Top 13 Time Tracking Software for Accountants

Being an accountant can be stressful. It’s a demanding and difficult job because accountants play a vital role in helping organizations manage their finances effectively and make informed decisions to achieve their goals. That can be a lot.

As an accountant, you need to take care of all the numbers, financials, taxes, analysis, reports, audits, and all money-related issues. It all comes down to one—tracking finances.

Time and billing software helps to track time spent on projects and bill accurately. It’s a great help when you run a company. According to statistics, for 40% of small business owners, the biggest challenge in having a business is bookkeeping and taxes.

The right tool can help you avoid all the headaches with admin work, keep a hand on the administrative procedures, and make sure all numbers add up. And if you’re an accounting firm, with the right tool, you’ll be able to serve your customers effectively.

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Why Do Accountants Work So Many Hours?

One of the biggest challenges for bookkeepers, CPA and accounting firms, and other professional services companies is overworking. It’s a well-paid job but comes with many obstacles.

All people with an accounting practice have to stick to high industry standards. There’s tough competition. And often, if you don’t put 100% of your engagement, you’ll be more likely to stay behind and be among the average.

Usually, the better-paid jobs require accounting certifications. Some of them include Certified Public Accountant (CPA)—the most prominent one—then there’s Certified Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Enrolled Agent (EA), and more.

That results in working extra hours, taking on more work, and clients. Consequently, there’s more paperwork, diligently filling out documents, ensuring all numbers add up and deadlines are met, and legal aspects covered.

Many of those activities are time-consuming and need you to be detail-oriented and quick. That’s why a good software can help you work less, automate and optimize work. And it’s often the best way to prevent burnout.

Why Use Time and Billing Software for Accountants?

Accounting tools have many forms but the most popular is a solution that combines functionalities of a time and billing software.

The demand for such tools is steadily growing for one simple reason—they make it easy to control finances.

Check all the benefits:

• It’s easy to track billable time, especially for accountants who bill hourly for their services.
• Companies also use the tools to manage payroll, taxes, and other financial aspects of owning a business.
• You don’t have to use two separate tools and your workflow is much faster.
• Accurate estimates and better budgeting.
• Transparency with all the numbers and important data in one place.
• Workflow automation—there’s less bureaucracy, paperwork, and administrative tasks.
• You’re always prepared for audits.
• Streamlined payroll process with automatic features.
• Precise reporting and analytics with valuable insights.
• Improved time management—tracking time lets you learn how you spend it and what you focus your attention on what matters most.

Whether you’re an accountant who needs a personal time tracker for billable time tracking for your services, or a business owner looking for a tool to automate billing and easily manage finances and monitor credits in your company, you can benefit from using accounting time tracking software.

👉If you want to find out more about billable hours best practices click here

👉 Check this article if you want to find out more about time tracking for consultants

How Do Accountants Track Time?

Depending on the industry you work for, type of company, and your style of work, as an accountant you can use different time tracking tools. Here are the most common.

1) Timesheets

Traditional timesheets are still widely used in many accounting firms. Accountants manually record the time they spend on various activities throughout the day or week.

You can fill out timesheets in pen and paper form or use digital formats, such as spreadsheets (usually Excel). You can also opt for timesheet templates.

Remember that this method is time-consuming. There’s also the probability of human error—it’s easy to make mistakes and enter inaccurate numbers.

2) Time Tracking Software

Probably one of the best methods to track billable hours is to use an automatic system that keeps track of time, projects, and clients. Additional helpful features can include billing and invoicing, employee productivity monitoring, tracking project costs, the ability to easily send invoices, and manage all projects.

A good time tracking system will help you track time with just a few clicks so you can focus on your work.

2) Project Management Tools

Project management platforms are most suitable for larger companies with outsourced accounting employees, several teams, and different departments.

These tools offer advanced features for handling complex projects and client management. This allows accountants to not only track time but also manage tasks, deadlines, and collaborate with your team in one platform.

3) Clocking In/Out Systems

Larger accounting firms may use clocking in/out systems similar to those used in other industries.

Employees use a card, time clock kiosk, key fob, or biometric system to record their entry and exit times, which are then used for payroll and time tracking purposes. This solution is good for both in-office employees and those working on-site.

