Sage 50 Canada configuration
Below are some general guidelines on how to set up Sage 50 Canada for an architectural, engineering, or construction firm with the intention of integrating it with Sage Construction Management.
Because Sage Construction Management imports vendors and employees from Sage 50 Canada, review each list for accurate status before syncing. For example, mark vendors that are no longer used as inactive in Sage 50 Canada before importing them to Sage Construction Management.
Because Sage Construction Management cannot import existing projects, current projects should remain in Sage 50 Canada. New projects must be created in Sage Construction Management and then exported to Sage 50 Canada. The client on the prime contract becomes the customer, and the Sage 50 project number is generated from the project and prime contract numbers.
| Account type | Account description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Asset | Checking account | |
| Accounts receivable | ||
| Liability | Accounts payable | |
| Credit card payable | There might be multiple credit card payable accounts, one for each type of card. For example, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Home Depot, and so on. | |
| Sales tax payable | There might be multiple sales tax payable accounts, such as for each region in Canada (GST, PST, HST) or for each sales tax authority in the United States. | |
| Income | Construction income | Cost code service items will reference this account when exporting prime contract invoices. |
| Expense | Construction expense |
Cost code service items will reference this account when exporting bills, sub invoices, and employee miscellaneous expenses. Alternatively, you can use separate expense accounts for each resource type, such as materials, labor, equipment, sub, and other. |
The core principle of job costing is to maintain a primary list of cost codes to categorize work consistently. These standard cost codes will be used across estimating, project management, and accounting teams to ensure smooth and accurate information flow between departments.
In Sage Construction Management, you can import industry standard cost codes such as CSI 2012 or a custom list from Microsoft Excel. To support integration between Sage Construction Management and Sage 50 Canada, enter each cost code as a service item and reference the same expense and income GL accounts. Then, configure the AccountingLink Sync Preferences, to control how these items are mapped and synchronized during the export process.
Learn more about importing CSI or NAHB codes into QuickBooks Online.
Service items in Sage 50 Canada do not need to have a resource identifier, such as material, labor, equipment, sub, or other. Sage Construction Management tracks financials by job cost code and resource type. As illustrated in the example below, the cost code 02000 or 03000 alone might be sufficient when construction-related expenses and income are categorized by type of work.
For example:
-
02000 Sitework
- 02000-M Sitework Materials
- 02000-L Sitework Labor
- 02000-E Sitework Equipment
- 02000-S Sitework Sub
-
03000 Concrete
- 03000-M Concrete Materials
- 03000-L Concrete Labor
- 03000-E Concrete Equipment
- 03000-S Concrete Sub
If Sage Construction Management and Sage 50 Canada use a primary cost code structure, the AccountingLink must include a backup item for cases where a Sage Construction Management project cost code does not exist in Sage 50 Canada. This item must also be set as the default item for both Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable in the Sync Preferences.
-
Item Name: CCUnc: Sage Construction Management Unclassified
-
AP Account Reference: Construction Expense
-
AR Account Reference: Construction Income
Tracking retention or holdbacks in Sage 50 Canada is not recommended because of system limitations.