Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions I hear most often from residential home builders, remodeling contractors, and other trades and field-service businesses considering outsourced accounting or fractional CFO support.
What’s the difference between working with you and a larger bookkeeping firm?
Larger firms often assign you a bookkeeper for day-to-day entries and a separate controller to review the work and meet with you monthly. That model works, but it also means more hand-offs and more people between you and your numbers.
With Wilburn CPA, you work directly with me — a licensed CPA who has also owned and operated a construction business. There’s no hand-off between “the person doing the books” and “the person who understands what they mean.” I do both.
Do I need to switch off JobTread or QuickBooks to work with you?
No. I work inside the tools you’re already using — JobTread for job tracking and QuickBooks Online for accounting. My job is to make sure those two systems actually talk to each other correctly: that job costs in JobTread reconcile cleanly with your books, and that your WIP schedule reflects what’s really happening on each job. You don’t need new software — you need someone making sure the software you have is producing numbers you can trust.
I’m behind on my bookkeeping (or taxes) — can you get me caught up?
Yes. This is one of the most common situations I see, and it’s rarely as bad as it feels from the inside. The first step is always the same: get your books current and reconciled, however far behind they are — a few months or a couple of years. Once that foundation is solid, we build forward from there with clean, accurate, month-to-month reporting.
Do you work with builders and remodelers outside Oklahoma?
Yes. While I’m based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and understand the local construction and lending landscape well, I work with custom home builders and remodeling contractors throughout Oklahoma and the surrounding Central Time Zone region. Outsourced accounting and fractional CFO work is done remotely — it doesn’t require me to be in your city.
What’s the difference between bookkeeping and fractional CFO services — do I need both?
Bookkeeping is the foundation: accurate, accrual-based books, job costing, and reliable financial statements. That work has to be right before anything else matters.
Fractional CFO services build on that foundation — using your numbers to guide real decisions: pricing jobs, managing cash flow, and deciding when to invest in equipment, hiring, or growth.
Some clients start with bookkeeping alone and add CFO support later; others need both from day one. I’ll help you figure out which makes sense for where your business is right now.
What is a WIP schedule, and do I need one?
A WIP (work-in-progress) schedule tracks whether your open jobs are over- or under-billed relative to how much work is actually complete — and it’s one of the first things banks and bonding companies ask for before extending credit. Most custom builders and remodelers don’t have one, not because it’s optional, but because nobody explained why it matters until someone asked for it.
Read the full breakdown of WIP schedules →
How much does this cost?
Pricing depends on the scope of work — whether you need bookkeeping only, fractional CFO support, catch-up work on books that have fallen behind, or a combination. As a starting point, ongoing outsourced accounting engagements typically begin around $1,000/month. The best way to get an accurate number for your business is a free discovery call, where we’ll look at your current situation and scope out exactly what you need.