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Financial Management of Construction Contracts (Constructability and its Relation with TQM, Cost Shifting Risk and Cost/Benefit)
Tauqir Haider Tauqir Haider is a qualified Professional Accountant, Visiting Faculty member in leading Universities of Pakistan for Finance subjects and having a wide experience on construction contracts (Various World Bank Projects), Consultant & Visiting faculty Member (ACMA-PAK & CMA-USA) E-mail: tauqirhaider890@gmail.com,tauqirhaider890@hotmail.com Tel: 92-042-5184870; Fax: 92-042-9203515 Abstract Financial Management, Book Keeping and Recognition of Construction contracts is now considered as a unique professional job due to its recognition by IASB (International Accounting Standard Board) through IAS (International Accounting Standard) 11. IAS 11 specifically deals with Construction Contracts. This very standard has provided the basis for Constructability. Constructability has received considerable attention from researchers and practicing engineers and other professionals. This is a fact that Constructability has been associated with Total Quality Management (TQM) and Value Engineering. This paper attempts to conceptually describe Cost shifting Risk, Cost/Benefit analysis as well as the evolution of constructability in relation to IAS 11.In addition, the paper presents a framework to measure recognition of Cost and revenues related to Construction Contracts.By providing professionals with this framework, the parameters will be visible and defined, thus removing skepticism as to the financial management as well as enable more consistent and uniform results to be obtained. Additionally, this paper will provide Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements to determine when contract revenue and expenses in the income statement.
1. Introduction
A Construction Contract is a contract specifically negotiated for the construction of an asset or a combination of Assets that are closely interrelated or interdependent in terms of their design, technology and function or their ultimate purpose or use (Construction Contract: IAS 11 1995) 1. Managing the activities of Construction contract in a productive way produces the concept of Constructability. Constructability has been defined as the optimum use of construction knowledge and experience in planning, design, procurement, and field operations to achieve overall project objectives ("Constructability: A Primer" 1986). As a result of constructability, the quality of a constructed facility
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IAS 11 specifically deals with the management, Accounting and recognition of Construction contracts. Construction contracts are given a specific identification through IAS 11.
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can be improved by better communication among major project participants such as design engineers and construction professionals. Communication among these participants reduces the chance of project failure and other related performance problems. Cost shifting 2 is an accidental or deliberate misstatement in a contractors job cost system that can have a substantial impact on the contractors balance sheet and income statement. Both contractors and their auditors should be aware of the potential impact of shifts in job costs from one contract to another. The contractor should have a reliable job cost system in place to record contract costs accurately. The auditor should always test contract costs and look for unusual contract costing trends. There is considerable discussion among industry professionals as to how constructability is related to Total Quality Management (TQM) and value engineering. This paper attempts to conceptually describe these interrelations. It also presents a framework to measure costs and benefits related to constructability. Significant attention has been given to the topic of Construction Contract (IAS-11), The Construction Management 1991, "Constructability: A Primer" 1986, Audit of Contract: A Practical Guide 2005, Constructability: An Article of Tauqir Haider in The NEWS, Total Quality Management in Construction Contracts: By James. Santee 2006, Value Engineering and Cost Benefit: Costing Techniques By Houston & jordeen 2003.
Cost shifting is an illegal practice that can change results and outcomes seriously. A fixed price contract is a construction contract in which the contractor agrees to a fixed contract price, or fixed rate per unit of output, which in some cases is subject to cost escalation clauses. A cost plus contract is a construction contract in which the contractor is reimbursed for allowable or otherwise defined costs, plus a percentage of these costs or a fixed fee.
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A contract may provide for the construction of an additional asset at the option of the customer or may be amended to include the construction of an additional asset. The construction of the additional asset shall be treated as a separate construction contract when: a. The asset differs significantly in design, technology or function from the asset or assets covered by the original contract. b. The price of the asset is negotiated without regard to the original contract price.
Contract revenue is the initial amount of revenue agreed or variation in contract and claim or reliable measurement. Contract cost directly relates to the specific contract, costs are attributable to the contract activity in general and other costs specifically chargeable to the customer under the terms of the contract. A format used to describe the cost and structure of a project. This PC-1 is required to be approved by the Planning Commission before execution. Mobilization advance is normally a certain percentage (usually 10%) of the total contract that is paid as advance to start work on it against bank guarantee. Running Bill is a periodic basis Bill which is submitted along with stage of completion for payment.
