Bookkeeping for architecture and engineering firms on Deltek and BQE Core

The short answer

Architecture and engineering firms bill from projects: time, consultants, expenses, and fees. Deltek Ajera, Deltek Vantagepoint, and BQE Core each combine project delivery with financials differently. Bookkeeping succeeds when WIP, revenue methods, and invoices are all understood in the project system, and the general ledger, whether that's inside Deltek or QuickBooks alongside BQE Core, matches that policy every single month.

Quick reference

Deltek Ajera

Ajera is project management and accounting built for small A&E firms, and Deltek's own documentation is precise about what WIP actually is: "Work-in-progress (WIP) is billable time and expenses that have not yet been included on a client invoice with a status of Final" (Deltek). Entering timesheets, expense reports, vendor invoices, and in-house expenses all create WIP; a final client invoice relieves it and creates AR instead. Deltek's documentation confirms the actual accounting mechanics too: "in a standard setup in Ajera, WIP is recognized as an asset on the balance sheet," with the period's change in WIP showing as unbilled revenue on the P&L (Deltek).

Firms are expected to review WIP aging regularly; Deltek's own guidance flags that "projects with WIP that is 90 days or older can prompt the question of: why has this WIP not been billed?" Project revenue methods, plain-language Billed versus Billed plus WIP, and optional caps at the contract level control whether the income statement moves when work is performed or only once invoices go final. Picking the wrong method is an accounting policy problem, not a timesheet problem.

Bookkeeping checklist: WIP aging ties to GL WIP; final invoices drive AR movement; write-offs and held WIP get explained, not ignored; consultant costs get coded consistently every time.

Deltek Vantagepoint

Vantagepoint supports richer project structures and a formal process Deltek calls Revenue Generation, and its own documentation confirms exactly why it matters: "because Vantagepoint is an accrual-based system, you can recognize revenue when it is earned, rather than when payment is received" (Deltek). Without it enabled, revenue tends to follow billing directly. With it running, each project, phase, or task carries its own revenue method, so job-to-date earned revenue can genuinely differ from job-to-date billings, creating or relieving unbilled services and related revenue accounts.

Deltek's own documentation confirms the actual formulas behind the named methods, worth stating precisely rather than approximately: Method B sets job-to-date revenue equal to job-to-date billings, the default and most common choice for hourly-billed work. Method P calculates revenue as percent complete multiplied by the fee, plus job-to-date reimbursable expenses, typically used for lump-sum contracts. Method W, which the draft's plain-language "Billed plus WIP" framing maps onto closely, calculates job-to-date revenue as job-to-date billings plus work-in-progress at billing rates. Method M offers a less precise alternative to P, using an estimated multiplier instead of updated percent-complete data, and Method N disables revenue generation entirely so all revenue has to be posted through journal entries by hand.

Bookkeeping checklist: all time, expenses, and billings posted before revenue generation runs; percent completes updated whenever the method depends on them; revenue generation actually run at least once each period; project reports and the GL agree on job-to-date revenue versus billings.

BQE Core

BQE Core handles time, projects, and billing for A&E-style firms, and its own help center confirms the QuickBooks Online integration is genuinely bi-directional: "our CORE-QuickBooks Online integration allows syncing the data bi-directionally, which means you can send data to as well as get data from QuickBooks" (BQE). Core controls what syncs and how accounts map, with default income accounts set for activities and expenses under Sync Settings, plus project-level overrides available separately. QuickBooks Desktop uses a different path entirely, a dedicated data migration service and sync utility, not the same in-app bi-directional sync Online gets.

A few specific sync limits are worth knowing before a firm assumes everything just flows cleanly, all confirmed directly by BQE's own help center: BQE Core projects don't sync to QuickBooks Online Projects, they populate the QuickBooks customer hierarchy as sub-customers instead. Vendor bill payments can't sync between the two systems at all, though other vendor data can. And payment syncing links to the customer, not the specific job or project, a QuickBooks Online limitation BQE can't work around; their own recommended fix is to enter payments manually in QuickBooks Online first, then sync them back into Core.

