A work-in-progress schedule is the report — usually one line per open job — that lines up costs incurred, revenue earned under percentage-of-completion, and the amount actually billed, so overbilling and underbilling on every live contract are visible on one page at once.
As Procore's own guidance describes it: "Work in progress (WIP) accounting is a method of accounting tailored specifically to construction that tracks costs and revenues throughout the lifecycle of construction projects," giving, in its own words, an overview of the costs incurred and the revenues earned for a project during a specific period.
Lenders and sureties ask for this specific schedule, rather than just a balance sheet, because a balance sheet is one snapshot in time, while a WIP schedule shows whether the jobs sitting behind that snapshot are quietly running ahead of or behind their own billing — which changes how much cash is really available regardless of what last month's statement said. A single overbilled or underbilled job rarely worries anyone; a portfolio of jobs all drifting underbilled at once is the early signal a cash crunch is coming, and it only shows up when every open job is listed on the same schedule instead of buried inside one combined receivables number.
A contractor has four open jobs. Job A is overbilled $60,000 — billed ahead of the work, which is near-term cash but still has to be earned by finishing the job. Job B is underbilled $90,000 — work already done that hasn't been invoiced, tying up cash. Jobs C and D are roughly even. Netted across the portfolio, that's $90,000 minus $60,000 = $30,000 more underbilled than overbilled — a $30,000 exposure a lender reading only the balance sheet would never see, because it is spread across four separate jobs instead of sitting in one obvious account.
See also: Overbilling vs underbilling · Working capital and bonding ratios.
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