Heavy Highway Contractor

Building on the discussion from our recent Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable: What Keeps You Up at Night?, we'll be sharing a series of follow-up posts to keep the dialogue going. These prompts are designed to revisit key themes from the roundtable and invite members to share additional insights, experiences, and ideas with the community. Feel free to jump in and participate-even if you weren't able to attend the roundtable.

💬 Discussion question: How are you improving communication and alignment between your field teams and accounting?

Bridging the Gap Between Field & Finance

One theme that came up consistently during the roundtable was the challenge of keeping field operations and accounting teams aligned.

Participants shared that gaps in communication can lead to delays, inaccuracies in reporting, and frustration on both sides. In many cases, the issue isn't just process-it's a lack of shared understanding.

Several companies are taking steps to improve alignment by:

• Establishing consistent reporting expectations from the field
• Creating a shared "source of truth" for data
• Standardizing terminology around project status and completion
• Increasing regular touchpoints between project teams and accounting

Strong communication doesn't happen by accident-it requires clear expectations, ongoing training, and consistent follow-through.

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Laura O'Connor
Director of Membership
CFMA
Princeton NJ
(609) 452-8000
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This is a very common issue I see when working with growing contractors. 

Here is what is happening inside most growing companies. Everybody is very busy, everybody is buried, and when you are buried the stuff that does not have a hard consequence attached (schedule, sub converstaions, etc..) to it gets pushed to the back of the line every single time.

Reporting, job updates, communicating where things actually stand all of it turns into an "I'll get to it when things slow down" situation, and things never slow down, so it just never happens.

Many companies are not actually holding the right people accountable to any of it, so why would anyone prioritize it over the fire that is burning right in front of them?

One suggestion -  when you put a meeting on the calendar with real check ins and people know they are going to have to answer for their world in front of their peers, watch how fast they find time to get their stuff together, because nobody wants to walk into that room looking like they have no idea what is going on with their own jobs.

That is what a consistent meeting cadence actually does for you. Employees stop waiting to be chased and they start showing up ready because they know that conversation is happening whether they prepared for it or not.

Also, new employees need a process to follow or else they'll just carry the culture of "whenever I get to it" from their former employer. New emplpyees also MUST have proper training on how your orginization does things and be assigned a mentor whos responsbile for their transition.  

New processes need to start with your early "cheerleaders" then progress from their. New systems and processes usually feel like they are paralyzing before you see the full ROI.

This is just a little of what I can say here, hope it helps. 

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Jerry Aliberti
Pro-Accel, Owner
www.pro-accel.com
jerry@pro-accel.com

Original Message:
Sent: 04-12-2026 14:00
From: Laura O'Connor
Subject: Continuing the Conversation: Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable

Building on the discussion from our recent Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable: What Keeps You Up at Night?, we'll be sharing a series of follow-up posts to keep the dialogue going. These prompts are designed to revisit key themes from the roundtable and invite members to share additional insights, experiences, and ideas with the community. Feel free to jump in and participate-even if you weren't able to attend the roundtable.

💬 Discussion question: How are you improving communication and alignment between your field teams and accounting?

Bridging the Gap Between Field & Finance

One theme that came up consistently during the roundtable was the challenge of keeping field operations and accounting teams aligned.

Participants shared that gaps in communication can lead to delays, inaccuracies in reporting, and frustration on both sides. In many cases, the issue isn't just process-it's a lack of shared understanding.

Several companies are taking steps to improve alignment by:

• Establishing consistent reporting expectations from the field
• Creating a shared "source of truth" for data
• Standardizing terminology around project status and completion
• Increasing regular touchpoints between project teams and accounting

Strong communication doesn't happen by accident-it requires clear expectations, ongoing training, and consistent follow-through.

-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------


------------------------------
Laura O'Connor
Director of Membership
CFMA
Princeton NJ
(609) 452-8000
------------------------------

Great points above.  The accountability piece is real. I'd add that even when the meeting cadence is in place, the data coming out of the field is only as good as the process asking for it.

Best-in-class contractors excel because they have intentional alignment across departments. Finance/Accounting, Construction Ops, and Equipment Management need communication channels and alignment. Gaps form as soon as one of those three is left out of the room.

In my experience, the foundation of any alignment starts with a recurring touchpoint. Whether it's a group huddle or a one-on-one, that single commitment does three critical things:

1. Fosters Human Connection: Animosity thrives in silence; familiarity breaks down silos faster than any policy ever will.
2. Paves the road for Adhoc communication: Knowing exactly who to call when a problem arises is half the battle.
3. Refine the Process in the 'White Space': Not every meeting will have a packed agenda. That open space is where the 'What do we do when...' conversations happen and where real process is built.

This alignment directly impacts our data. We often talk about a "Shared/Single Source of Truth," but you can't have that without communication and consistent reporting expectations. 