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and the payment is made on the work which is certified by the concerned professionals. Some advance payment cans also be availed on the availability of material stock which is again adjusted in future. In the Final Bill all adjustments are done to close the matter however Bank guarantee remains in custody up till the end of the specified period of satisfactory work.
5. Cost Shifting
It is now a day in routine to find out many corporations improperly booking assets related to uncompleted construction contracts. To the public, it seems improbable that a qualified auditor could simply overlook the improper capitalization of significant assets. However, traditional audit procedures designed without construction accounting in mind can fail to detect the improper booking of assets related to uncompleted construction contracts. Significant cost shifting can quickly cause a material misstatement to a contractors financial statement and leave the contractor and the auditor open to serious charges. Cost shifting is an accidental or deliberate misstatement in a contractors job cost system that can have a substantial impact on the contractors balance sheet and income statement. The most dangerous type of cost shifting involves moving or misdirecting job costs from an unprofitable job to a profitable job. Cash and accounts payable balances are unaffected. Accounts receivable and expense account balances are also unaffected. In many cases, however, cost shifting can have a balance sheet and income statement impact larger than the amount of the costs that have been shifted. 5.1. What is the Effect of Cost Shifting? At first glance, the movement of costs from one contract to another would seem to have little or no overall financial statement impact. It seems improbable that a substantial misstatement of profits could occur without affecting any expense accounts. It also seems improbable that profits could swing without booking any additional billings. However, many contractors and their auditors have discovered the dramatic impact that cost shifting can have on a companys financial statement. The example below shows the substantial gross profit impact of a $200,000 cost shifting entry:
Contract A Completed Contract Before Cost Shifting Contract Amount Estimated Job Costs Estimated Profit Billings to date Overbilling (Liability) Revenue to date Costs to date Gross Profit to date Job percentage complete $1,200,000 (1,300,000) ($ 100,000) $1,200,000 1,200,000 (1,300,000) ($ 100,000) 100% Contract B Uncompleted Contract $1,500,000 (1,200,000) $ 300,000 $ 600,000 (100,000) 500,000 (400,000) $ 100,000 33%
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International Research Journal of Finance and Economics - Issue 28 (2009) After Cost Shifting ($200,000 of costs are shifted from Contract A to Contract B)
Contract Amount Estimated Job Costs Estimated Profit Billings to date Underbilling (Asset) Revenue to date Costs to date Gross Profit to date Job percentage complete Increase in gross profit
$1,500,000 (1,200,000) $ 300,000 $ 600,000 150,000 750,000 (600,000) $ 150,000 50% $ 50,000
In this example, Completed Contract A improves by $200,000 due to the costs shifted off the job. However, Uncompleted Contract B also improves because the contract is now 50% complete rather than 33% complete. Because Contract B is incomplete, gross profit is recognized on the percentage of completion basis. Therefore, Contract B recognizes 50% of the estimated gross profit for the entire job ($150,000) rather than 33% of the gross profit for the entire job ($100,000). The $200,000 cost shifting entry improved the books of the contractor by a total of $250,000. In this example, Uncompleted Contract B received $200,000 of costs which did not belong to that job. When Contract B is completed, it will either finish $200,000 over budget or another cost shifting entry will occur. 5.2. Who Benefits from Cost Shifting? Although the big corporate cases grab the headlines, most cost shifting does not occur when a corporation tries to manipulate its balance sheet. Cost shifting occurs most frequently when field level managers attempt to manipulate contract profitability. Cost shifting can also happen accidentally although the consequences usually are not as severe. Contractors often pay bonuses to their field managers and estimators based on the profitability of completed contracts. In the above example, the estimator of Contract A might receive a bonus based on the false assumption that the contract was profitable. Or, the superintendent of Contracts A and B might deliberately miscode invoices from one job to another to hide losses that occurred under his supervision. 5.3. How to Spot Cost Shifting The only way the contractors balance sheet changes when cost shifting occurs is that under billings (an asset) increase and over billings (a liability) decrease. Under billings should be rare, especially in contracts over 50% complete. Auditors and other users of contractors financial statements should look at under billings skeptically and investigate each under billing carefully. Many users of contractors financial statements prepare fade schedules. A fade schedule measures a contractors job profit forecasts versus the final profit on a job. At a minimum, significant contract fades can indicate poor job profitability forecasting. At worst, contract fades can indicate cost shifting has occurred. Traditional audit procedures designed for non-contractors will not detect cost shifting. Tests designed to search for unrecorded liabilities or to detect improper cutoff of expenses will only reflect that all costs have been reported in the proper period. Tests designed to find improperly booked billings or receivables will find no exceptions. Audit test work for cost shifting must focus on the accuracy of job costing procedures.
