A timesheet records time spent working during a defined period, often by day, project or task. It can support payroll, client billing or project reporting, depending on what is recorded and how the organisation uses it.
That last clause matters more than the definition. The same grid of dates and hours means different things to a payroll clerk, a client and a project lead, and most timesheet problems come from asking one record to do all three jobs without deciding what it should contain. This guide covers what a timesheet records, shows a labelled example, separates it from a time card, and explains what submission and approval do and do not prove.
What a timesheet records
Every timesheet answers the same three questions for a period: when the work happened, how much of it there was, and what it was for. The period is usually a week, sometimes a fortnight or a month. The “what it was for” column is where timesheets diverge.
A payroll timesheet cares about the total. It records the hours a person was at work, minus unpaid breaks, so that pay can be worked out. Which project the hours went to is often irrelevant.
A client-billing timesheet cares about the split. It records hours against a client, project or task, and marks which of those hours can be invoiced. The total is a by-product.
A project timesheet cares about the plan. It records hours against tasks so that a lead can compare effort to estimate and spot a project drifting before the invoice does.
A single sheet can serve all three if it captures enough detail, which is why most well-designed timesheets record start and finish times, break time, worked time, and a project or task with a billable flag.
An example timesheet
The table below is an invented example for one person over one working week. The client names, projects and hours are made up to show the shape of a useful record, not to describe any real business.
Example: one person, one week (times in 24-hour format)
| Date | Project or task | Start | End | Break | Worked | Billable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 21 Sep | Client A: website redesign | 09:00 | 17:30 | 0:30 | 8:00 | 7:00 |
| Tue 22 Sep | Client A: website redesign | 09:00 | 17:00 | 0:30 | 7:30 | 7:30 |
| Wed 23 Sep | Client B: reporting dashboard | 09:30 | 18:00 | 0:45 | 7:45 | 6:15 |
| Thu 24 Sep | Internal: proposal writing | 09:00 | 17:00 | 1:00 | 7:00 | 0:00 |
| Fri 25 Sep | Client B: reporting dashboard | 09:00 | 15:30 | 0:30 | 6:00 | 6:00 |
| Week | 3:15 | 36:15 | 26:45 |
A few things this example makes visible:
- Worked and billable are different columns. Monday’s hour of internal stand-up and Wednesday’s ninety minutes of unbillable rework are worked, paid time that no client will be invoiced for. Thursday is a full day with nothing billable at all.
- Breaks are recorded, not assumed. Wednesday’s longer lunch and Thursday’s hour are deducted explicitly. A sheet that silently subtracts thirty minutes every day is wrong on both of those days.
- Totals are in hours and minutes, and invoices usually want decimals. The billable total of 26 hours 45 minutes is 26.75 hours, not 26.45. The time to decimal calculator does that conversion and explains it.
- Utilisation falls out of the sheet. Billable divided by worked is about 74% for this week. Over many weeks that number is the honest input for setting a billable rate.
Time card versus timesheet
The two words are often used interchangeably, and in many small businesses they describe the same document. Where they differ, the difference is purpose.
A time card is the older, narrower record: clock in, clock out, breaks, total. It exists to establish attendance and paid hours, and its natural reader is payroll. A card does not need to know what the hours were spent on.
A timesheet is the broader record: the same times, plus what the work was for. Its natural readers are the people who bill clients and run projects, and it is what a freelancer or agency means when they say “send me your timesheet”.
If you only need the attendance total for a week, with breaks and any overtime rule applied, the free time card calculator produces that without an account. If you need the project and billable split as well, you need a timesheet, and usually a system that fills most of it in for you.
Payroll versus client billing
Payroll and client billing read the same hours in different ways, and the differences are worth spelling out because they explain most disputes.
Rounding. Payroll often works in whole minutes or quarter-hours under whatever rule the employer applies. Client billing commonly rounds up to a minimum increment agreed in the contract, such as six or fifteen minutes. The same task can therefore be 0:52 on one record and 1:00 on another, and both can be correct.
What counts. Payroll counts hours at work, including internal meetings, training and admin. Client billing counts only the hours the contract allows to be charged. The gap between the two is non-billable time, and it is a cost of doing business rather than an error.
Rates. Payroll applies the person’s pay rate and any overtime rule. Client billing applies the rate agreed with that client, which may differ by project or by the seniority of the person doing the work. The same hour has a cost and a price, and a project only makes money when the price is higher.
Evidence. Payroll generally needs the total and a manager’s sign-off. Clients increasingly want the detail: which task, on which day, for how long. A timesheet built from real activity, such as commits, tickets and calendar entries, answers that question without anyone reconstructing the week from memory.
Submission and approval are a process, not a verdict
Most organisations add two steps to a timesheet: the person submits it, and someone approves it. Those steps are useful, but it helps to be clear about what they do.
Submission fixes the record at a point in time. Approval says that a named person has reviewed it and accepted it for the next step, whether that is payroll or an invoice. Neither step makes the hours legally correct, compliant with a working-time rule, or binding on a client who has not agreed to them. Contract terms, employment law and the client’s own acceptance decide those things.
What approval does well is catch mistakes early. A reviewer who sees the sheet alongside the work evidence spots the day that was logged twice or the project that was mislabelled before the invoice goes out. The contractor timesheet approval workflow describes a lightweight version of that loop, and Keito’s submitting timesheets documentation shows how the review step works in the product.
Calculate a week
If you have a paper sheet or a spreadsheet and want the totals checked, three free tools cover the arithmetic without an account:
- The time card calculator adds a week or fortnight of daily start and finish times, deducts breaks, applies an overtime rule if you give it one, and exports a CSV.
- The hours calculator works out a single shift, including one that ends after midnight.
- The time to decimal calculator converts hours and minutes into the decimal hours an invoice needs.
When the approved hours are ready to bill, creating an invoice in Keito pulls them straight from the timesheet so nothing is retyped.
Frequently asked questions
What should a timesheet include?
At minimum the period, the date of each entry, the hours worked and the project or task they belong to. For client work, add a billable flag and any notes the client will want to see. Start and finish times with breaks are better than a single daily total because they can be checked.
Is a timesheet the same as a time card?
Not quite. A time card records attendance for payroll: in, out, breaks, total. A timesheet adds what the hours were spent on, which is what billing and project reporting need. Many small businesses use one document for both.
How do I convert timesheet hours to decimals for an invoice?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours. Seven hours and thirty minutes is 7.5 hours, and 26 hours 45 minutes is 26.75. The time to decimal calculator does this and shows the working.
Does approving a timesheet make the hours final?
Approval means a named reviewer has accepted the record for the next step. It does not by itself settle a dispute with a client or decide what employment law requires; the contract and the applicable rules do that. Treat approval as a quality check that catches errors early.
How long should timesheets be kept?
Long enough to answer questions from clients, auditors and regulators for the period they can ask about, which varies by country and by contract. Check the requirements that apply to your business rather than relying on a general rule.