Final Account vs Final Certificate: What Is the Difference?
The final account is the agreed value; the final certificate is the document that closes it and can become conclusive evidence. JCT and NEC4 timings, retention release, and the window to dispute.
Key Takeaways
- The final account is the agreed value of the works; the final certificate is the document that closes the contract around it.
- Under the JCT Standard Building Contract 2024, the certificate is due within two months of the last triggering event, and its conclusive-evidence effect bites 28 days after the due date for final payment.
- Objecting in writing does not preserve your position under JCT — proceedings have to be commenced.
- NEC4 clause 53 gives the project manager four weeks from the Defects Certificate to assess, and four weeks to dispute.
- Retention runs on its own clock. A settled final account does not mean the balance has been released, and a released balance does not close the account.
The account is easier when nothing has to be reconstructed
Site Samurai holds each valuation period, instructed change and retention entry against the project with its evidence and its dates, and keeps applied against certified value current as the job runs. At close-out the final account is a review of records you already hold, and the retention balances and their release triggers are visible rather than buried in a folder from eighteen months ago.
The difference in one paragraph
The final account is a valuation exercise. It starts from the contract sum and adjusts for variations, provisional sums, daywork, loss and expense, contra charges and liquidated damages, then reconciles against everything already certified and paid. The final certificate is a certifying act. It states the final amount due, sets the due date for the final payment, and — under JCT — carries a conclusive-evidence effect that can shut down later challenges. One is arithmetic. The other is a legal deadline attached to that arithmetic. Our final account process guide walks through preparing the account itself; this page is about the documents and the clock.
| Final account | Final certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The agreed total value of the works. | The certifying document that closes the contract. |
| Who produces it | Prepared by the contractor, assessed by the CA or QS. | Issued by the certifier under the contract. |
| What it settles | How much the work was worth. | What is finally due, and when it must be paid. |
| Legal effect | A valuation, open to negotiation until agreed. | Under JCT, conclusive evidence unless challenged in time. |
The JCT sequence
Under the JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 edition, clause 4.25 requires the contractor to provide all the documents necessary for the contract administrator or quantity surveyor to make the adjustments to the contract sum. After six months following practical completion, the contract administrator issues a statement of the sums due. Where the contractor fails to provide the information, clause 4.25.3 allows the contract administrator to make their own assessment — which is rarely to the contractor’s advantage. Clause numbering differs between JCT editions, so treat these numbers as the 2024 form and check your own contract.
- Practical completion is reached and the clock on the final account starts.
- The contractor supplies the documents needed to adjust the contract sum.
- After six months following practical completion, the certifier issues a statement of the sums due.
- If the contractor does not supply the information, the certifier may assess it themselves.
- The final certificate follows, and the due date for the final payment is fixed by it.
The final certificate and conclusive evidence
Under the 2024 Standard Building Contract, clause 4.26 requires the final certificate to be issued no later than two months after the latest of the end of the rectification period, the notice of completion of making good, and the submission of the statement — and the due date for the final payment is the last day of that two-month deadline. The conclusive-evidence provision sits at clause 1.9 of the Standard Building Contract (clause 1.8 in Design and Build). Its effect is suspended only where a party commences adjudication, arbitration or other proceedings within 28 days of the due date for the final payment. A letter of protest is not enough under the Standard Building Contract: proceedings must actually be started. Clause 1.9.3 treats proceedings as concluded where no further step is taken in any twelve-month period, which reopens the conclusivity question.
- The certificate is due no later than two months after the last of the three triggering events.
- The due date for the final payment is the last day of that two-month window.
- 28 days from that due date to commence proceedings if you want to displace conclusivity.
- Under the Standard Building Contract, writing to object does not stop the clock — you have to start proceedings.
- Letting proceedings go dormant for twelve months can be treated as concluding them.
- These clause numbers are from the 2024 edition. Check the equivalent provisions in your own contract.
The NEC4 route
NEC4 ECC introduced a final assessment mechanism at clause 53 (new in NEC4 — NEC3 used clause 53 for the Contractor’s share, and had no direct equivalent of this process). Under clause 53.1 the project manager makes an assessment of the final amount due and certifies a final payment no later than four weeks after the supervisor issues the Defects Certificate, or thirteen weeks after the project manager issues a termination certificate. The final payment is made within three weeks of the assessment. Clause 53.2 lets the contractor issue its own assessment if the project manager does not. Under clause 53.3 the assessment becomes conclusive evidence of the final amount due unless it is disputed: the dispute must be notified within four weeks and referred to dispute resolution.
- The final assessment mechanism at clause 53 is new in NEC4. NEC3 numbered the Contractor’s share at clause 53 and had no direct equivalent of this process.
- Four weeks from the Defects Certificate for the project manager’s final assessment.
- Thirteen weeks applies where a termination certificate has been issued, not to the ordinary route.
- Final payment follows within three weeks of the assessment.
- If the project manager does not assess, the contractor may issue its own assessment.
- Four weeks to notify a dispute, and it must be referred to dispute resolution.
Where retention sits in this timetable
Retention runs on its own clock, and that clock is not the final account’s: the second release is commonly triggered by making good at the end of the defects period, which can fall either side of the final certificate. So a settled final account does not mean the retention balance has been released, and a released balance does not close the account. Our retention guide covers the percentages, the release triggers and how to chase them, and the retention statement template is the document to send.
If you disagree
Both families give you a window and both windows are short. Under JCT you have 28 days from the due date for the final payment to commence adjudication, arbitration or other proceedings if you want to prevent the final certificate becoming conclusive. Under NEC4 you have four weeks to notify a dispute over the final assessment and must refer it to dispute resolution. Adjudication under the Construction Act remains available as the fast route in either case, and the Act’s payment-notice mechanism still governs the final payment itself: the notified sum is payable by the final date for payment unless a compliant pay less notice has been given.
- Diary the due date for the final payment on the day the certificate arrives, not later.
- Under JCT, commence proceedings within the window — objecting in writing is not the same thing.
- Under NEC4, notify the dispute within four weeks and refer it, rather than continuing to negotiate.
- Check whether a pay less notice was validly given against the final payment before assuming the sum is agreed.
- Take advice early. These deadlines are short and missing one is usually final.
Sources
The timings and effects on this page were checked against the sources named below before publication. The JCT clause numbers are from the 2024 editions and move between editions; the retention pattern is the general industry norm rather than a clause in any one standard form. Check your own contract particulars. This is general information, not legal advice.
- Fenwick Elliott, "Closing the books: managing final accounts in JCT and NEC contracts", Insight issue 100, May 2025 (JCT 2024 clauses 4.25, 4.26 and 1.9; NEC4 ECC clause 53) — fenwickelliott.com/knowledge-hub/insight/issue-100
- Designing Buildings, "Retention" (the industry norm of half released at practical completion and the balance on certification of making good) — designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Retention
- Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, Part II, ss.109–111 (as amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009) — legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/53/part/II
Last reviewed: 2 September 2026
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