Solar & Energy Storage Accounting in San Diego
Project-level margins, equipment you can account for, and incentive receivables that get collected, so a growing installer can show lenders and investors numbers that hold up.
Solar and battery installers carry a lot of cash in motion. Panels, batteries and inverters are bought weeks before an install, payments arrive in stages tied to permitting, installation and interconnection, and a share of many projects is paid by a financing partner or a rebate program rather than the homeowner. A company can sign record volume and still run short of cash, because the margin on each project only shows up once every piece of it has been collected and costed correctly.
Skyward provides outsourced accounting and fractional CFO support for solar, storage and clean energy companies across San Diego County, from our office in Escondido. We keep your books in QuickBooks Online, set up project tracking so equipment, crew labor, permits and subcontractors land on the right job, and close the books every month. Documents move through Karbon, our client portal, and you receive monthly statements, project margin reports and a cash forecast built around your milestone schedule.
Growth in this industry usually means hiring fast. Installers, electricians, site surveyors and sales staff are paid in different ways, often with commissions or per-project pay, and California's wage and hour rules apply to all of it. Our HR team helps you classify roles correctly, keep payroll and commission plans documented, and maintain the onboarding records a scaling employer needs. Engagements run on a fixed monthly fee, so your finance cost stays steady while volume grows.
Services we typically run
- Outsourced Accounting
- Fractional CFO
- Forecasting & Budgeting
- Financial Reporting & Dashboards
- Outsourced HR
What we handle
The realitiesof your sector.
01
True margin on every install
A project's profit depends on equipment, crew hours, permits, engineering, interconnection fees and any dealer or financing charges, and those costs post over several months. We set up project tracking in QuickBooks Online so each cost is assigned to its job as it occurs. You see margin by project, by system type and by sales channel, rather than one blended number at year end.
02
Panel, battery and inverter inventory
Equipment is your largest cash outlay, and it moves between the warehouse, trucks and job sites. When it is expensed on purchase instead of when it is installed, both margins and the balance sheet are wrong. We reconcile equipment inventory to the books, record it to cost of goods sold as projects complete, and flag shrinkage or stock that has sat too long.
03
Milestone and financing-partner billing
Many projects are paid in stages, and some are funded by a loan, lease or PPA partner whose payments depend on documents and inspections being complete. We track every milestone billed and collected per project, reconcile partner remittances against what was expected, and net out any fees they withhold. Missed or short payments surface in weeks, not quarters.
04
Rebate and incentive receivables
Utility and program rebates can sit outstanding for months, and they are easy to lose track of once the install is finished. We record each expected incentive as its own receivable, age it alongside customer balances and give your team a follow-up list. Where federal tax credits are involved, we keep the project records your CPA needs to advise on them.
05
Reporting lenders and investors will accept
Credit lines, equipment financing and outside investment all depend on financials that are timely and consistent. We deliver monthly statements, backlog and pipeline views, cash forecasts and the covenant or borrowing-base schedules your lender asks for. As a fractional CFO we help you model hiring, territory expansion and working capital needs before you commit to them.
FAQ
Questions,answered plainly.
How should a solar installer account for equipment it has bought but not yet installed?
Generally it should be held as inventory and moved to cost of goods sold when the system is installed, rather than expensed the day it is purchased. That keeps each project's margin accurate and your balance sheet honest. We set this up in QuickBooks Online and reconcile it each month, and we coordinate with your CPA on how it is treated for tax.
Can you track payments from our financing partners and rebate programs?
Yes. We record what each partner and program owes per project, match their remittances against those amounts and break out any dealer fees or holdbacks. Anything short, late or missing appears on an aging report so your team can chase it while the paperwork is still fresh.
Do you help with the federal solar tax credit or other energy incentives?
We do not prepare tax returns or claim credits, because Skyward is not a CPA firm. What we do is keep clean project records, equipment costs and placed-in-service dates organized, so your CPA or tax advisor can evaluate and claim whatever incentives apply to you or your customers.
We are growing fast and talking to lenders. Can you prepare the reporting they want?
Yes. We deliver monthly financial statements on a consistent close schedule, plus cash forecasts, backlog reports and any borrowing-base or covenant schedules your lender specifies. Our fractional CFO service can also help you build the model behind a financing request or an investor conversation.
What does accounting for a solar or storage company cost with Skyward?
We charge a fixed monthly fee based on your scope, such as project volume, number of financing partners and whether you need CFO or HR support. There is a six-month initial commitment, then it continues month-to-month. Contact us for a quote.
Services
Built forrenewable energy & storage.
- Finance
Outsourced Accounting
A full accounting department without the overhead: classifications, reconciliations, AP and AR support, month-end close and reporting, delivered by one steady team for a fixed monthly fee.
- Strategy
Fractional CFO
Strategic finance without a full-time salary: cash-flow forecasting, budgets, KPIs, board and lender reporting, pricing analysis and a finance function built to scale.
- Strategy
Forecasting & Budgeting
Annual budgets, rolling forecasts, scenario planning and financial projections for launches and fundraising, built in models your team can understand and use.
- Finance
Financial Reporting & Dashboards
Monthly statements, budget versus actual by department, AR and AP aging, weekly cash reporting and KPI dashboards in Power BI, Excel or Google Sheets.
- People
Outsourced HR
Comprehensive oversight of HR practices, policies and procedures: onboarding, compliant terminations, contractor classification under AB5, payroll support and audit-ready records.
Ready to take yourbusiness Skyward?
Tell us where your finance and HR operations stand today. We'll map out what fixed-fee support would look like — usually live within about a week.