Getting paid
Timesheet Template for Billable Hours
A timesheet is the evidence behind an hourly invoice. When it is good, the invoice gets approved without discussion. When it is vague, every line becomes a question, and the questions arrive after you have already done the work and want to be paid for it.
By Arshad Hossain · Published
The short version
- Record the date, the task and the hours on every line.
- Log time as you go — reconstructed timesheets are both inaccurate and unconvincing.
- Describe the outcome, not the activity. "Meeting" tells an approver nothing.
- Round consistently and say what your rounding rule is.
What each line needs
Three things make a timesheet line useful to the person approving it: when the work happened, what it produced, and how long it took. Drop any one of them and the line invites a query.
- The date the work was done
- A description written as an outcome, not an activity
- The hours, at whatever precision you bill in
- The rate, where different work is billed at different rates
- A project or task reference, where the client uses them
Describing the work
"Meeting" is not a description. "Client meeting" is barely better. "Kickoff call — agreed scope and milestone dates" tells an approver what they got for the money, and it takes the same three seconds to write if you write it on the day.
The person signing off is frequently not the person you worked with. Your day-to-day contact remembers the call; the finance manager approving the invoice does not, and cannot approve what they cannot recognize. Write for the second reader.
Rounding and precision
Most freelancers bill in six, ten or fifteen minute increments. Any of those is fine. What matters is that you use one consistently and that the client knows which, because a timesheet that mixes precise entries with suspiciously round ones reads as estimated after the fact.
If you round up to a minimum charge for short pieces of work — a fifteen minute minimum for a five minute call — say so in your terms rather than letting the client discover it from a timesheet.
Turning a timesheet into an invoice
For a short period, the timesheet lines can become the invoice lines directly: each date and task is a line, the hours are the quantity, and your rate is the rate. That gives the client the full detail on the document they are paying.
For a long period, summarize on the invoice and attach the timesheet. Forty lines of individual entries on an invoice is harder to approve than four grouped lines with the detail available underneath. Group by project or by week, keep the total identical, and send both.
Log it as you go
Time reconstructed at the end of the month is wrong in both directions, and the client can usually tell. Entries appear in suspiciously neat blocks, work that took twenty minutes gets rounded to an hour, and small pieces of work vanish entirely because you cannot remember them.
The habit is worth more than the tool. Anything that captures the date, the task and the duration at the moment you stop working will beat a perfect system you fill in three weeks later.
Timesheets: common questions
What should a timesheet include?
The date of each entry, a description written as an outcome rather than an activity, the hours worked, the rate where it varies, and a project reference if the client uses them. Plus the period covered and the total hours.
How detailed should timesheet descriptions be?
Detailed enough for someone who was not there to recognize what they are paying for. "Kickoff call — agreed scope and milestone dates" is approved; "meeting" generates a question, usually a week after you sent the invoice.
What time increment should I bill in?
Six, ten or fifteen minutes are all normal. Pick one, use it consistently, and state any minimum charge in your terms. Mixing precise entries with round ones is what makes a timesheet look reconstructed.
Should I attach a timesheet to my invoice?
For a long period, yes — summarize on the invoice and attach the detail. For a short one, put the entries on the invoice itself. Either way the totals must match exactly, or you have created the dispute you were trying to avoid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a timesheet if I charge a fixed price?
How long should I keep timesheets for?
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