International Research Journal of Finance and Economics - Issue 28 (2009) 5.4. Controls and Audit Steps Designed to Detect Cost Shifting
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Intentional cost shifting constitutes fraud by some member of a contractors management. While audits are not specifically designed to detect fraud, an auditor must test contract costs and internal control systems. The following steps are designed to prevent or detect cost shifting: 5.4.1 Strong internal controls for job cost coding Project managers should not have free reign to code job cost invoices without accounting review. 5.4.2 Test Job costs for accuracy At a minimum, every audit of a contractor must include random testing of contract costs and the related cost coding. The most significant components of the contractors job costs should receive the heaviest scrutiny. 5.4.3 Compare job costs against bid documents Every contractor should estimate contracts in the same manner in which they record job costs. An auditor should test job costs for significant contracts by comparing each line item of job cost against the original forecast. Any overruns should be explained and, preferably, documented with a change order. 5.4.4 Test revised profitability estimates against bid documents Very often, cost shifting is accompanied by an upward revision in contract profitability. This actually makes the financial impact of the cost shift even more drastic. An auditor should test revised profitability estimates against original bid estimates in the same manner in which job costs are compared against bid documents. Cost shifting by field personnel can also involve directing a subcontractor to invoice the wrong contract. Comparison of subcontract costs on particular line items versus the original bid amount can help spot this type of cost shifting. 5.4.5 Analytically test job cost components Contractors who perform similar types of work should have comparable costs from job to job. For instance, a grading contractor whose overall direct costs are 40% equipment related should have about the same percentage of equipment costs on each job. 5.4.6 Review allocations of indirect job costs Cost shifting is often hidden in the allocation of indirect costs such as internally-owned equipment costs, shop costs, insurance, and labor burden. Periodic tests should be performed to ensure that each job is being charged its fair share of indirect costs. 5.4.7 Perform a fade analysis The best contractors tend to finish jobs at the same profit levels at which they were forecast. Two fade schedules should be prepared. The first measures each jobs prior period profitability forecasts against current forecasts or actual results. The second schedule should restate prior period uncompleted contract schedules using revised profitability figures. Each of these schedules helps an auditor determine which contracts have had unusual fluctuations in profits. 5.4.8 Examine bid spreads Examining bid results can help an auditor determine whether a contractor has been awarded a job at an unusually low price. The auditor should compare the contractors bid price versus the second place bidder and versus the average bid price of all the contractors competitors bidding for each job. If a contractor is more than 5% to 10% low on a job, the contractor will likely make little or no profit on that job. Such a job is a prime target for cost shifting. 5.4.9 Compare profitability estimates against historical results A contractor may attempt to hide cost shifting by increasing profit estimates on uncompleted jobs. When this occurs, the gross profit percentages on uncompleted jobs will often exceed the contractors historical results. Another test for this would be to compare uncompleted contract gross profit percentages with completed contract percentages.
Both contractors and their auditors should be aware of the potential impact of shifts in job costs from one contract to another. The contractor should have a reliable job cost system in place to record contract costs accurately. The auditor should be careful always to test contract costs and look for unusual contract costing trends.
