A construction bookkeeper should treat a pay application as a sequence of related amounts, not one number to post everywhere. Keep the current request, amount certified, retainage, amount recorded, and cash received in separate fields. Then explain every difference with the supporting document and its cutoff date.
This handoff helps the office follow a progress billing from the project records to the books and bank. It does not give the bookkeeper authority to approve completed work, certify payment, interpret the contract, or decide how retainage must be handled.
Start with the pay application’s own structure
AIA describes G702 as a contractor’s application for payment and an architect’s certificate for payment. Its summary includes the contract sum, approved change orders, completed and stored work, retainage, prior payments, and the current payment requested. The related G703 continuation sheet breaks the contract sum into portions of work.
Your project may use a different form or approval route. Use the executed contract and the actual approved documents for that job. The bookkeeping control is to preserve what each amount means rather than assuming every pay application follows an identical workflow.
Build a seven-field bridge
For each application number and billing period, record:
| Field | What it should identify |
|---|---|
| Contract sum to date | Original contract plus approved changes shown in the current application |
| Completed and stored to date | Current cumulative project amount supported by the application detail |
| Retainage | Amount withheld within the application calculation |
| Prior certified amount | Cumulative amount certified before this application |
| Current amount requested | Contractor’s current request before the certifier’s decision |
| Current amount certified | Amount the authorized reviewer certified, if different |
| Cash received | Deposit actually matched to this application or certificate |
Add the application number, period end, job code, document version, submission date, certification date, deposit date, and the person responsible for open questions. These references make the bridge reproducible after the project team has moved on.
Worked example: the request is not the deposit
Illustrative example. Job C-218 has an original contract of $180,000 and an approved $5,000 change order, producing a $185,000 contract sum to date. The current application shows $92,000 of completed and stored work and $9,200 of retainage. That leaves $82,800 earned less retainage. Prior certificates total $54,000, so the contractor requests $28,800 this period.
The authorized reviewer certifies $27,300 because $1,500 of stored-material support remains open. The owner’s payment deposit is $27,300.
| Bridge point | Amount | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Current request | $28,800 | Contractor’s submitted amount |
| Less amount not certified | ($1,500) | Stored-material support remains open |
| Current amount certified | $27,300 | Approved payment amount for this cycle |
| Cash received | $27,300 | Deposit matched to the certificate |
| Unmatched cash difference | $0 | Certified amount agrees with deposit |
The $1,500 difference remains an open project-document item. It should not be presented as missing cash, and the $9,200 of retainage should not be added to the $28,800 request as though it were another invoice. Each amount describes a different part of the cumulative calculation.
Reconcile the continuation detail before the cover sheet
The AIA instructions for G702 and G703 explain that G703 line-item information supports the summary transferred to G702. In the bookkeeping handoff, verify that job and cost-code detail totals to the cover amount before comparing that cover amount with the accounting record.
Check approved changes separately. An approved change can alter the contract sum while an unapproved proposal remains outside it. Use the change-order bookkeeping handoff to preserve that status. If the project’s schedule and accounting job report use different cost codes, keep a mapping rather than silently forcing one report to resemble the other.
Give every difference an owner
Classify an exception by where it occurs:
- Application-detail difference: line items do not total to the cover sheet.
- Certification difference: the certified amount differs from the request.
- Bookkeeping difference: the approved billing is absent, duplicated, or attached to the wrong job in the accounting record.
- Cash difference: the deposit does not match the certified amount or combines several receipts.
- Cutoff difference: the project, accounting, and bank reports cover different dates.
For each exception, record the amount, source documents compared, decision owner, next document needed, and review date. The bookkeeper can maintain the list and attach evidence. The project manager, architect, owner, authorized approver, or responsible accountant keeps the decisions assigned to that role.
Package the handoff for month-end
Retain the submitted application, continuation detail, approved change support, certificate or approval, accounting reference, deposit evidence, and the exception bridge. Preserve later corrections as new versions with their received dates; do not overwrite the packet that supported an earlier report.
Use the committed-cost and actual-cost bridge when the reviewer also needs to understand vendor or subcontract commitments. Use the construction invoice approval map to document who may approve an obligation or release payment. The pay-application bridge connects records; it does not replace those approval controls.
Sources and further reading
- AIA Contract Documents: G702 Application and Certificate for Payment
- AIA Contract Documents: Instructions for G702 and G703
Source links provide background. The workflow and illustrative examples above are original educational material.