More than half of large UK construction firms have seen retention releases or final accounts delayed because of missing documentation or data silos between site, commercial and finance teams, according to Xpedeon's UK Construction Systems Census 2026.
The report puts a sharper edge on a long-running industry complaint. Only 16% of organisations said they were completely confident that work-in-progress and margin reports reflect true project status before month-end close. Just 13% said completed work is reflected as coded cost data in finance systems on the same day. Taken together the figures point to a structural lag between delivery and reporting, with material consequences for cash flow.
The issue for many firms is that, as work moves through the project lifecycle, approved records, evidence and decisions are not always staying connected between site, commercial and finance. That makes it harder to trust cost positions, release cash on time and act early when margin starts to move.
For large construction businesses this is no longer just an administrative frustration. When records do not move cleanly from site to commercial and through to finance, cash gets held up, reporting confidence weakens, and commercial teams lose time reconstructing positions that should already be clear. Where existing systems do not keep approved records connected from project award through to close out, final accounts take longer to agree, retention is delayed, and live financial reporting becomes harder to trust.