4) Client Billing Systems

In firms where client billing is a significant aspect of the work, accounting professionals may track time directly within the billing system.

This type of tool helps in basic time tracking but offers many other features, e.g., creating professional invoices, helps to automate billing, improves payroll management, and ensures smooth client payments.

What’s The Best Time Tracking Software for Accountants?

You can use different time tracking apps, depending on your preferences and the niche of clients you work with. But here are some of the most common features that can help you better do you job:

• Ease of use so you don’t have to spend extra time learning how to use the app.
• Automatic time tracking for accurate recordkeeping.
• Reports and analytics to analyze performance and financials.
• Project tracking to compare estimates to actual progress and see project budgets.
• Billable hours tracking so you can get paid fairly for your work hours.
• Basic task management to organize all your tasks in one place.
• Invoicing for easy payments.
• Integrations will allow you to connect your time tracking tool with other apps.
• Availability for different platforms, so you can easily use it anywhere you are.

Here, you’ll find the best apps we’ve chosen based on accountants’ reviews and set of features.

Remember that it’s not enough for a tool to be popular. It should have all the necessary functionalities and correspond to your needs. Take a look and choose the one you find most appealing!

1. TimeCamp – free time tracking software for accountants

TimeCamp is a free time tracking software with accounting features. It helps to keep track of the business expenses, control the budget and margin, manage projects in one place, oversee all administrative procedures, and manage payroll.

You can track time automatically with the desktop app that works in the background, a one-click start/stop timer on the web, or add time manually. The tool automatically generates rich reports and timesheets so you can quickly access all the information about your projects and costs.

TimeCamp is easy to use, very intuitive, and flexible, and at the same time offers a wide range of functionalities.

To give you a clear overview, here are all the important features helpful in the accountants’ work:

• Allocate a specific budget to tasks, projects, people.
• Adjust billing rates—set individual rates for specific projects, specific users/groups, or specific users in specific projects only.
• Predict future expenses with accurate estimates.
• Track billable and non-billable hours.
• Define multiple billing rates for different projects or employees.
• Create quotes.
• Define taxes in your invoices.
• Customizable reports allow you to set them up even for unusual pay periods.
• Create an invoice based on hours tracked, send it to your clients directly from TimeCamp via email. You can also generate a public link or convert to PDF files all invoices and later share them however you prefer with your clients.
• Integrations with QuickBooks and Xero.
• GPS tracking if you work in multiple locations.
• You can also divide your projects into subtasks and add tags to better organize project management.
• Timesheet approval and attendance management.

TimeCamp gives you a lot of flexibility and use it just the way you want to.

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Pricing

• Free – a free plan of TimeCamp for unlimited users includes all the essentials – accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more,
• Starter – $2.99 per user per month, including unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking (billed annually)
• Premium – $4.99 per user per month, including one integrations, billable time, budget & estimates, apps & websites tracking, project archiving, and more (billed annually),
• Ultimate – $7.99 per user per month, including unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more (billed annually)

Enterprise – custom pricing; contact sales team for more details

2. Harvest – tracking project budget and expenses

Harvest is one of the most popular time tracking software. Why is it good for accountants? Because it not only helps to track time but also expenses. The software allows you to turn your billable time and expenses into professional invoices, send them to your clients, and get paid online.

When you’re exceeding the budget or are close to reaching the line, Harvest sends you a notification so you can control the budget and not be surprised by the information.

It’s a great tool for teams because it helps to keep track of all time spent on work, dive into details, and control the budget. Also, you are able to see if your projects are profitable. The tool integrates with other apps to make it easy for you to control all your invoices.

Harvest is a simple invoicing app with simple time tracking features.

👉 See the comparison between Harvest & TimeCamp

Pricing: Free version offers 1 seat and 2 projects. Pro plan with unlimited seats and projects costs $12 per seat per month. You can sign up for a 30-day free trial.

3. Jetpack Workflow – managing admin work of your accounting firm

Jetpack Workflow is a cloud-based application that helps accounting professions manage, track, and automate recurring client work. It’s a project management workflow tool that was built specifically for accountants, CPA firms, and bookkeepers.

