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________________________________________________________________________________________
American Council of
Engineering Companies
Volume XXII, Number 22
August 31,
2001
1015 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-347-7474
Fax
202-898-0068
www.acec.org
E-mail acec@acec.org
Francis George, Editor
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GA Report |
Business
Accounting Systems For Joint Ventures
When establishing a joint venture, a full agreement on the treatment of income and expense items as well as distribution of profits or losses should be in place. Provisions should be made for the treatment of questionable items and a method established to resolve matters not specifically written into the agreement. Accounting procedures should tend to be routine from month to month.
A special reporting system needs to be developed to provide detailed reporting on the project to the managers of the joint venture. For example, the managers are likely to receive more detailed reports on the joint venture projects than for the projects they are responsible for in their own firms. The managers need this additional detail in order to maintain proper control of the joint venture.
It is important to have frequent reporting so that there are no surprises to any of the partners. Detailed reports of percentage completion on various phases of the project are necessary, as are narrative summaries describing the progress of the work, including discussion of potential trouble spots and what is being done to correct them.
It is also helpful to portray graphically the progress of the work against the original schedule. Graphic reporting is particularly helpful to those who cannot maintain close contact with the work effort. Since most of the additional reporting involves operational matters rather than accounting, they can be added to the present reporting system rather than requiring you to develop a new accounting system for the joint venture.
Excerpted from Financial Management for Design Firms, by Lowell Getz. Order this publication from ACEC’s Publications Dept. (item #LW-322-00, priced at $79 members, $99 non-members, plus $5 shipping). Send orders to ACEC (fax 202-789-7220) or purchase this item online at www.acec.org/publications. Include your Mastercard, Visa, or American Express number with the expiration date, contact name, firm name, street address, phone number, and e-mail address.
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AECWorkForce Joins with ACEC As the fastest-growing career-related website for architecture, engineering, and construction jobs, AECWorkForce is packed with career news, helpful information, and job postings from industry leaders such as Parsons Corporation, HDR, Camp Dresser & McKee, HOK, Gensler, HNTB, Carter & Burgess, and many more. AECWorkForce.com is thus the premier career site for the design and construction industry. "ACEC is very excited to be able to offer to its members access to such a useful, powerful, and exhaustive job bulletin service," says Florian Kogelnik, ACEC’s Director of Business Practices. Under the agreement, AECWorkForce offers ACEC members a 10% discount on all employer membership packages. "This is a great deal for all parties involved," says AECWorkForce spokesman Mike Kemether. "Since engineering firms make up a large portion of our target market, we feel that the real winners in this deal will be ACEC and AECWorkForce members around the country. Obviously, we’re extremely pleased and excited about working with an association of ACEC’s caliber." Look for more details at AECWorkForce.com and www.acec.org. To learn how to sign up as an AECWorkForce employer member and receive the10% ACEC discount, call a customer service representative at 1-800-218-8930. Study Shows More Engineers Consulting engineers are moving more and more into the construction management. This point was underscored in a recent study of business trends conducted by ACEC. The survey of 587 firms revealed that construction management (CM) ranks as one of the top three disciplines of 21 percent of responding engineering firms. Engineering clients in both the public and private sectors seem to be preferring more full service capabilities, according to this survey. They want one source of responsibility for a project’s management and see engineers as the key for bringing the project components together successfully. ACEC’s 2001 Business Trends Survey, published in ACEC’s Sept./Oct. ACE magazine, shows also that engineers perceive construction management services as a top-tier discipline. Respondents who included CM in their top three fields increased from 15.8 percent in 2000 to 21.5 percent in 2001. "We believe construction management will continue to increase as a desired engineering service," says ACEC President Dave Raymond. SERVICES OFFERED IN 2001 Percent of respondents who included these disciplines among their top three fields of practice:
Top-producing MOs Give Ideas on Congratulations to ACEC’s Member Organizations in Illinois, Washington, California, Colorado, and Michigan! These five MOs received the most media coverage of any ACEC state organizations in fiscal year 2000-2001. These media-savvy MOs offer the following suggestions to help your MO improve its media coverage and that of member firms: • Send state EEA award winner press releases to relevant writers and editors of any local publication whose reader market coincides with the location of a winning firm or project. Barb Dirks at CEC/Illinois suggests using a yellow highlighter to bring attention to the award winners that would interest a specific local magazine or newspaper. Dirks also sends a lengthy press release to trade publications and large newspapers and includes an insert sheet showing color photos of the top award winners. The convenient availability of print-quality photos can help cause a story to actually be published. Dirks said several publications picked up the photos directly from her insert sheet. • Build and maintain on-going relationships with reporters from your local papers and television stations. For example, consider eating lunch at the local press club; e-mailing reporters to praise them for good work; taking reporters to lunch to acquaint them with engineering feats; and attending social functions where reporters are likely to be present. Each relationship is a potential gold mine for future press coverage. • Provide attention-grabbing photos or graphs with your press releases. Publications often give better coverage to stories that offer a visual component. • Send press releases regarding civic-minded activities. CEC/Illinois, for example, sends a release detailing their scholarship program to every daily newspaper in the state. • When determining news story content, be sure to think about the specific community value that you want featured. How does the story you propose impact community life or provide insight into community issues? Will the story truly benefit the readers or just offer nice-to-know information? "Finally, do not get discouraged," says CEC/Colorado consultant Adrienne Thiele of uli Creative LLC. "It took our firm nearly six months to work the media to place three major features in local news and business papers." Thiele recognizes that it takes focus, time, and consistent media contact to get published regularly. "One of our biggest obstacles has been that reporters are more interested in specific project work," she says, "and not necessarily the collective ‘good work’ of the membership of an organization. What we may consider public news often has little or no general public appeal—think creatively when developing a story idea." Highlighting ACEC/PAC in Orlando ACEC’s PAC activities planned for the Fall Conference in Orlando promise to be the best ever. The ACEC/PAC Trustees have been working hard to create a ‘PAC Day’ full of activities for all ages. ACEC Chairman Stephen Goddard, P.E. said, "We not only have a right to support our PAC, but we also have a responsibility. For the first time in conference history, there is a day dedicated to ACEC/PAC events. ‘PAC Day’ will offer a myriad of activities for you and your family. Participation is critical to the success of the PAC, and I encourage each of you to be supportive of the ACEC/PAC events in Orlando." Here are some of the highlights planned for Orlando: A Day of Golf – September 19, 2001, 8:00 a.m. This year’s golf tournament will take place at Disney’s Eagle Pines Golf and will be a scramble format. Participants will enjoy the unique and challenging course created by Peter Dye. Gone Fishing – September 19, 2001, 8:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. Enjoy bass fishing on central Florida’s Butler Chain Lake, one of bass fishing’s best-kept secrets. NASCAR Driving Experience September 19, 2001, 2:00 p.m. Don’t miss your chance to get behind the wheel or ride shotgun in a hands-on, high speed, fast action, real-life adventure in an authentic 600 horsepower NASCAR Winston Cup stock car! For more information on other ‘PAC Day’ events, contact Susan Doyle (sdoyle@acec.org) at ACEC or visit http://www.acec.org/Events/opacevents.htm. The following editions of the Last Word are available online, to retrieve a particular issue, choose the date from the drop down box below, and click "Go Get It!" |