6. Constructability
Since the formalization of constructability, constructability has been an evolving work process. Years ago, construction and design activities were integrated within the master builder's organization. Master builders were responsible for all project activities required to plan, design, and construct a facility. During the planning and design phases, the master builder focused on the entire project and considered the impact early decisions had on the construction process. In a sense, the level of design and construction integration achieved within these organizations serves today as the model for modern constructability programs.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback
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doing, it provides more resources, including construction knowledge and experience, for planning and designing a quality project that maximizes construction productivity. Constructability is a means of continuous improvement in several respects. Maintaining a lessons-learned database allows communication of positive and negative activities and experiences from one project to future projects. Thus, improvements and innovations can be implemented in future designs. Also, construction personnel may be more aware of innovations in equipment or construction techniques that may play a key role in improving designs. Measurement of program effectiveness is also a key aspect of both a TQM and constructability program. This includes tabulating quantitative costs and benefits stemming from constructability and TQM such as dollar and schedule savings, as well as recognizing qualitative effects such as higher quality and increased customer satisfaction. TQM and constructability both stress commitment from all personnel. This commitment must be established from the executive level to the construction craftsmen on the site. This is a proactive process requiring teamwork, recognition of the need for education regarding the program, and a selfassessment regarding capabilities and resources available to achieve the desired goals.
8. Value Engineering
Implementation of value engineering 11 involves six steps: a. information, b. functional analysis, c. creative, d. evaluation, e. planning/proposal, and f. implementation/follow-up The creative step involves a brainstorming session where life-cycle cost alternatives for design components are considered. Value engineering may be performed in two ways: (1) proactively or (2) reactively. A proactive approach uses value engineering to collect ideas starting at the beginning of design. Thus, multiple design alternatives are considered and the most cost effective selected on a continual basis throughout the design phase. A reactive approach gathers cost effective alternatives through design reviews by other project personnel such as constructors and other designer engineers. This is performed after the entire design or specific component of design is complete. Thus, suggestions for improvement require design rework. In the building sector, often the term V.E. is synonymous with "The project is over budget and we need to cut X Rupees from the project's scope." Some designers view V.E. as an attack on their design. The primary objective of value engineering is to reduce the total life-cycle cost of a facility, whereas constructability focuses upon optimization of the entire construction process. In most cases of industry implementation, value engineering is normally performed during the design phase of the facility delivery process. An effective formal constructability program ideally begins during the conceptual planning phase and continues through construction. Constructability and value engineering differ in terms of the criteria discussed above. However, this does not mean that they are mutually exclusive. Rather, activities within the two work processes may complement each other in achieving their goals. This may result in construction optimization
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Value Engineering (VE) has been defined as "the systematic effort directed at analyzing the functional requirements of systems, equipment, facilities, procedures, and supplies for the purpose of achieving the essential function at the lowest total (life-cycle) cost, consistent with meeting needed performance, reliability, quality, maintainability, aesthetics, safety, and fire resistance" ( Kavanagh)
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while, at the same time, achieving lowest life-cycle cost. Constructability implementation can act as a precursor to value engineering, providing information through constructor input and lessons learned from past projects such that value engineering may be more effective.
9. Cost Effectiveness
As with TQM, improvements of a constructability program depend upon accurate and consistent measurements of its effectiveness. Inconsistent means of cost/benefit measurement may incorrectly reflect the effectiveness of constructability on a project in comparison to other projects or programs in industry. Thus, a need exists for standardized cost effective parameters so that constructability performance may be documented and compared among projects and organizations. This section describes a simplified framework for identifying and quantifying the costs and benefits stemming from implementing constructability at the project-level.
11. Conclusion
In Developing Countries there is an immense need of actual application of COST & MANAGEMENT Accountants to find out the ways to improve the construction quality and its financial impacts so that we can handle the natural disasters and other problems leading to causalities and loss of precious lives. Summing up Total Quality Management, value engineering, and constructability are not mutually exclusive. Instead, value engineering and constructability are complementary work processes that may be used as key elements in achieving total quality. A coordinated effort with the application of available standards the Financial Management Aspect as well as cost shifting can be evaluated. A practical approach towards implementation of standards can yield desired results
References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] International Accounting Standard IAS(11) Published in 2005 "Manual for special project management." (2006). Value Analysis in Design and Construction, J.J e- Brown (2007) "Benefits and Costs of Constructability: Four Case Studies," J.S & J.G "A Comparison of Two Corporate Constructability Programs," J.S & J.G Snodgrass, T.J. and Kasi, M. (1986). Function Analysis: The Stepping Stones to Good Value, The Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, pp. 1-3. "Total Quality Management: The Competitive Edge." (1990). Cost Shifting Analysis by Norton Cannons (2007)
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