Some organizations go the route of a "complex process memo", which requires a foreman or mechanic to be a data entry clerk and a policy expert at the same time. They have to remember which cost code applies to which task, which equipment hour meter to read, and how to format the notes. If the memo or the process is too complex or prescribed to the wrong person, that leads to the "Correction Loop".

I believe the shift toward digitized workflows is a powerful way to break that loop. Instead of asking a user to "Submit a Daily Report," the software should ask specific, bite-sized questions that the user can answer with certainty. Or if technology allows, infer as much as possible from automated data capture and serve it up in the form of True/False or multiple choice during the review process. 

The result: The user provides the raw data (which is easy), and the software applies the business logic and compliance (which is hard). This doesn't just give us better data; it reduces the cross-departmental tension that poor data creates. 

Curious to hear from the group-how are you balancing the need for detailed accounting data without over-burdening your field teams with "data entry" expectations?

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William Hipp CPA
Product Analyst
Tenna
Equipment & Fleet Management Case Studies | Tenna

whipp@tenna.com

Original Message:
Sent: 04-13-2026 11:15
From: Gerard Aliberti
Subject: Continuing the Conversation: Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable

This is a very common issue I see when working with growing contractors. 

Here is what is happening inside most growing companies. Everybody is very busy, everybody is buried, and when you are buried the stuff that does not have a hard consequence attached (schedule, sub converstaions, etc..) to it gets pushed to the back of the line every single time.

Reporting, job updates, communicating where things actually stand all of it turns into an "I'll get to it when things slow down" situation, and things never slow down, so it just never happens.

Many companies are not actually holding the right people accountable to any of it, so why would anyone prioritize it over the fire that is burning right in front of them?

One suggestion -  when you put a meeting on the calendar with real check ins and people know they are going to have to answer for their world in front of their peers, watch how fast they find time to get their stuff together, because nobody wants to walk into that room looking like they have no idea what is going on with their own jobs.

That is what a consistent meeting cadence actually does for you. Employees stop waiting to be chased and they start showing up ready because they know that conversation is happening whether they prepared for it or not.

Also, new employees need a process to follow or else they'll just carry the culture of "whenever I get to it" from their former employer. New emplpyees also MUST have proper training on how your orginization does things and be assigned a mentor whos responsbile for their transition.  

New processes need to start with your early "cheerleaders" then progress from their. New systems and processes usually feel like they are paralyzing before you see the full ROI.

This is just a little of what I can say here, hope it helps. 

------------------------------
Jerry Aliberti
Pro-Accel, Owner
www.pro-accel.com
jerry@pro-accel.com

Original Message:
Sent: 04-12-2026 14:00
From: Laura O'Connor
Subject: Continuing the Conversation: Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable

Building on the discussion from our recent Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable: What Keeps You Up at Night?, we'll be sharing a series of follow-up posts to keep the dialogue going. These prompts are designed to revisit key themes from the roundtable and invite members to share additional insights, experiences, and ideas with the community. Feel free to jump in and participate-even if you weren't able to attend the roundtable.

💬 Discussion question: How are you improving communication and alignment between your field teams and accounting?

Bridging the Gap Between Field & Finance

One theme that came up consistently during the roundtable was the challenge of keeping field operations and accounting teams aligned.

Participants shared that gaps in communication can lead to delays, inaccuracies in reporting, and frustration on both sides. In many cases, the issue isn't just process-it's a lack of shared understanding.

Several companies are taking steps to improve alignment by:

• Establishing consistent reporting expectations from the field
• Creating a shared "source of truth" for data
• Standardizing terminology around project status and completion
• Increasing regular touchpoints between project teams and accounting

Strong communication doesn't happen by accident-it requires clear expectations, ongoing training, and consistent follow-through.

-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------


------------------------------
Laura O'Connor
Director of Membership
CFMA
Princeton NJ
(609) 452-8000
------------------------------

Building on the discussion from our recent Heavy Construction Virtual Roundtable: What Keeps You Up at Night?, we'll be sharing a series of follow-up posts to keep the dialogue going. These prompts are designed to revisit key themes from the roundtable and invite members to share additional insights, experiences, and ideas with the community. Feel free to jump in and participate-even if you weren't able to attend the roundtable.

💬 Discussion question: How are you improving communication and alignment between your field teams and accounting?

Bridging the Gap Between Field & Finance

One theme that came up consistently during the roundtable was the challenge of keeping field operations and accounting teams aligned.

Participants shared that gaps in communication can lead to delays, inaccuracies in reporting, and frustration on both sides. In many cases, the issue isn't just process-it's a lack of shared understanding.

Several companies are taking steps to improve alignment by:

• Establishing consistent reporting expectations from the field
• Creating a shared "source of truth" for data
• Standardizing terminology around project status and completion
• Increasing regular touchpoints between project teams and accounting

Strong communication doesn't happen by accident-it requires clear expectations, ongoing training, and consistent follow-through.

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