Accounting firms need client-ready time records, and Everhour connects tracked hours to budgets, billing, and reporting.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
Accounting firms use time tracking to turn daily work into records that support billing, payroll review, and internal planning. A useful entry names the client, project or engagement, task, person, date, time spent, and billing status. For example, a tax prep entry should separate client communication from return preparation when the firm prices or reviews those activities differently.
For U.S. payroll records, covered employers must keep accurate records for employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The FLSA does not require one specific timekeeping form or system. A spreadsheet, timer, app, or timecard can work if the record is complete and accurate.
Accounting firms need a clean split between client-billable work and internal work. Billable entries usually attach to a client engagement, such as bookkeeping, advisory, audit support, payroll processing, or tax preparation. Internal entries cover training, administration, hiring, meetings that cannot be billed, and firm operations. That split keeps invoices cleaner and makes utilization reports easier to read.
A good weekly record also preserves the payroll view. Unless exempt, covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. Hours cannot be averaged across two or more workweeks for FLSA overtime purposes. Weekend or holiday work does not trigger federal premium pay by itself.
Client-facing time records need enough detail to explain the work without exposing unnecessary internal notes. Use task labels that match the engagement scope, apply billing rates in USD for U.S. clients, and keep descriptions factual. A line such as "Monthly close, reconciled operating account and reviewed exception items" reads better than "admin work" and gives the client a reason to approve the charge.
Accounting firms also need retention discipline. Employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years and basic time and earnings records, such as daily start and stop time cards or sheets, for at least two years. Time records often contain employee personal information, so U.S. businesses should collect only the information needed, keep it secure, and dispose of it securely under FTC privacy and data-security guidance.
A one-off weekly total is enough for a freelancer reconciling a small client invoice or a partner checking a single engagement. It stops being enough when the firm needs budget control, approval history, recurring client limits, or a reliable handoff to billing and payroll. At that point, time entries need to live in a managed workflow.
Everhour Project Budgeting supports that workflow with hour-based and money-based budgets, recurring budget periods, threshold email alerts, and budget protection that can stop timers or prevent extra logging after a budget is exceeded. Accounting firms can use client-level budgets across multiple projects, which fits retainers and ongoing advisory relationships where total client spend matters more than a single task total.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Each entry should identify the client, project or engagement, task, person, date, time spent, and whether the work is billable. Payroll review also needs daily hours worked and total hours worked each workweek for employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions. Notes should explain the service performed without adding private or unnecessary employee data.
Manual time entry works when staff update records daily and managers review them before invoices or payroll. End-of-week reconstruction creates weaker records because people forget short client calls, internal reviews, and task switches. Timers reduce recall gaps, but the firm still needs clear task names, billing rules, and approval steps.
Time tracking records work time against clients, projects, tasks, and pay periods. Employee monitoring usually means observing employee activity beyond the time record. U.S. privacy obligations are sectoral and state-dependent, and California privacy rights extend to covered businesses handling employee and job applicant data under the CCPA after the employment-data exemptions expired on December 31, 2022.
For FLSA-covered nonexempt employees, employer records must show hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Unless exempt, covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at at least 1.5 times the regular rate. State wage and overtime rules can add requirements.
The biggest billing mistake is mixing billable client work with internal firm work under vague task names. That creates invoices clients question and reports partners cannot use. Separate client engagements, non-billable administration, and payroll-relevant working hours at the entry level, then review the week before billing data moves into an invoice.
Everhour Project Budgeting lets accounting firms track hour-based or money-based budgets as time is logged. Teams can set recurring budget periods for ongoing work, use threshold email alerts, and manage client-level budgets across multiple projects for retainers or advisory relationships.
Everhour works standalone or inside project tools such as Asana, ClickUp, GitHub, Linear, Jira, Monday, Notion, Trello, and Basecamp. Staff can use live timers or manual entries on tasks, then tracked time flows into reports, timesheets, budgets, billing, and invoice workflows.
Track approved hours against client budgets, review time before invoices, and keep recurring engagements under control with Everhour Project Budgeting.
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