While a work-in-progress (WIP) report is an essential billings and financial statements tool for controllers and CFMs, it can be a mystery and an unwelcome report card for other team members.

Ultimately, accurate WIP reports depend heavily on cooperation from the field – which means the secret to winning WIPs lies in cross-departmental cooperation. Further, the real key may be empathy.

Why WIP Needs the Field
In theory, controllers should have everything they need to complete a monthly WIP. All numbers are usually there, on paper. But the crucial question is, do the numbers match the reality in the field? The bedrock number that drives the WIP’s calculations is the cost-to-complete, which is ruled by such operational factors as:

• delayed completion schedule
• materials loss or site incidents
• labor issues
• unapproved or disputed cost change orders