Time Tracking for Accountants and Bookkeepers: Plan Your Team’s Work

Time tracking for accountants and bookkeepers should help explain where delivery effort goes. A useful record connects time to the right client, period or work, includes enough context for review and reaches the right reporting process. A timer alone cannot explain why a fixed-fee engagement takes longer than expected.

Bookwits supports timers, manual time entries and timesheet reporting. This guide focuses on capturing and reviewing those records. It does not claim passive monitoring of every application, automatic detection of all work or automatic creation of customer invoices.

1. Decide what your time records need to answer

Different practices need different views of time. An hourly engagement may need a billing review; a fixed-fee engagement may need scope and capacity analysis. A manager may need to distinguish preparation, review and client follow-up. Agree on those questions before making staff record dozens of unnecessary details.

Use clear categories without making the list too long. “Client work” may not explain why a job took more time than planned. Too many categories can make people stop recording time regularly. Explain how to record meetings, corrections, internal administration and extra client work. Follow your firm’s privacy and employment policies for staff information.

2. Capture time close to the work

Use a timer when that suits the task, or a manual entry when a call or interrupted session needs to be recorded afterward. Check the selected client and relevant company, tax year or task where applicable. Similar client names should not determine identity by themselves.

• Choose the correct work context before starting.
• Stop or review the timer when work changes.
• Record a concise description that a reviewer can understand.
• Check the duration and date before saving.
• Avoid overlapping entries for the same work.

Do not put passwords, full sensitive identifiers or unnecessary client details in descriptions. Explain your internal policy for breaks, switching work and correcting entries. Software controls and the team’s procedure should support each other rather than leaving everyone to guess.

3. Review entries before treating them as ready

A practical timesheet review checklist

Check	Question	Possible next action
Identity	Correct client and work context?	Correct the association through the supported process
Duration	Plausible time without unintended overlap?	Ask the person who recorded it
Description	Enough detail to understand the work?	Clarify without exposing unnecessary data
Scope	Normal delivery or an extra request?	Flag for the engagement owner
Reporting state	Reviewed and not already finalized in the reporting process?	Follow the approved review/export procedure

A recorded hour is not automatically an approved billable hour. Use the engagement terms and your review process to decide how time is treated. A status in a tool should not substitute for an actual commercial decision.

4. Example: a fixed-fee client with repeated follow-up

Imagine that a client’s normal monthly work is estimated at six hours. Over several comparable periods, the team records additional time requesting missing documents. Instead of immediately increasing the fee, inspect whether the request is clear, the owner is known and the client understands the collection date.

Track follow-up time separately from preparation. This helps show whether the process needs fixing or the client is asking for more work. If the client added a company or a new report, use those facts to discuss the agreed services. If your original time estimate was too low, update the plan.

The six-hour figure is illustrative, not a benchmark or a promised result. Time records support a decision; they do not prove that an engagement is profitable or that the client must accept a new price.

5. Keep export, invoicing status and actual invoicing distinct

The Bookwits Timesheets guide explains reports in CSV (a text file of data) and XLS (an Excel spreadsheet) formats. It also explains how to mark selected time entries as invoiced. Before exporting or changing that status, check exactly which entries are selected. Keep a record so you do not process the same time twice by mistake.

A timesheet report or “invoiced” status should not be confused with proof that a customer invoice was issued, delivered or paid in your accounting or billing system. Confirm the actual downstream process and responsible person. Do not assume an integration that has not been verified for your setup.

6. Use the information for capacity, not just retrospective reporting

Bookwits links time work with its practice-management context. Use Timesheets alongside relevant tasks and budgets to compare planned work with delivery effort. The Timesheets guide explains product controls; the Budget guide provides the related budget workflow.

Review the records regularly. Look for problems that keep returning, work coming up and tasks only one person knows how to do. Discuss quality and client results, not just hours. Better records can help you plan staffing and agreed services. Recording more details alone does not give the team more time.