What is job costing in accounting software?

For each job, you track direct costs (labor hours, materials purchased, subcontractor invoices) and compare them to the revenue billed. The difference is your gross profit on that job. Without job costing, you might show overall profitability while losing money on individual projects - a dangerous blind spot.

Labour burden is a job costing concept that many businesses miss. When you assign an employee's hours to a job, the true cost is not just their hourly rate - it includes employer taxes, benefits, and a portion of overhead. Software that calculates loaded labour rates automatically gives you a more accurate job cost than one that only counts base wages.

Note.now supports project-based tracking - you assign income and expenses to specific projects and view a project profitability report. This is the core of job costing for service businesses. For construction or manufacturing with complex job costing needs (equipment rates, labor burden, phases), specialized tools like Foundation or Sage 100 Contractor may offer more depth.

For agencies, marketing firms, and professional services businesses, Note.now project tracking answers the most important business question: which clients and engagements are actually profitable? When you can see that one large client generates $200,000 in revenue but $185,000 in direct costs, you have information that changes how you price future work.