Track Billable Hours by Customer in QuickBooks Online, Desktop, & Pro

In QuickBooks, you can record the time that your employees have used for working. Later, you can include the time in billing customers and payroll when required. For QuickBooks track billable hours by customer, you can follow a number of ways. In our guide, we are going to show you how to track billable hours by customer in QuickBooks Online and Desktop versions. Let’s read ahead!

In this particular blog, you will explore the different ways to track billable hours by customer in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and QuickBooks Pro.

How to Track Billable Hours in QuickBooks Online?

The procedure of time tracking and billable time in QuickBooks Online is easy. This can be done in two different ways. You can either use the Time tracking feature which makes it quite easy to track the billable hours. On the other hand, you can enter the customer hours in timesheets. To know both the methods, you can go through the following information for tracking billable hours in QuickBooks.

Track Hours of Customers using the Time Tracking Feature

The time tracking feature makes it possible for you to track the customer’s hours in QuickBooks Online. All you have to do is enable the Time Tracking feature in your account and set the necessary preferences. You can follow these steps to know more.

• In “QuickBooks Online”, click on the “Gear icon” located on the top right. This will open the QuickBooks settings menu.
• Then, you can click on the “Accounts and Settings” from the “Your Company” tab.
• Here, you can select the “Advanced” option.
• Now, select the “Pencil” icon located on the right side of the “Time Tracking” section.
• At this point, you are supposed to place the checkmarks for the following boxes:
  • “Add Service field to timesheets”.
  • “Make Single-Time Activity Billable to Customers”.
• When you see the “First day of the workweek” drop-down menu, choose “Monday” and press the “Save” button located right below this.
• Now, click on the “Done” button to end the process.

This is how you can enable the Time Tracking feature in QuickBooks Online. As you allow your account to track the hours of a customer, it starts tracking the time depending on the day you have selected.

Track Hours of Customers using the Timesheets

By using Timesheets, you can mention the hours of your customer. To get this job done, you need to open the Weekly Timesheets and select the supplier’s name and choose a week in which you wish to record the activities. After that, you can select your customer, add a description and save other details.

For step by step guide, you can pursue the following instructions:

• Go to the “Plus” icon located on the top right. This will open a window of options.
• Here, you can select the “Weekly Timesheets” from the “Employees” tab.
• Now, you can click on the supplier’s name. For this, you can use the “Name” drop-down menu.
• After this, choose a week in which you wish to record the activities. The week can be selected using the “Date” drop-down menu.
• At this point, you are required to select the name of the “Customer” name, “Description”, and the “Service worked on”.
• Here, you can enter the other details required in the fields.
• Once done entering the details, make sure you click the “Save” button.

As you follow these steps and save details, the weekly timesheet will help you to track the hours of your customer in QuickBooks Online.

How to Track Billable Hours in QuickBooks Desktop?

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can enter the time records in different ways. This becomes very beneficial when you have a lot of work and several employees. To get started with the procedure of QuickBooks track billable hours by customer, you can use the Timesheet, Time Reports, and Invoicing.

To make every method sorted, we will show you each step in the following guide.

Track Billable Hours using Timesheet

Timesheet allows you to enter details such as time, week, customer, in an organized column of the timesheet. Later, you can view the billable hours every time you bill your customers.

• Navigate through the “Employees” menu.
• Then, click on the “Enter Time I User Weekly Timesheet” option. Alternatively, you can use the down arrow located next to the “Enter Time” option on the home page. Here, you will see a resemblance of a paper timesheet including columns for the details you will enter.
• Now, click on the “Name” drop-down menu from the top and start selecting your employee.
• From the “Week Of” field, select the week.

Note: If you want to edit the dates then click on the small graphical calendar and choose the appropriate week. But, if you already created the individual records for a particular employee then you will see the details (for each) in the corresponding date column. Whatever you add to the Timesheet will automatically display as an individual entry.

• In case you want to create the new entry on your Timesheet then click on the “Customer” drop-down menu.
• Then, choose the “Customer:Job” option.
• Select the “Service” drop-down menu to provide the service to your employee.
• At this point, you need to make sure that the “Payroll Item code” is correct. Thus, you have to select it carefully. As you choose the code, the “WC Code” will be filled in automatically.
• If preferred, add a note in the “Notes” field.
• Then, add the hours or numbers that your employee has worked for a particular customer in the “Date” column.
• Make sure you click on the “Billable” box. This will put a checkmark only if the service is billable.
• Once done, you will see the totals of each column at the end.
• Now, you can press the “Save” button.

You can repeat the same procedure for other employees if required. Now, you will see these hours when you bill customers or run payroll. We hope you have understood the procedure of QuickBooks track billable hours by customer.

