In a previous post, we reviewed the ability of QuickBooks to track time using the weekly timesheet. Once the time is entered into QuickBooks, it can be used to track the profit or loss of jobs or projects.
It can also be used to automate payroll as the hours can automatically populate the Pay Employees window. One more benefit to the weekly timesheet is the ability to automatically create customer invoices.
To begin, here is the screenshot with which we began the earlier post.
So, this is our starting point. We have recorded for Gregg Schneider thirty-six hours of time worked on two different jobs the week of December 7, 2015. The column farthest to the right is labeled Billable. It is the checkmark in this column that tells QuickBooks we want to maintain a record of this time so we can invoice the customer at a future date.
Once that date arrives, we can create the customer invoice.
Once the correct customer is entered, the time waiting to be invoiced can be accessed. In QuickBooks 2013 and 2014, the Add Time/Costs button is located on the ribbon. Once that button is selected, the popup shown in the graphic appears, detailing the time in the system that waits to be invoiced to this particular customer.
It should be noted that from this window, other costs for expenses, items, and mileage can be included on the invoice as well. In this post, we are mainly concerned with time. The other transactions can be handled in a similar manner.
Following is a screen view of the Add Time/Costs window for a different customer.
There are more transactions for this customer. An enhancement added to QuickBooks 2014 is the ability to sort on the columns in the window. The highlighted area shows the column headers. We could sort by date, employee, service item, amount, etc. Whichever column works best for us to organize our invoice.
Also note the arrow. The time we import into the invoice can show as individual lines, all as one invoice line, or a combination.
So, back to our original customer, Doug Jacobson. If we create the invoice for all the available time, we can then see a preview below.
All the installation time for Gregg was added as a single line item. The removal labor by Dan was broken out, one line for each day’s entry.
A QuickBooks user can determine all one single line, all separate lines, or a combination as in the example.
If you invoice customers by time, this may be a feature that will save some manual entry.
