Security & Integrated Systems Accounting in San Diego
Installation margins you can see job by job, recurring monthly revenue reported on its own, and equipment and technician costs that land where they belong.
Security, low-voltage and AV integrators run two businesses under one roof. One is project work: designing and installing alarm, access control, camera and audiovisual systems, where margin depends on how closely equipment and labor track the proposal. The other is recurring revenue from monitoring, service agreements and hosted access or video plans, which is what lenders and buyers value most. When both are mixed together in the books, it is hard to tell whether installs are profitable or the recurring base is growing.
Skyward provides outsourced accounting and fractional CFO support for security and integrated systems companies across San Diego County, from our office in Escondido. We keep your books in QuickBooks Online, set up job tracking for installations, separate recurring revenue from project revenue and close the books every month. You receive monthly statements, job margin reports and recurring revenue reporting, and documents move through Karbon, our client portal, rather than email.
Technicians are the core of the business, and they are paid in ways that make payroll tricky: hourly with overtime, on-call and after-hours service, drive time between sites and sometimes prevailing wage on public projects. Our HR team helps you document pay policies, keep timekeeping and onboarding records complete and handle California wage and hour rules correctly in your payroll system. Engagements run on a fixed monthly fee, so finance costs stay predictable.
Services we typically run
- Outsourced Accounting
- Fractional CFO
- Financial Reporting & Dashboards
- Internal Controls
- Outsourced HR
What we handle
The realitiesof your sector.
01
Installation job costing against the proposal
Integration projects are quoted on equipment lists, wire runs and estimated labor hours, and change orders appear mid-job. We set up job tracking so cameras, panels, readers, cable, subcontractors and technician time post to each project as they occur. Comparing actual cost to the original proposal shows which project types and estimators win profitable work.
02
Recognizing recurring monthly revenue correctly
Monitoring, service and hosted plans are often billed annually or quarterly in advance, but earned month by month. We record those billings as deferred revenue and recognize them as the service is delivered, and report recurring revenue separately from installation income. You see the true size and growth of your RMR base, along with cancellations and price changes.
03
Equipment inventory on shelves and in vans
Stock is spread across the warehouse, technician vehicles and job sites, and a lot of it is low-cost parts that disappear without a trace. We reconcile inventory to the books, relieve it to jobs when it is installed and flag shrinkage. Your margins stop depending on whether someone remembered to charge a box of connectors to the right job.
04
Service contracts and third-party monitoring costs
Service agreements carry their own revenue, technician time and parts, and many integrators pay a third-party central station per account. We track the revenue and direct costs of each contract type so you know the margin on monitoring and service separately from installs, and can reprice plans that cost more to support than they bring in.
05
Technician payroll, on-call and prevailing wage
Overtime, on-call pay, travel time and, on public projects, certified prevailing wage payroll all need to be calculated and documented correctly. Our HR team reviews how technicians are paid and scheduled, helps you write clear policies and keeps records ready for any review. Labor is then allocated to jobs and service accounts so it shows up in the right margin.
FAQ
Questions,answered plainly.
How should a security company account for monitoring contracts billed a year in advance?
The payment is generally recorded as deferred revenue when billed, then recognized month by month as the monitoring is provided. That keeps a big January billing run from overstating that month's income and gives you an accurate monthly recurring revenue figure. We set this up in QuickBooks Online and coordinate with your CPA on the treatment.
Can you show us our RMR separately from installation revenue?
Yes. We separate recurring monitoring, service and hosted plan revenue from project income in the chart of accounts and reporting. Each month you see recurring revenue, new accounts added, cancellations and the margin after central station and service costs, alongside installation job results.
Can you track job profitability for our access control and AV installs?
Yes. We tag equipment, materials, subcontractors and technician labor to each job, including change orders, and compare actual costs with the original proposal. Over time this shows which kinds of projects, customers and estimators produce the margins you expect.
Do you handle certified payroll for prevailing wage jobs?
Our HR and payroll support helps you set up pay rates, track hours by project and keep the records that certified payroll reporting relies on. We do not provide legal advice, so for questions about specific contract or agency requirements we recommend involving your attorney.
What does Skyward charge for a security or integrated systems company?
We work on a fixed monthly fee based on your scope, including job volume, recurring accounts 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 forsecurity & integrated systems.
- 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.
- 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.
- Finance
Internal Controls
Segregation of duties for small teams, approval workflows, reconciliation discipline, documented close procedures and fraud-risk reduction that keep your books audit-ready.
- 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.