Industry Focus · Manufacturing
Bookkeeping & accounting built for the plant floor
Full-service bookkeeping and accounting — standard costing, WIP valuation, BOM-level margin and overhead absorption — built for discrete, process and contract manufacturers, from raw material to finished goods.
20+ Clients
Manufacturers Served
Audit-Ready
Reconciled and current, every single month
15+ Yrs
Years helping manufacturers master their costs
Platforms We Manage
Your systems, reconciled — not replaced
Wherever you run production, we plug in and keep your standard costs accurate every month.
6+
Platforms supported
0
Systems you need to switch
NetSuite
Multi-entity manufacturing accounting, standard costing and demand planning.
SAP Business One
Production order costing and material requirements reconciliation.
Odoo Manufacturing
Work order costing, routing and shop floor cost capture.
QuickBooks Enterprise
Class and job tracking, WIP schedules, multi-plant consolidated books.
Sage 100cloud
Standard cost updates, job costing and payroll integration.
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Production order costing, finance and supply chain in one system.
Services by Client Type
Bookkeeping & accounting tailored to your manufacturing model
Discrete Manufacturers
- Tracking costs by work order and BOM
Tracking vendor payments and PO matching.
WIP schedules tied to production completion.
Standard cost roll-ups and variance reporting.
Profit & loss and margin trends by SKU
Overhead absorption and capacity analysis
Process & Batch Manufacturers
Tracking raw material lots and yield loss
Tracking co-product and by-product costs
Batch costing and formula-based standards
Scrap and rework variance tracking
Profit & loss reporting by product line
Tracking actual costs against formulas
Job Shops & Contract Manufacturers
Preparing customer billing by job or run
Tracking tooling and setup costs
Job cost tracking for custom and short-run work
Warranty and rework reserve reporting
Margin reporting by customer and job
Backlog and capacity forecasting
Workflow & Cadence
Bookkeeping and accounting built around how you actually produce
| WORKFLOW | CADENCE | WHAT'S COVERED |
|---|---|---|
|
Bookkeeping & AP/AR
|
WEEKLY |
•
Sorting every expense by work order and cost center
•
Entering and paying vendor bills on time
•
Tracking raw material receipts
•
Logging engineering changes as they happen
|
|
Reconciliation & Compliance
|
WEEKLY |
•
Matching bank and credit card records
•
Keeping supplier documentation organized and on file
•
Filing sales & use tax and payroll paperwork
•
Tracking cycle count adjustments
|
|
Financial Reporting
|
MONTHLY |
•
Clear profit & loss, balance sheet and cash flow
•
Production reports for every active line
•
Comparing standard cost to actual spend
•
Reports ready for lenders and boards
|
|
Cost Accounting & WIP
|
AS NEEDED |
•
Tracking true costs by SKU and work order
•
Spotting unfavorable variances early
•
Seeing the cost impact of engineering changes
•
Catching shrinking margins before they hurt
|
|
Inventory & Billing
|
PER RUN |
•
Preparing customer invoices for you
•
Reconciling raw, WIP and finished-goods inventory
•
Tracking cycle counts and physical counts
•
Sending accurate, on-time invoices
|
Onboarding
Live on your books in under two weeks
Discovery & systems audit
We map your BOMs, routings and current software.
Chart of accounts & cost setup
Clean, cost-center-based chart of accounts and standard costs built or repaired.
Historical catch-up
Books brought current, discrepancies resolved SKU by SKU.
Ongoing monthly close
Reconciliations, WIP schedules and reporting on schedule.
Monthly strategy review
A standing session on product margin and planning.
How We Compare
The real problems a generic firm won't solve
These are the exact pain points manufacturers bring us after leaving a generic outsourced firm.
| CLIENT PROBLEM | GENERIC OUTSOURCED FIRM | SMARTLEDGER |
|---|---|---|
|
Knowing what each product really costs to make
Generic cost estimates ignore your real materials, labor and machine time.
|
Rough, one-size-fits-all cost guesses
|
Accurate product costs, built from how you actually make things
|
|
Catching shrinking margins before they hurt
Cost overruns often go unnoticed until it is a cash crunch.
|
No early warning on rising costs
|
Monthly reports that flag margin problems early
|
|
Fair overhead costs across every product
Spreading overhead evenly distorts true product cost and pricing.
|
Overhead spread evenly, regardless of usage
|
Overhead allocated based on real plant usage
|
|
Visibility into waste, scrap and rework
Hidden waste quietly eats into margin on every run.
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Waste and rework buried in overall costs
|
Waste and rework tracked and reported clearly
|
|
Cash flow you can plan production around
No forward view, so purchasing and staffing guess blind.
|
No forward-looking cash flow picture
|
Cash flow forecasts tied to your production plan
|
|
Books that are always ready for an audit or a bank
Books get cleaned up once a year under deadline pressure.
|
A year-end scramble to get books in order
|
Clean, reconciled books every single month
|
|
One clear view across every plant and entity
Separate plants mean separate spreadsheets to reconcile by hand.
|
Every plant tracked in its own silo
|
One consolidated view across your whole business
|
Trusted Partner
Why manufacturers choose Smartledger
Growth changes what your books need. We’re built to keep pace with every deal, entity and milestone.
Cost Accounting Specialists
Our team lives in standard costs and WIP schedules, not generic ledgers.
Manufacturing Focus
Standard costing and overhead absorption is our core specialty, not a side offering.
Maker-Checker Review
A second reviewer verifies every close before it reaches you.
Secure Cloud Systems
Bank-grade encryption and access controls protect every record.
24-Hour Response
Questions get a same-or-next-business-day answer, always.
Testimonials
A full-stack finance function,
built around your business.
FAQ’S
The Answers You're Probably Looking For
The questions that matter most when choosing a finance partner — clearly answered.
How do you set up bookkeeping for multiple product lines?
We build a cost-center chart of accounts that sorts every bill, payment and payroll entry by work order and product line, so your daily bookkeeping stays organized no matter how many SKUs are running at once.
How do you handle our monthly bank and account reconciliations?
We reconcile every bank and credit card account each month, matching transactions against production records, so your books close clean and every dollar is accounted for.
Can you prepare our WIP schedules and standard cost variance reporting?
Yes. We prepare monthly WIP schedules with variance analysis by material, labor and overhead, so margin fade and cost issues surface early instead of at year-end.
What financial reports do we get each month?
You get a profit & loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement, plus SKU-level cost reports and standard-vs-actual comparisons, so you always know where every product line stands.
How quickly can you take over our books and be fully caught up?
Most manufacturing clients are fully onboarded and current within two weeks, including historical catch-up by product line, so your very next close arrives clean and on schedule.