The final account is every cycle settled at once
The final account is where the measured works, the variation account and retention are reconciled into one settled figure. Built from records it closes fast, built from memory it drifts for years.
QScope Team · 18 March 2026 · 6 min read
The final account is the agreed statement of what the contractor is finally owed under a PAM standard form. It takes the original contract sum, adjusts it for everything that changed across the job, and lands on a single settled figure. Done well, it is a reconciliation of records already kept. Done badly, it is an attempt to rebuild a two year job from memory, and that is where accounts sit unagreed for years.
What has to be closed
The final account is a set of accounts brought to a close together.
- Measured works. The permanent works remeasured where the contract requires, agreed against the priced bills.
- Variations. The full variation account, every instructed change valued and agreed, with nothing left open.
- Retention. The held fund reconciled and released, both stages accounted for.
- Provisional and prime cost items. Expended against their allowances and adjusted for the difference.
Each of these should already exist as running records from the interim cycles. The final account gathers them, it does not create them.
Reconcile, do not renegotiate
The strongest position at final account is one where every figure has been valued and served through the payment cycle already. Variations agreed month by month do not reopen. Retention tracked cycle by cycle does not go missing. The final account then becomes a matter of confirming the sum of settled parts, which is a short conversation. When variations were parked for the end, the final account turns into a fresh negotiation over the whole job, and the payer holds the cash while it drags.
Evidence closes the gap
Where a line is disputed, the instruction, the measured quantity and the rate build up close it. A figure with a paper trail gets agreed. A figure asserted without support gets discounted, because the payer has every reason to resist a number they cannot check. The account that agrees quickly is the one where nothing rests on memory.
Keep the measured works, the variation account and retention current through every cycle, and the final account is a reconciliation you can close in weeks rather than a dispute you carry for years.
QScope carries every valuation, variation and retention movement forward into the final account, so closing out is a reconciliation, not a reconstruction.