Time accounting for project-based work (+ checklist)

Time management: it provides an overview, better planning and transparency to customers. In this blog, you'll read what time accounting is, why it's important and share tips to make time accounting easier.

Time management: what is it exactly?

Time accounting is the process of keeping track of the time you spend on your work and projects. It provides an overview and helps plan and monitor progress.
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• Mandatory for employers: Time registration is essential for demonstrating employees' hours worked.
• Insight for companies: Although the tax authorities do not set strict requirements, detailed time registration provides valuable internal data, such as productivity and cost management.
• Transparency to customers: Keeping track of hours gives customers insight into the time worked, which helps with fair and responsible billing.

Is time accounting important?

Time accounting has several advantages, depending on your work situation:
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For freelancers

• Does it ensure accurate billing
• Builds trust with customers through transparency
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For teams and organizations

• As a result, budgets can be better monitored.
• Can the productivity of employees are measured
• Is better project management made possible
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For everyone

• Provides insight into work patterns
• Does it help you plan more efficiently?
• It is transparent to customers

How can you account for hours?

Time registration is essential for insight into your time spent and project progress. Below, we'll discuss three ways you can efficiently account for your hours.

1. Time accounting in Excel

Excel is a popular choice for time management. It offers an easy way to keep track of your hours without the need for additional software.
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Why should you opt for time management in Excel?

• Easy entry method, anyone can work with it
• No additional software required
• You can completely customize columns, formulas, and colors to suit your needs
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💡 Tip: Create templates in Excel for consistency and overview. TimeChimp offers free Excel templates to keep track of for hours.

2. Time registration software

With time registration software, you can not only track hours, but also record them based on specific projects, activities and customers. This provides a detailed overview of your time spent by project or customer, allowing you to use your time more effectively.

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Why should you choose time registration software?

• Record time on specific projects, activities, and customers
• Generate invoices based on registered hours
• Keep an overview of multiple projects and teams

3. Automatic time recording

Tired of keeping track of your hours manually? Automatic time registration tools are the solution. These tools automatically track how much time you spend on different tasks or projects without you having to think about them yourself.
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Why should you opt for automatic time registration?

• No forgotten registrations, always a complete overview
• This allows you to easily switch between projects and tasks.
• Ideal for multi-taskers and professionals who work with multiple deadlines.
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Wondering how this can improve your working day? Read more about automatic time registration.

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Example of time accounting

To keep track of time sheets properly, it can help to follow a clear structure. Below is a simple example of what an hour statement can look like:
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• Date: The day the work was done.
• Customer: The customer for whom the work was carried out
• Projekt: The specific project that has been worked on.
• Task: The task or activity that was performed.
• Hours worked: The number of hours spent on this task.
• Remarks: Optional field to note additional information or details.

Flawless time accounting: this is how you approach this successfully

Good time management is about efficiency, transparency and smart planning. With the right tools, you get better insight into time spent, projects, and customer relationships, while streamlining your administration.

1. Use specialized tools

Specialist time registration tools are much more efficient than traditional methods such as Excel. They have useful features such as:

• Automatic timers
• Reports
• Integrations with other software

This prevents manual errors and complicated formulas. You can detailed reports generate that provide insight into the time spent by team members and projects. This helps you make better decisions and makes planning and budgeting easier.

2. More transparency to customers

Transparency is important for customer relationships. One customer portal makes it easy to share hours worked with customers. They can view and approve hours, which builds trust and prevents billing conflicts.

With a well-organized portal, customers can see where their money goes. This makes invoice approval faster and increases customer satisfaction and professionalism.

3. Smart planning and registration

Link your time registration to a planning tool. This way, you can organize your working day more efficiently. By updating your hours daily, you prevent backlogs and keep everything accurate.

In addition, you can use a planning tool looking ahead. Do you notice that certain tasks take more time? Adjust your schedule to prevent unexpected delays and make it easier to meet deadlines.

Time accounting checklist: this is what you should pay attention to.

To help you set up an effective time sheet, we have compiled a practical checklist. So you know exactly what to look out for.

For project managers

Ensure efficient time registration and maximum transparency with these tips.

• Set up notifications: put reminiscences for team members so that they fill in hours on time, which prevents backlogs.
• Monitor declarability and productivity: Use reports for insight into your team's productivity and declarability of projects.
• Linking with projects and customers: Record hours per customer and project for a clear overview.
• Transparency to customers: Share hours worked via a customer portal so they approve, which builds trust.

For employees

Keep track of your hours and prevent misunderstandings with these simple steps.

• Keep accurate track of hours: Enter hours immediately after a task for accuracy.
• Use notifications: Set reminders to update hours on time.
• Focus on transparency: Communicate clearly about hours worked to avoid misunderstandings.

For freelancers:

Optimise your time registration for tax benefits and efficient billing.

• Take tax requirements into account: Keep track of hours to tax benefits such as using the self-employed deduction.
• Efficient billing: Use your time tracker for fast and accurate invoices.
• Deploy automatic tracking: Reduce administrative tasks with automatic tracking and integrations.

Conclusion

Good time management is essential for insight into time spent, better planning and transparency to customers. With time registration software and a customer portal, you can work more efficiently and reduce errors.

Start your free trial

Curious about how TimeChimp helps you with your time accounting? Try TimeChimp free for 14 days now and discover how it can simplify your time registration.

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