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L
Local Electrician
December 7, 2022
Question

Job/Time tracking without using payroll

  • December 7, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

Hello,

Is there a way to track time by the job for each employee without using Weekly timesheet and having it tied to an expense account? I am already tracking my payroll expenses. I need the job costing to be tracked for each job per employee without creating a double entry since we outsource our payroll. 

Right now we use the weekly timesheet to track the hours by the job (just for tracking purposes so we are insuring we are billing the customer for the right amount of time) and we outsource the payroll so on our profit and loss it is doubling the payroll expense figure and throwing the report all off. Is there a way to track time by the job in another way?

1 reply

MaryLandT
MaryLandT
December 7, 2022

I want to make sure you're able to track time by job for each of your employee, Local Electrician.

 

Tracking of your income and expenses is important on a job-by-job basis. You're already on the right track. 

 

Using a weekly timesheet is a way of recording the hours spent on the job (billable time) in QuickBooks Desktop. Just make sure to mark the Billable column on the form.

 

A weekly timesheet is a non-posting entry, therefore it should affect your reports. To count this on the financial report, you need to import the time by entering bills. Then, match them to the expenses downloaded from the bank account. That way, no duplicate entries are created.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, tracking expenses for a job and comparing those expenses to the revenue in called Job Costing. This article will explain further and provides the appropriate way of handling this: Track job costs in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Let me know if you need more help with this by commenting below. I'll make sure you're able to track time by job for your employees @Local Electrician.

L
Local ElectricianAuthor
December 7, 2022

Thank you for your reply. I am going to try to be a little more specific since this situation is kind of unique.

This year from January till mid August we processed our payroll in house using QB Payroll so I have been using the Weekly timesheet steadily all along. In Mid August we switched over to outsourcing the payroll to a 3rd party company. In order to be able to bill my jobs properly I have been still inputting the time into the weekly timesheet so the hours are then tracked for each job on the profit and loss by each individual job. I do not cut a physical check or use the Direct deposit service anymore to pay the guys, or file the payroll taxes or the weekly wage garnishment. We have the payroll company doing all of that now. So each week those expense items are being brought into QB each time I sync my bank accounts. The problem I now have is the expense is being accounted for twice on the reporting because it is pulling payroll expenses from the data that I am inputting into QuickBooks and from my bank when the The account that funds the outsourced payroll expenses is reporting the expense. I have to continue to input the data into the weekly timesheet or I can't properly bill each individual customer for the time worked. Especially on project jobs where the guys could be there for many weeks or even months at a time before we send a bill. Is there another way to track the guys hours worked and what job they were on that is not connected to the payroll but will still allow me to pull the information on to a profit and loss report by job? Thanks for your help.

R
Rea_M
December 7, 2022

Welcome back, @Local Electrician.

 

I'll share some insights about tracking jobs and hours worked without using payroll in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), so you can keep your financial data accurate and updated.

 

For the time being, the only option to track the hours worked and what job your employees were on is to input the time into the weekly timesheet. This way, the hours are tracked for each job on the profit and loss report. 

 

However, since those expenses are being brought into QBDT each time your bank accounts sync, they'll be accounted for twice in your reports. With this, you may opt to stop inputting the data into the weekly timesheet and check out for a third-party application to do it for you (tracking your timesheets and reports).

 

If you wish to learn more about tracking expenses for a job in QBDT, you can read this article: Track job costs in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Also, you may want to check out one of our Help pages as your reference to guide you in managing your business growth and transactions using QBDT: QuickBooks Learn and Support. It includes help articles, Community discussions with other users, and video tutorials, to name a few.

 

Please don't hesitate to keep me posted in the comments if you have other reporting and job-tracking concerns in QBDT. I'm always here to help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @Local Electrician.

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