Capability template for finance and accounting
Pay application line check
Before a progress billing goes on, the project accountant has every line compared with the schedule of values, the last certificate, the approved changes and the evidence supplied, with each arithmetic difference listed. The authorized certifier decides payment; nothing is certified.
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The outcome
The accountant opens a pay application already knowing where it disagrees with the project's own records. Each line has been set beside the schedule of values, what the last certificate paid, the changes the log shows as approved and the progress evidence that came with it. Every difference is on one page with its amount, the line it sits on and the person to ask.
The things that usually surface late are in front of you on day one: a line total that does not add, a previous-billed figure that is not what was certified, an approved change missing from the application, a change still pending that has been billed, stored materials with no delivery record behind them, a percentage well above what the inspection showed.
The check lists differences. It does not say which figure is right, restate the amount due or approve anything.
Who starts the work, and when
The project accountant, or the project manager where there is no accountant on the project, starts it when a monthly pay application arrives for review. It can run again on a corrected application, and the new run shows what is still different.
The accountant verifies the figures against the documents. The authorized certifier, whoever the project's own arrangements name, decides payment and whether completion is accepted.
What they supply
- The pay application: its line schedule, its totals and the amount due it states.
- The schedule of values the project started with.
- The change log, with each change's amount, status and the line it affects.
- The prior certificate: what was certified to date on each line.
- The progress evidence: inspection records, the superintendent's log and delivery records for stored materials.
- Three settings: how far a percentage may differ from the evidence before it is listed, the retainage rate if it is to be checked, and which status words in the change log count as approved.
What comes out
One page in a fixed order. It shows the basis, which checks agreed and then the differences in six groups: arithmetic on the page, previous billing, changes, progress evidence, stored materials, and retainage and amount due. Each difference has its amount, a note where one difference causes another, and the role to ask. A closing line gives the amount due as the application states it and says the comparison restates nothing.
Anything that could not be checked is listed with the reason. A group with nothing in it says so.
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. An invented tenant fit-out, "Project Alpha", with an invented contractor and owner. Every figure below is made up for this page, and no real company, person or project is meant. The project accountant supplies five documents and three settings, and receives one page.
What the project accountant supplies
Settings. Evidence tolerance: 0.50 percentage points. Retainage rate: 5% of total completed and stored. Status words that count as approved: Approved.
Pay application 4 (Project Alpha, Contractor A, dated 2 November 2026, period to 31 October 2026). Original contract sum 500000. Retainage 16300. Total earned less retainage 309700. Less previous certificates for payment 215650. Current payment due 94050.
Line,Description,Scheduled value,Previous billed,This period,Stored materials,Total completed and stored,Percent complete,Balance to finish
01,General conditions,60000,24000,6000,0,30000,50.00,30000
02,Concrete,162000,120000,30000,0,150000,92.59,12000
03,Framing,120000,48000,24000,12000,84000,70.00,36000
04,Electrical,90000,27000,18000,0,46000,51.11,44000
05,Finishes,89000,8000,8000,0,16000,17.98,73000
Totals,,521000,227000,86000,12000,326000,,195000
Schedule of values (Project Alpha, the project's starting version).
Line,Description,Scheduled value
01,General conditions,60000
02,Concrete,150000
03,Framing,120000
04,Electrical,90000
05,Finishes,80000
Change log (Project Alpha, as of 31 October 2026).
Change,Description,Amount,Status,Approval date,Line
CO-1,Slab openings added,12000,Approved,2026-09-14,02
CO-2,Additional outlets,6000,Approved,2026-10-20,04
CO-3,Upgraded floor finish,9000,Pending,,05
Prior certificate (Project Alpha, number 3, dated 2 October 2026, total earned less retainage 213750, the cumulative amount certified to date).
Line,Certified to date
01,24000
02,120000
03,48000
04,27000
05,6000
Progress evidence (Project Alpha).
Line,Source,Date,Percent complete,Stored materials supported
01,Superintendent log,2026-10-30,50.00,
02,Inspection report,2026-10-28,92.00,
03,Superintendent log and delivery receipts,2026-10-30,60.00,9500
04,Electrical inspection report,2026-10-29,40.00,
What comes out
PAY APPLICATION LINE CHECK: Project Alpha, application 4, period to 31 October 2026
Prepared for: the project accountant. Basis: application 4 dated 2 November 2026; schedule of values (starting version); change log as of 31 October 2026; prior certificate 3 dated 2 October 2026; progress evidence from the superintendent log (30 October), the inspection report (28 October), the electrical inspection report (29 October) and delivery receipts.
Settings used: evidence tolerance 0.50 points; retainage rate 5% of total completed and stored; approved status word: Approved.
Totals: 5 lines checked. 11 differences: 8 on lines 02 to 05, 3 on page figures. Lines with no difference: 01.
