Accounting firms need client-ready time records. Everhour connects tracked work to budgets, invoices, 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-firm time tracking starts with the work structure you already use: client, engagement, task, service line, billable status, and staff role. A tax return entry, for example, should identify the client, return year, preparation or review task, staff member, time spent, and whether the work is billable. That level of detail turns a timer entry into useful billing and management data.
The same structure also supports payroll and wage-and-hour records for employees. Under the FLSA federal baseline, covered employers must keep accurate records for nonexempt workers, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay after 40 hours in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate.
A useful accounting time system follows the path from work performed to review, billing, and analysis. Staff record time against the right client and engagement. Managers review and approve the entries. Approved hours then feed client invoices, WIP review, budget-to-actual reporting, and profitability analysis without re-keying the same information into separate spreadsheets.
Service-line context matters. Tax teams track returns, reviews, corrections, and extensions. Bookkeeping and CAS teams track recurring monthly close work, reconciliations, payroll support, and advisory deliverables. Audit and engagement teams track phase or service-type effort. Firms that keep this structure consistent can compare actual hours with estimates and see whether pricing, staffing, or scope needs adjustment.
Utilization only helps when the time data behind it is complete. For accounting firms that manage by hours, utilization means billed hours divided by total hours worked. The 2023 AICPA PCPS/CPA.com National MAP Survey reported 59.6% firmwide utilization across 1,117 participating public accounting firms, down from 62.3% in the prior survey.
Realization needs the same care. The same survey reported 99% realization, up from 97%, and cautioned that very high realization can signal billing rates that are too low or time that is under-recorded. A firm that writes off little time because staff stop tracking nonbillable cleanup work gets a cleaner-looking report and a weaker pricing signal.
A simple time tool is enough when you need a weekly total, a one-client invoice backup, or a quick review of billable hours before sending a small invoice. It works best when the work is narrow, the team is small, and no one needs approval history, budget alerts, or engagement-level reporting after the invoice goes out.
A managed workflow fits firms that run multiple clients, recurring CAS engagements, fixed-fee work, or staff budgets. Everhour Project Budgeting tracks time and money budgets as staff log work, supports recurring budget periods, and can send threshold alerts at 75%, 90%, 100%, or custom levels. That gives partners a live view of engagement progress before overages reach the client invoice.
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, engagement, task, service line, billable status, staff member, date, and time spent. Role-based billing rates also matter when the firm bills by staff level. This structure supports invoices, WIP review, budget-to-actual tracking, utilization analysis, and profitability reporting by client or service line.
Yes. CPA.com and AICPA PCPS report that CAS practices are moving away from pure time-and-materials billing toward fixed-fee strategies, but time data still supports right pricing, staffing, resource allocation, and profitability management. Fixed fees remove the hourly invoice line; they do not remove the need to know effort by client and recurring task.
Under-recording nonbillable work creates misleading utilization, realization, and profitability reports. Cleanup, review, rework, client follow-up, and internal coordination still consume capacity. A firm that tracks only billable client-facing work loses the data needed to price engagements, rebalance staff workload, and explain why a fixed-fee client is less profitable than expected.
No federal rule requires a specific timekeeping form or system. Under the FLSA federal baseline, covered employers must keep accurate records for nonexempt workers, including daily hours worked and total hours worked each workweek. The method can be digital, manual, or integrated, as long as the records are complete and accurate.
Firms should track both when they need useful billing and management reports. Client-level tracking shows total relationship effort, while engagement-level tracking separates tax, bookkeeping/CAS, advisory, audit, or other work. Task detail then explains where time went inside the engagement, such as preparation, review, corrections, reconciliation, or client communication.
Everhour Project Budgeting lets firms set time or money budgets for client work, including one-time or recurring budget periods. Budget alerts can notify selected admins at 75%, 90%, 100%, or custom thresholds, helping partners spot overruns before a fixed-fee or time-and-materials engagement loses margin.
Everhour can turn approved tracked hours into invoice generation, so reviewed time entries become the basis for client billing. Firms can keep staff tracking work by task and project, then use approved time for invoices without rebuilding the same client, engagement, and billing details by hand.
Track client, engagement, and task time continuously. Everhour connects logged work to budgets, alerts, approvals, and invoices so accounting firms protect margin before billing starts.
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