Track Billable Hours using Time Reports and Invoicing

QuickBooks allows you to view the time data that you have entered. It also allows you to use the 4 pre-formatted reports that help you to tally the details in different ways. To access the reports, you can go through the following steps:

• Go to the “Reports” menu.
• Then, click on the “Report Center” option.
• After that, you will have to find the “Jobs, Time and Mileage” on the left pane. Once found, click on it.
• Then, scroll down and click on the “Time” to view all four reports. These reports serve a different purpose that is as follows:
  • Job Summary: This report helps you to know the time that the company has spent on a job.
  • Job Detail: This will let you know about the same but also includes billing status and name of the employee.
  • Name: It shows the hours and employees that have spent on a job.
  • Item: This report lets you know the time that the company has spent on service type.

You can open these reports to access the information. All you are required to do is go to the Duration column and double-click on the number to view the details.

Note: When creating the invoice for the customer (whom you want to bill for a service provided to the customer), QuickBooks shows a message where you can find that the job or customer you have chosen has an outstanding billable time. It also gives you an option to choose the billable time and add it to the invoice.

QuickBooks provides another way to bill for expenses and time that will allow you to make invoices in batches. To do so, you can perform the following steps:

• Click on the “Customers” option.
• Then, select the “Invoice for Time and Expenses” option.
• When a new window opens, mention the “Date Range” option.
• Here, you need to make sure that the “Template” you want to use is displayed.
• Now, select the column for each “Customer:Job” menu column.
• Click the “Next Step”.
• Here, you can click on the “Review Billables” to check the details.
• Now, press the “Edit Options”.
• Select the “Create Invoices” option.
• In the next window, make sure that the “Preferred Send Method” for each customer is correct before you dispatch them.

QuickBooks helps you to meet all the requirements that a business may require. Using the Time Reports and Invoicing, you can easily track billable hours in QuickBooks Desktop.

How to Track Billable Hours in QuickBooks Pro?

By tracking billable hours in QuickBooks Pro, you can avoid confusing lost pay stubs, Excel sheets, or other third-party integrations. To track the time, you are required to enter the time in QuickBooks Pro and then create a Timesheet. Here, we will show you the entire procedure.

Note: Before proceeding, you need to make sure that the customers, projects, and employees are added properly to your QuickBooks account.

Enter the Time in QuickBooks Pro

To enter the time in Quickbooks Pro, you can select the Date, pick the correct Employee, choose Job or Customer, select your Service Item and Payroll Item, and enter the time. You can add the Notes if required. Then, mark it as Billable and save your Time Entry. You can jump to the following steps to understand in detail.

• First of all, select the date for specific hours that you want to track. For that, you can use the dropdown calendar.
• Then, choose the employee from the options.
• As you select your employee, you may receive a pop-up for allowing that employee to use time data during the paycheck creation. You can press the “Yes” button if you want to allow it. Doing so, the hours will be added automatically to the payroll timesheet of an employee.
• Now, you can click on the “Customer” or “Job” using the drop-down menu.
• Thereafter, you can click on the “Service Item” drop-down menu to choose the item that was used for the job or customer during these hours.
• Once done, select the “Payroll Item”. The payroll selections appear depending on how the company is set up. It includes the following:
• Holiday overtime
• Contractor rate
• Hourly rate
• Hourly overtime
• Starting hourly rate
• Now, enter the time you have worked. You can also use the built-in timer so that it can track the hours during the work.
• You can add the notes about the working hours. Though this is optional.
• Once done, you can mark if the hours are non-billable or billable. For that, you can use the box located on the top right.
• Once done, press the “Save & Close” or “Save & New” button if you have plans to add more entries.

Create the Timesheet in QuickBooks Pro

To create the timesheet in QuickBooks Pro, you can go to the customer, enter the time, and edit the weekly timesheet. Here are the steps for that:

• Choose the “Employee”.
• Click on the “Work Week” using the calendar icon.
• Select the “Job” or “Customer” drop-down menu.
• Click on the “Service Item”.
• Select the “Payroll Item”.
• Now, enter the “Daily Hours”.
• Then, you can verify the “Total Hours”.
• Later, you can mark it as “Billable”.
• Once done, press the “Save & Close” button.

This is how you can enter the time in QuickBooks Pro and then create a Timesheet in QuickBooks Pro. Make sure you enter the details correctly.

To Wind Up

It is easy to track billable hours by customer in QuickBooks Online and Desktop. However, it depends on what type of version you are using for QuickBooks. For instance, in QuickBooks Online, you can track hours using the Time Tracking feature or Timesheets. Whereas in the QuickBooks Desktop, you can track billable hours using Timesheet and Time Reports & Invoicing. If you have QuickBooks Pro, you can enter the time and create a Timesheet to track the billable hours.

Don’t forget to learn about How to Undo a Reconciliation in QuickBooks in an easy way.