Checks that agree: original contract sum 500,000 equals the schedule of values. Scheduled values on lines 01, 02 and 03 equal the schedule of values plus approved changes (line 02 includes CO-1, 12,000). Within each line, percent complete and balance to finish follow from the total shown. Totals for scheduled value, previous billed, this period, stored materials, total and balance equal the sums of their lines. Previous billed on lines 01 to 04 equals the prior certificate. Progress evidence on lines 01 and 03 agrees with the claim within tolerance. Retainage 16,300 equals 5% of 326,000. Total earned less retainage 309,700 equals 326,000 less 16,300. Current payment due 94,050 equals 309,700 less 215,650.
A. Arithmetic on the page
1. Line 04, total completed and stored: shown 46,000; previous 27,000 + this period 18,000 + stored 0 = 45,000; difference 1,000. Percent complete 51.11 and balance 44,000 follow from the 46,000 shown. Ask: contractor's billing contact.
2. Totals row, total completed and stored: shown 326,000; the parts give previous 227,000 + this period 86,000 + stored 12,000 = 325,000; difference 1,000. Follows from item 1.
B. Previous billing against the prior certificate
3. Line 05, previous billed: application 8,000; prior certificate 6,000; difference 2,000. The previous billed total of 227,000 is 2,000 above the certificate's total of 225,000 for the same reason. Ask: contractor's billing contact.
C. Changes against the schedule of values
4. CO-2, line 04, Approved, 6,000: not on the application. Scheduled value shown 90,000; schedule of values 90,000 plus CO-2 6,000 = 96,000. Ask: project manager.
5. CO-3, line 05, status Pending, 9,000: included in the application. Scheduled value shown 89,000; schedule of values 80,000, with no approved change on this line, gives an expected 80,000. Ask: project manager.
6. Scheduled value total: shown 521,000; schedule of values 500,000 plus approved changes 18,000 = 518,000; difference 3,000, being the 9,000 in item 5 less the 6,000 in item 4. Follows from items 4 and 5.
D. Progress evidence
7. Line 02: claimed 92.59% (150,000 over 162,000); evidence 92.00% (inspection report, 28 October); 0.59 points above. Evidence implies 149,040; claimed 150,000; amount in question 960. Ask: superintendent.
8. Line 04: claimed 51.11% (46,000 less stored 0, over 90,000); evidence 40.00% (electrical inspection report, 29 October); 11.11 points above. Evidence implies 36,000; claimed 46,000; amount in question 10,000. Ask: superintendent.
9. Line 05: no evidence supplied. Billed to date 16,000. Ask: superintendent.
E. Stored materials
10. Line 03: billed 12,000; supported 9,500 (superintendent log and delivery receipts, 30 October); unsupported 2,500. Ask: superintendent.
F. Retainage and amount due
11. Less previous certificates for payment: application 215,650; prior certificate 213,750; difference 1,900. Follows from item 3.
Amount due as stated: 94,050. The page's own arithmetic from retainage to amount due agrees. This comparison does not restate it.
Not checked: the 5% retainage rate was used as supplied and not checked against the contract. Nothing else left unchecked.
The project accountant verifies each figure against the documents. The authorized certifier decides payment and completion. This comparison certifies no completion percentage, interprets no contract term and changes no record.
Where it fits
- Finance and accounting, where the project accountant owns the review before payment is certified.
- Construction, where monthly billing runs against a schedule of values, approved changes and site evidence.
- Real estate, for owners and developers who review contractors' applications on their projects.
- Established businesses, where several projects are billing at once and one accountant checks them all.
- Growth & scaling, when the number of applications outgrows a careful read of each one.
It stays apart from client billing summary, which prepares an outgoing invoice for a client to read, and from review of time-and-expense entries before billing. This capability checks a progress billing the reviewer has received.
What has to change for your company
Put your own column names in the stated places, or tell the assistant how your forms map to them. Set the tolerance for evidence, the retainage rate and base the accountant works from, and the status words your change log uses for approved. Decide who is asked about each kind of difference: the contractor's billing contact, the project manager, the superintendent. Name the certifier role your projects use. Keep the contract itself out of the assistant's hands: questions about what a clause means go to the people who answer them.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template. It was editorially reviewed on 10 November 2026. It was tried on its invented example in Claude on 10 November 2026; the record is published with it. The points that run found open were settled the same day, after an independent review, without a rerun; the record lists them and says where the recorded output differs from the template as it now stands. It has not yet been tested in a client environment.
Testing in your environment means running it on two or three past applications the accountant already knows well, with cases written in advance: a total that does not add, a billed change that was never approved, stored materials with no receipt, an evidence percentage below the claim. The accountant checks every figure against the documents before anyone relies on it. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
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