In some versions of QuickBooks is a feature named Invoice for Time and Expenses. This feature is in Professional Services and Contractors Editions as well as QuickBooks Accountant.
The idea behind the capability is to make it easier to invoice at the end of a period for customer agreements based on time and expenses which are incurred for the client.
Many professional firms incur expenses and track time during a month and then invoice at the end of that time. Some contractors will do this as well.
All versions of QuickBooks have the ability to track these expenses and tie them to a particular Customer:Job. What this feature does is try to assist in the process at the end of the month by making all this information easily available in one place.
Our sample file is Rock Castle Construction. Time and expenses have been tracked by Customer:Job. Let’s see how using this feature can help at month-end.
First, we must set the preference. Go to Edit->Preferences->Time & Expenses->Company Preferences.
In the above screenshot, the preference has been activated. This changes the invoice icon on the home page. Rather than opening a blank invoice form when selected, it now gives two options.
Choose Invoice for Time and Expenses to see the new feature.
This window pulls all the un-invoiced time and expenses into one screen. You can clearly see what is open and ready to be invoiced for each customer.
There is a checkbox towards the bottom. It reads “Let me select specific billables for this Customer:Job.” You can select this option then click Create Invoice. When you do, the familiar Choose Time and Billable Costs window pops us. This allows the user to select only certain time and/or expenses to invoice.
Without the checkbox selection, an invoice for the customer opens with all the billable items already on it. You can still edit it, but you don’t need to complete the extra step of selecting, one by one, the items that should be included.
For someone invoicing customers for several of these types of projects, and on a regular basis, this feature can be a real time saver.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
12401 Orange Drive #136
Davie, FL 33330
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
One Response
Hi there, Hector! When I enter a vendor invoice for materials and assign it to a customer:job (to be billed to the customer after markup), the expenses are no longer visible in the expense column of the “Invoice for time & expenses” screen that you have shown above. These expenses used to show up in the expenses column, with the markup included in the dollar amount. When I go to create the invoice, these expenses do show up on the invoice – but it would be helpful to our business operation if the billable expenses were visible at a glance in this screen. (I am checking the billable box when entering the vendor invoice.)
If I enter the material invoice on the item tab rather than the expense tab, it will show up in that column, but without the markup – still not ideal like it used to be.
Any ideas on how to fix this?