You can standardize all processes and customize jobs to clients with templates to easily create a project workflow. It’s possible to store client information and docs, message with your team, and add notes.

The main dashboard gives you full visibility into projects’ state. You can also track the progress of your team with fast reports. Additionally, Jetpack Workflow integrates with other apps via Zapier.

It’s a tool that can help you manage all the internal processes of your accounting firm.

 Pricing: No free version is available but you can sign up for a free trial. There are two paid plans: Starter Monthly at $45 per user/mo, billed monthly, and Starter Yearly at $30 per user/mo, billed annually.

👉 Read more about small business time tracking.

4. Xero – granular accounting

Packed with helpful functionalities, Xero is a powerful accounting software. It’s designed specifically to handle accounting services.

Xero’s online accounting platform provides the foundation on which you can build a complete business solution. It connects you with your bank, accounting tools, accountant, payment services, and third-party apps, so everything is securely available at any time, on any device.

Here’s what you can do with Xero:

• Collaborate with clients and share information, reports, and other data from your account.
• Track and pay bills.
• Simplify employee expense claims. Capture costs, submit, approve and reimburse claims, and view spending.
• Connect your bank to Xero and set up bank feeds.
• Accept online invoice payments and get paid up by connecting to Stripe, GoCardless, and others.
• Track project profits—prepare quotes and estimates, use a built-in timer, monitor profit margins.
• Keep the full contact history, and inventory of your items.
• Automatically calculate sales tax on transactions, and use reports to prepare sales tax returns.

Xero offers many other features that allow for expense management, financial data management including taxes, assets, and purchases.

🧩 Check our Xero time tracking integration and boost your financial performance!

Pricing: You can access all Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business. Pricing starts at $15 per month.

5. TaxDome – integrated hub with client portal

If you need a fully-featured, single, integrated hub to run your practice, TaxDome may be the right choice. Although it may seem a bit complicated at the beginning, all the modules are well-connected and it’s easy to navigate the tool.

Except for time and billing, TaxDome offers Automated workflows, a user-friendly client portal, customizable CRM, company wikis, unlimited and secure file storage, e-signatures, messaging, different types of communication, and more. The SSL encryption keeps all your data safe.

Pricing: You can try TaxDome for two weeks for free. Pricing starts at $50 per month per user, billed annually.

6. Clientary – simple time tracking and invoicing software

Clientary is a simple online invoicing and time tracking web app. It’s easy-to-use but has the basic features you need for accounting.

Clientary is a comprehensive suite of tools that include online invoicing, time tracking, proposals, payment tracking, project management, sending estimates and client management.

It has payment integration with Stripe. The app allows you to customize invoices with your own HTML/CSS, send them in multiple currencies, and also create recurring invoices.

Pricing: the free version offers basic functions. Pricing starts at $19 per month.

7. BigTime – fully-featured service automation tool

BigTime is a professional service automation software that brings all your company information in one place. It allows you for centralizing all of your operational metrics in a single platform, see the status of every project in real-time, track time and expenses against projects, allocate resources and workflow with the workload capacity and performance data, and manage finances.

Here are BigTime’s main features:

• Time tracking designed for consultants with customizable views, smart lookups, user-driven presets/defaults, and timesheets.
• Expense tracking including billable and non-billable hours, reimbursable, non-reimbursable, equipment, mileage, and other transactions.
• Custom billing, invoicing, and payment processing.
• Basic project management functionalities.
• Business analytics and reports.
• Integrations with other tools.

BigTime is a suitable time and billing software for accountants who need extensive accounting features.

Pricing: BigTime doesn’t offer a free plan but there is a free trial. Pricing starts at $20 per month.

8. Tick – basic time tracking

Tick is a simple time tracking software. It tracks duration of particular tasks and gives you an insight into how much time is spent on activities. Later on, you can access all data in timesheets.

Tick is a minimalistic app suitable for all industries and people that look for a straightforward solution. It has a simple time tracker (you can also use it to track time in Basecamp), multiple timers, real-time budget tracking, reports, and is available for all devices.

It’s a great tool for anybody who wants to make work automatic and smooth. Tick also has many integrations with accounting software so you can easily connect the tools to have all the figures under control. This makes it a great time tracking software for accountants.

