Accurately tracking employee hours is crucial for payroll, billing clients, and analyzing profitability. QuickBooks Time is an integrated time tracking feature that makes it easy to capture employee hours worked across projects and tasks..
Overview of QuickBooks Time Benefits
Before diving into using QuickBooks Time, let’s overview some of the key benefits:
- Track time across multiple jobs, clients, and projects
- Attach hourly time logs to specific tasks and services
- Integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks payroll
- Eliminates manual entry and errors
- Provides reporting on utilization and labor costs
- Ensures accurate client billing for time and materials
Having integrated time tracking provides greater visibility into where your team is spending their time and what tasks are consuming the most effort.
How to Configure QuickBooks Time Tracking
Let’s walk through how to setup Time Tracking in QuickBooks Desktop:
Enable Time Tracking
First, enable the time tracking feature:
- Go to Edit > Preferences > Time Tracking
- Check the box to enable Time Tracking
- Select your time tracking settings
- Click OK to save
Set Up Service Items
Service Items represent billable tasks and activities. Create items for everything you want to track time against:
- Go to Lists > Item List
- Create each Service Item
- Input a detailed description
- Assign it to an income account
Create Employees
Ensure all employees are setup in QuickBooks:
- Go to Employees > Employee Center
- Add each employee
- Enter their name, contact info, pay rates
- Check the box “Use time data to create paychecks”
Now you’re ready to start tracking time!
How Employees Track Time in QuickBooks
Here are the steps for employees to log their hours worked:
Access the Time Sheet
Employees can access their time sheet:
- From the Home Screen by clicking “Enter Time”
- Or by going to Employees > Enter Time
Select Job and Service Date
On each time sheet, select:
- The Job they worked on
- The Service Date when the work was performed
Enter Time Against Service Items
For each task or activity, enter:
- The Service Item – what type of work was performed
- The Description with details about the specific task
- The Duration – number of hours worked
Save the Time Sheet
Once all hours are entered, save the time sheet. Time is now tracked against projects!
How Managers Review and Approve Time Sheets
As a manager, you can review employee time sheets for accuracy:
- Go to Employees > Manage Timesheets
- Filter by Status to see “Not Reviewed”
- Open each time sheet and review entries
- Check that the jobs, tasks, and hours seem accurate
- Add any notes if something seems incorrect
- Approve the time sheet or send it back for edits
Approving time cards locks the time data and readies it for billing and payroll.
How to Run Time Tracking Reports
QuickBooks Time provides helpful reports such as:
- Time by Job Summary – See total hours per project
- Time by Name and Item Summary – View hours grouped by employee and task
- Item Profitability Detail – Analyze profitability by service item
These reports give visibility into utilization, allow you to optimize assignments, assist with project planning, and ensure accurate billing.
Best Practices for QuickBooks Time Tracking
Follow these tips for effective time tracking:
- Train employees on time sheet procedures
- Require time sheets to be entered daily
- Remind staff to be detailed in descriptions
- Review and approve sheets every week
- Leverage reports to gain insights
- Bill clients based on approved time data
In Summary
- QuickBooks Time provides integrated time tracking
- Setup Service Items and Employee records
- Employees log hours against Jobs and Items
- Managers review and approve time sheets
- Use reports to analyze utilization and profitability
- Use approved time for payroll and client billing
Accurate time tracking is critical for every service business. QuickBooks Time centralizes time data capture so you can access key insights and keep projects on track.