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MYOB bookkeeping for construction businesses

On a construction contract, costs come in from every direction: materials invoices, subcontractor bills, card purchases and direct debits for things like skip bins and equipment repairs. MYOB lets each of those lines carry a job number, and we add it as every line is entered or allocated, so a contract's job report holds what it has earned and what it has cost.

  • By Book Keeping Pros
  • Sources checked 15 Oct 2026

Each contract kept on its own job in MYOB

Every contract you win becomes a job in MYOB, linked to the client it is for. From then on, each bill, invoice and bank transaction line that belongs to it carries its job number.

  • A job created for each new contract, with a job number and name your team will recognise and the client set as its linked customer.
  • Your MYOB file's unique email address passed to your materials suppliers, so their invoices are sent straight into MYOB, where we use each one to create the bill and put a job number on every line.
  • Merchant invoices that take in deliveries for several jobs entered with a separate line per job, because MYOB takes a single job number on each line.
  • Subcontractor bills entered against the contract the work was for, with any bill that does not say which job it relates to checked with you before coding.
  • Card purchases, tip fees and other spending that comes through the bank feed given a job number as it is allocated in MYOB, so costs that arrive without a bill still reach the right contract.
  • Job profitability reports each month, setting the income on every contract against the costs carrying its job number, so a contract that is eating its margin stands out early.
  • An aged payables report by supplier, on MYOB plans that include it, showing what each supplier and subcontractor is owed and how long each bill has been waiting, ready for when you sit down to pay.
  • Every bank and card account checked in MYOB against its statement: transactions on the statement are marked as cleared, and anything left over or out of balance is put down to an item yet to clear, an entry recorded wrongly in MYOB or an error on the bank's side for you to raise with them.

Not included

How income and costs on a long-running contract are recognised from one period to the next is a matter for your accountant. Our part is recording claims as they are invoiced and bills as they arrive.

Businesses in Construction (ANZSIC division E)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
462,939 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
278,687 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
146,758 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

  1. New South Wales155,901 businesses
  2. Victoria126,752 businesses
  3. Queensland89,296 businesses
  4. Western Australia45,610 businesses
  5. South Australia27,630 businesses
  6. Tasmania7,830 businesses
  7. Australian Capital Territory6,804 businesses
  8. Northern Territory3,053 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing278,687 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees146,758 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees30,972 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees6,258 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees264 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

MYOB questions from construction businesses

What should we send you when a new contract starts?
The client's details, the name your crews use for the contract and the agreed contract value. We create the job in MYOB, link it to the client and start putting its number on every line that relates to it. The contract value gives you something to read the job report against.
Do card purchases and direct debits get a job number too?
Yes. Transactions that come in on the bank feed can have a job chosen on each line when they are allocated. We go by your receipts, or ask you where a purchase went, so spending without a supplier bill is not left off the job.
How complete are MYOB's job reports?
A job report counts only the lines that carry that job's number, so a missing number means a missing cost or a missing claim. Before the reports go to you each month, we look for income and expense lines with no job and ask about any we cannot place.
Who has to set up our bank feeds?
Either the business owner or someone set up as an Online Admin user completes the connection in MYOB. Depending on the bank, that happens through Open Banking or another connection method, and approval of the feed rests with the bank. We help you connect the accounts your bank supports.
Can I see what we owe each subcontractor?
Where your plan has the aged payables report, it lists the balance owed to each supplier and subcontractor and how long every bill has been unpaid. We run it when you are planning payments, showing which bills come due first.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  3. Greater Capital City Statistical Areas digital boundary file, 2026 (GCCSA_2026_AUST_SHP_GDA2020.zip)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  4. Jobs in MYOB (Australia)

    MYOB Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    MYOB is a trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. Licence: MYOB website terms of use (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  5. Uploading documents to MYOB via email (Australia)

    MYOB Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    MYOB is a trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. Licence: MYOB website terms of use (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  6. Purchases reports in MYOB (Australia)

    MYOB Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    MYOB is a trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. Licence: MYOB website terms of use (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  7. Connecting bank accounts to MYOB (Australia)

    MYOB Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    MYOB is a trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. Licence: MYOB website terms of use (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  8. Reconciling your bank accounts in MYOB (Australia)

    MYOB Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    MYOB is a trademark of MYOB Technology Pty Ltd. Licence: MYOB website terms of use (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).