Pricing: You can try Tick free for 30 days. With the free plan, you can only create one project. Pricing starts at $19/month.

9. Replicon – resource management with accounting

Replicon is an advanced project management solution that lets you manage resources. It’s a feature-rich tool to organize the workflow of the team and keep all the data in one place. It’s a good solution for businesses that need a centralized platform to keep a hand on their services.

It has more functionalities than you need to manage your firm. You can manage resources and attendance, submit and monitor expenses, define tax formulas, set rates for different services, set estimates, and use invoicing module.

Replicon can help you streamline client billing, attendance management, timesheet management with various set of tools.

Pricing: starts at $6 per user per month and depends on your needs. You can combine different modules at different prices.

10. QuickBooks – accounting with bookkeeping for professionals

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting systems for CPAs, tax accountants, financial advisors, but also for small businesses.

The tool offers many granular accounting functionalities. You can track income and expenses, create and sends invoices, accept credit cards for faster payments, snap receipts, or track miles with your smartphone’s GPS for faster financial processing.

👉 Read more about Time Tracking Software for QuickBooks.

There’s also the possibility to deduct taxes, run and export different financial reports, clock employees, manage billable hours, and many, many more.

QuickBooks can be helpful in payroll processing, HR, and keep track of important financial data. It also helps to manage taxes.

✨ Make sure to check our integration with QuickBooks✨

Pricing: starts at $15 per user per month

11. Bill4Time – legal billing software

Bill4Time is the best software for accountants who work in the legal industry. It’s suitable also for auditors, tax accountants, financial advisors, and consultants.

The tool provides time and expense tracking, online invoicing and payments, and project, contact and document management. There’s also reporting (aging, collections, writeup/down, tax, and (WIP) work in progress) to help you assess the financial health of your business.

Bill4Time offers 256K-bit SSL encryption and is SSAE 16 Type II certified.

Pricing starts at $27 per user/month. You can also try Bill4Time for free with all functionalities for 14 days.

12. InvoiceOcean – free invoicing tool

InvoiceOcean makes the process of creating invoices and recording business expenses easier for business owners. You can send documents such as proforma invoices, estimates, partial, final, and recurring invoices.

Also, there is an option of adding a „Pay Now” button and receive faster payments with Paypal, Braintree, and Stripe.

If you’re a small business owner, you can invite an accountant who will collect all documents needed for the tax time directly from the dashboard. But if you’re an accounting firm, this tool can help you automate invoicing processes as it has all the elements necessary for creating professional invoices.

Pricing: InvoiceOcean is free for 3 invoices per month. Pricing starts at $12/ month.

13. Billdu – invoicing software for small businesses and freelancers

Billdu is an invoice management software designed to help businesses manage their financial transactions. It offers a range of features that allow you to create professional invoices, manage expenses, and track payments, among other things.

One of Billdu’s key features is the invoice generator, which helps create and send professional invoices quickly and easily. You can customize invoices with your company logo, choose from a range of invoice templates, and add custom fields as needed. Billdu also offers automated invoicing options, which can save time and streamline the invoicing process.

Billdu also offers a range of other tools designed to help businesses manage their finances more effectively. These include tools for managing estimates, purchase orders, and credit notes, as well as a variety of reports that allow to analyze financial data and make informed decisions.

Pricing: Billdu has flexible pricing plans to fit different business needs, with a range of features and options available at different price points. Try Billdu for 30 days free (no credit card required) and then get it for as little as $3.99 on the Lite plan. Or, go one step further and enjoy the extensive possibilities you get with the Standard plan for $8.99 or Premium for $16.99.

Conclusion: What’s Your Favorite Accounting Software?

Whether you’re a professional CPA, bookkeeper, financial advisor, or company owner, you can gain many benefits from using time and billing software for accountants.

Apps for accounting firms make it easy to quickly share important data with the auditors, improve and automate processes. Instead of doing all the paperwork and calculating numbers, you can focus on your services and enhance customer service.

Kate Borucka Kate is a freelance translator, copywriter, and a content writer specializing in time tracking software, time management, and productivity. When not researching new software, she's reading books, or spending time outdoors.

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