Bookkeeping checklist: stable account and item mapping maintained over time; no duplicate invoices from dual entry; AR in QuickBooks ties to Core's own invoice registers; project profitability gets reviewed in Core while the statutory books live in QuickBooks Online.

What users say

BQE Core runs highest of the three on both aggregators, 4.3 out of 5 on G2 across roughly 448 reviews, and 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra across a notably large base of around 783 reviews. Deltek Vantagepoint sits respectably at 4.1 out of 5 on G2, with the largest G2 review volume of the three at roughly 645 to 667 reviews, reflecting its wider mid-market reach. Deltek Ajera runs lowest, 4.0 out of 5 on G2 across about 192 reviews, and notably lower still on Capterra, 3.6 out of 5 across a comparatively thin base of 62 reviews, a sample small enough to treat as a weaker signal than the other two figures. G2's own AI-generated comparisons point to specific, consistent themes: BQE Core draws particular praise for its expense management features (smart categorization, digital receipt capture) and support availability, while Vantagepoint reviewers highlight ease of setup and intuitive time submission. Ajera's weaker scores concentrate specifically around expense and receipt handling and general ledger automation, areas where BQE Core scores meaningfully higher in direct feature-level comparisons.

Shared A&E failure mode

One month of activity on a mix of hourly and fixed-fee jobs:

Wrong close records the $198,000 of deposits as fee income and ignores WIP and AR entirely. Right close, under accrual accounting with WIP recognized per policy, looks different: revenue and WIP or unbilled entries follow whichever Ajera or Vantagepoint rules apply, or Core invoices plus any necessary GL accruals; AR increases by invoices net of collections; WIP aging and unbilled balances stay reconcilable at all times; and cash remains a balance-sheet event, never the actual definition of revenue.

Fixed-fee jobs billed on milestones while costs run steadily will show large WIP or unbilled balances. That's expected and fine if percent-complete or Billed-plus-WIP logic is intentional policy; it's a genuine red flag the moment nobody on the team can actually explain where those balances came from.

What outsourced bookkeeping should own

1. Confirm the revenue and WIP policy per platform, and per major contract type.

2. Reconcile project WIP or unbilled reports to the GL every period.

3. Tie invoice registers to AR, not the other way around.

4. Match bank deposits to actual client receipts.

5. Post payroll, non-project AP, and owner activity, none of which the project system will ever touch.

6. Produce statements the board can actually tie back to the project reports.

How Numetix works with A&E stacks

We work alongside Ajera, Vantagepoint, or BQE Core and QuickBooks, whichever one actually runs a firm's projects. AI helps categorize bank activity; a CPA-overseen team owns WIP and AR reconciliations and the monthly close, so the project system and the books tell exactly the same story.

A practical first step: send us one month's WIP or unbilled report, the invoice register, and the trial balance, or the QuickBooks P&L and AR if that's the setup. We'll show you what ties and what doesn't. Book 30 minutes with our team. More on how Numetix serves architecture, engineering, and professional services firms.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ajera a full accounting system on its own? Yes, for many small A&E firms. It maintains a general ledger and project accounting together in one place. Outsourced bookkeeping still needs real WIP and AR discipline layered on top.

Does Vantagepoint require Revenue Generation to be enabled? No, but without it, revenue largely just follows billing. Enable and run it specifically when earned revenue shouldn't equal invoices in a given period.

Can BQE Core replace QuickBooks entirely? Some firms lean on Core heavily for accounting. Many keep QuickBooks as the actual GL and sync billing data in from Core instead. Decide which system is the system of record before mapping any accounts.

What's the single most important monthly reconciliation here? WIP or unbilled balances tied to the GL on Ajera or Vantagepoint, or Core invoices tied to QuickBooks AR on a Core-plus-QBO stack.

Should every timesheet entry hit revenue? Only under methods that specifically recognize WIP or percent complete, like Vantagepoint's Method P or Method W. Pure "billed" methods wait for the final invoice before anything moves.

What's a BQE Core sync limitation worth knowing about in advance? Payments sync to the QuickBooks customer, not the specific job or project, a QuickBooks Online limitation BQE can't bypass. Vendor bill payments can't sync between the two systems at all. Know both before assuming a clean, complete sync.