You can choose between single-activity entry and timesheet completion.
One of the things you must do when you’re setting up your payroll is to establish varying levels of pay for hourly employees (sick, vacation, PTO, etc.). QuickBooks training classes can help you with this task.
Once you’ve done this, though, entering time worked for those staff members shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. You have two options here. You can either enter single activities one at a time (which gives you the option of setting a timer) or zip through them on a timesheet.
Simple Single-Entry
To create a record for one day’s activity, click Employees | Enter Time | Time/Enter Single Activity. After choosing the date and employee name, you fill out the rest of the record by selecting from drop-down lists, as pictured here:
When you enter activities individually, you can set a timer.
Use the Start and Stop buttons to control the timer. If you need to take a break and want to resume billing the same activity, click Pause. If you’ll be billing the employee’s time to a customer, be sure that the box next to Billable is checked.
Troubleshooting tip: If the Payroll Item field doesn’t appear for an employee, open his or her record and access the editing function (this varies according to QuickBooks version). In the payroll information window, check the box next to Use time data to create paychecks.
Check the box at the bottom of the screen to include a Payroll Item field in time records. It’s often necessary to attend QuickBooks training courses to master payroll setup.
To change any other options, visit Edit | Preferences | Time & Expenses | Company Preferences.
Multiple Entries
QuickBooks also provides timesheets for tracking and displaying your employees’ weekly time entries. If you’ve already entered individual activities, these will appear when you open the timesheet.
With an individual record open, click the Timesheet button at the top. To open a timesheet directly, click Employees | Enter Time | Use Weekly Timesheet and select the desired employee name. You’ll see something like this:
The Weekly Timesheet window displays multiple entries.
If anything is incorrect or missing, click within that field and then click Edit Single Activity. This will open the window containing that specific entry.
The next time you invoice a customer marked Billable on any timesheet, you’ll be able to pull this time data in (as long as you’ve checked that preference). This information will also be used in payroll-processing, of course. So double- and triple-check your work here to ensure that your employees are compensated correctly – and that your critical payroll taxes are accurate.
