Construction cost management and owner internal controls are fundamentally based on the construction contract. Construction project owners have significantly more cost control responsibility under the most popular new forms of construction project delivery such as design-build, guaranteed maximum price, fast-track and cost-plus (“DB/GMP/F-T/C-P”). Owner internal controls have not kept up with the requirements of these new forms of project delivery. The opportunity of fraud, waste and abuse is significant and can occur in ways previously unimagined by construction project owners.

Owner internal controls will necessarily be affected by the certain key terms or clauses included in the owner’s contract with the general contractor or construction manager (“GC/CM”). Without establishing key owner audit rights and GC/CM accounting requirements in the construction contract, the owner may have no means to meet its fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the assets of the enterprise during the construction project.

One of the greatest areas of construction project owner internal control weakness is the ability to safeguard funds flowing through the GC/CM to the subcontractors from losses due to fraud, waste and abuse. This is where a very large percent of owner losses occur due to the proliferation of the new construction project delivery systems (i.e., design build, guaranteed maximum price, etc.).

This webcast will focus on helping construction project owners understand the accounting/auditing problems and important owner-GC/CM contract terms related to the following:

• Subcontractor bidding and selection
• Subcontractor buy out
• GC/CM self-performed trade work
• Subcontractor change order control
• GC/CM contingency account control

What: Owner internal controls critical to subcontractor selection, buy-out and changes webcast
When: Thursday, Oct. 29, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Eastern (9:00–10:00 a.m. Pacific)

Featured presenters:

• Jim Schmid, partner and national Construction Advisory Services practice leader, Grant Thornton LLP
• Joseph W. DeLave, Esq., Dickinson Wright PLLC’s Construction practice

To register:
Follow the steps below to register. You will receive an email confirmation with instructions for attending the webcast. If you need assistance registering, please call 888.228.0988 (toll free).

• Go to https://university.learnlivetech.com/gtt.
• Choose “New Student Registration” to create your account, then enter company pass code 710004. (If you have attended a Grant Thornton webcast within the past year, simply log in to your account.)
• Locate the webcast in the catalog – 10235 “Owner internal controls critical to subcontractor selection, buy-out and changes” and sign up.

For more information on construction fraud visit www.GrantThornton.com/constructionfraud.