charts and performance cards-1

Enhancing Operational Performance

Efficient operations are essential for delivering quality services and maximizing customer satisfaction in the car wash industry. Intacct software offers features designed to streamline operational processes and enhance overall efficiency.

Inventory Management

Intacct helps car wash owners manage inventory levels effectively, ensuring timely procurement of construction materials and supplies. By tracking inventory usage and reorder points, owners can optimize inventory levels for car wash construction projects or retail inventory, minimizing waste and reducing costs.

Example of Inventory Item including Item ID, Name, Product Line ID, GL Group, Item Type-1

Sage Intacct offers multiple inventory reporting features such as an overall analysis, costing, journals, recent registrations, reorders, status updates, and valuation. Inventory Report Menu including analysis, costing, journal, register, reorders, status, valuation

Intacct also allows for integration with Scanforce. This is a handheld device that technicians can use to move inventory between trucks that are created as a “virtual warehouse” and a physical warehouse, allowing for maximum on-the-go flexibility.

Employee Management

Intacct simplifies employee scheduling, time tracking, and payroll management, improving workforce productivity and project efficiency. Managers can schedule construction crews, track labor hours, and manage subcontractors efficiently, ensuring timely project completion and cost control.

Construction Project Management

Construction management is critical for car wash businesses, especially when building new facilities or expanding existing ones. Intacct software provides robust tools to streamline construction project management and enhance project efficiency.

Project Accounting

Intacct's project accounting features enable car wash owners to track construction costs, budgets, and timelines accurately. Owners can create project budgets, allocate expenses to specific construction tasks, and monitor project progress in real-time, ensuring projects stay on schedule and within budget. This is a helpful step when building new locations.

New car wash locations that are in the process of being built can be set up as internal projects.

Car Wash Locations set up as an internal project-1

Resource Allocation

Intacct helps optimize resource allocation by providing visibility into labor, equipment, and material costs associated with construction projects. Owners can allocate resources efficiently based on project requirements, availability, and budget constraints, maximizing productivity and minimizing downtime.

Project Reporting

Intacct offers comprehensive project reporting capabilities, allowing owners to generate reports on project performance, profitability, and variance analysis. Using Intacct dashboards for enhanced visibility and decision-making, owners can analyze construction project metrics, such as cost-to-completion, schedule adherence, and profit margins.

Integrating Your Point-of-Sale System

Many of our clients prefer to sync their existing POS system to Intacct. By syncing the daily sales from your existing software, you’re able to bring in statistical accounts. Statistical accounts are non-financial accounts that include membership renewals, membership terminations, employee headcount, and the number of washes in a day. These numbers can be combined with your general ledger account to create account groups. Examples include revenue per car, chemical costs per car, cars per labor hour, and the total number of membership plans.

Car Wash Operations Dashboard-1

In addition to statistical accounts, Intacct can accommodate tracking sales by item. This allows users to drill down into revenue accounts to the item level. Items can include items from your car wash shop inventory or membership plans you want to track. Each Intacct environment is fully customizable to your company’s needs. 

Tracking sales by item entries (iventory items, membership plans, ets.)-1


Want More Sage Intacct Features & Functions?

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Sarah Mazzie

Written by Sarah Mazzie

Sarah Mazzie is a Senior Solutions Architect with RKL eSolutions LLC and specializes in Sage Intacct Implementations. Her background includes management accounting roles in industries such as construction, manufacturing, and cyber security. When not working, Sarah enjoys spending time with family and friends, working out, scuba diving, and traveling.