Top 12 Best Time & Billing Software for Accountants in 2027
Managing client work, billable hours, internal tasks, payroll, and deadlines can become difficult when an accounting firm relies on spreadsheets or manual timesheets. The Best Time & Billing Software for Accountants helps firms understand where working hours go, improve billing accuracy, control project costs, and reduce missed billable time. Modern time tracking software for accountants goes beyond a basic timer. Many platforms now combine timesheets, projects, tasks, billing rates, reports, scheduling, invoicing, payroll integrations, and team management in one system. This makes them useful for solo accountants, bookkeeping businesses, CPA firms, finance teams, and larger accounting practices. However, the right platform depends on how your firm operates. Some businesses need lightweight timekeeping software for accountants, while others need complete accountant time and billing software with project budgets, staff rates, approvals, and profitability reporting. This guide compares 12 tools for different accounting workflows and explains the features firms should evaluate before making a decision.
Best Time Tracking Software for Accountants at a Glance
| Software | Best For | Time Tracking | Billing Features | Free Option |
| AYYES | Projects, tasks and team time | Yes | Billable tracking | Yes |
| Toggl Track | Flexible time tracking | Yes | Billable rates | Yes |
| QuickBooks Time | QuickBooks workflows | Yes | Accounting workflows | Trial/plan dependent |
| Clockify | Free time tracking | Yes | Billing features | Yes |
| Harvest | Time tracking and invoicing | Yes | Strong | Yes/limited |
| Hubstaff | Remote accounting teams | Yes | Budgets and payroll tools | Plan dependent |
| Timely | Automatic tracking | Yes | Reporting | Trial/plan dependent |
| TimeCamp | Automated timesheets | Yes | Billing and invoicing | Yes |
| Everhour | Project-based teams | Yes | Budgets and billing | Limited |
| My Hours | Client profitability | Yes | Billing and reports | Yes |
| Timesheets.com | Payroll and billing workflows | Yes | Strong | Plan dependent |
| DeskTime | Productivity insights | Yes | Reporting | Yes/limited |
Also Suggest this : CRM and Project Management Platforms
12 Best Time Tracking Software for Accountants
1. AYYES – Best for Projects, Tasks and Team Time Tracking
AYYES brings employee time tracking, projects, tasks, timesheets, scheduling, activity records, and team management into one workspace. It can suit accounting teams that want to connect time records with the actual projects and assignments employees are completing. For firms managing multiple clients, AYYES can provide a structured way to organize projects and tasks while monitoring the time employees spend on each activity. Best for: Accounting firms that want project management, task management, timesheets, scheduling, and employee time tracking in one platform. Suitable for: Small accounting firms, bookkeeping teams, CPA practices, finance departments, distributed teams, and professional service businesses. Key features:
- Employee time tracking
- Manual and timer-based time entries
- Projects and tasks
- Timesheets
- Team scheduling
- Employee activity records
- Reporting
- Work organization
- Billable work tracking
- Team management
Pricing: The AYYES Free plan supports up to 12 team members. Paid plans start at $0.88 per seat/month with annual billing or $0.99 per seat/month with monthly billing. For firms looking for a flexible time tracker for accountants, AYYES can help connect employee hours with projects and operational work instead of maintaining separate systems for task management and timekeeping. Screenshot tracking and activity/app monitoring are paid features and are not included on the Free plan.
2. Toggl Track – Best for Flexible Time Tracking
Toggl Track is designed around simple time recording and flexible project organization. Employees can track work against clients, projects, and tasks while managers review timesheets and reports. Its straightforward interface can work well for accountants who want a lightweight system rather than a complex practice-management suite. Best for: Firms that prioritize easy adoption and flexible time entry. Suitable for: Accountants, consultants, bookkeepers, remote teams, and professional service firms. Key features:
- Timer-based tracking
- Manual time entries
- Projects and clients
- Billable rates
- Timesheets
- Reporting
- Team management
- Integrations
- Desktop and mobile tracking
Toggl Track may be especially useful for firms that want timekeeping software for accountants without introducing a large number of additional operational features.
3. QuickBooks Time – Best for QuickBooks-Based Accounting Workflows
QuickBooks Time is particularly relevant for businesses already operating inside the QuickBooks ecosystem. Teams can record employee hours and connect time data with related payroll or accounting workflows, depending on the products and plans being used. Best for: Businesses and accounting teams already working heavily with QuickBooks. Suitable for: Accounting firms, payroll teams, bookkeeping businesses, service companies, and QuickBooks users. Key features:
- Employee time tracking
- Timesheets
- Mobile time entry
- Scheduling
- Team management
- QuickBooks ecosystem integration
- Time reporting
- Payroll-related workflows
For accounting practices that want to reduce transfers between separate platforms, a system closely integrated with their accounting software can simplify administration.
4. Clockify – Best Free Time Tracking Option
Clockify provides time tracking, timesheets, projects, reports, and team features with a well-known free tier. It can be a practical starting point for small firms that want to move away from spreadsheets without immediately committing to a large monthly software expense. Best for: Accountants that want accessible time tracking with a free entry point. Suitable for: Freelance accountants, bookkeepers, startups, small accounting firms, and growing teams. Key features:
- Time tracker
- Manual timesheets
- Projects
- Clients
- Reports
- Billable rates
- Team management
- Kiosk options
- Scheduling on applicable plans
- Budget and profitability functionality on applicable plans
Businesses searching for accountant time and billing software free may find Clockify worth evaluating, although firms should check which billing, approval, reporting, and integration features require paid plans.
5. Harvest – Best for Time Tracking and Invoicing
Harvest combines time recording with invoicing, project budgets, expense tracking, and reporting. This can make it attractive to professional service businesses that want to move from logged hours to client invoices without building a complicated workflow. Best for: Accounting teams that want time tracking connected closely with billing. Suitable for: Small accounting practices, consultants, agencies, bookkeepers, and client-service businesses. Key features:
- Time tracking
- Timesheets
- Billable hours
- Project budgets
- Invoices
- Expense tracking
- Reports
- Team capacity visibility
- Integrations
Harvest’s combination of tracking and invoicing makes it relevant when comparing accountant time billing software for client-service firms.
6. Hubstaff – Best for Remote Accounting Teams
Hubstaff combines employee time tracking with timesheets, projects, budgets, scheduling, payroll-related functionality, and workforce reporting. Its broader workforce features can be useful for accounting firms with remote or distributed employees. Best for: Remote teams that need visibility into time, attendance, projects, and employee workloads. Suitable for: Distributed accounting teams, outsourcing firms, bookkeeping businesses, and remote finance departments. Key features:
- Time tracking
- Timesheets
- Project budgets
- Employee scheduling
- Payroll support
- Invoicing
- Productivity reporting
- Activity features
- Mobile tracking
- Integrations
Accounting businesses should decide whether they need simple timekeeping or a broader workforce-management platform before choosing this type of software.
7. Timely – Best for Automatic Time Capture
Timely focuses heavily on automatic time capture, helping users reconstruct their working day without relying entirely on manual timers. This can be helpful for accountants who regularly move between email, documents, client calls, spreadsheets, accounting software, and internal systems. Best for: Professionals who frequently forget to start or stop timers. Suitable for: Accountants, consultants, legal professionals, agencies, and knowledge workers. Key features:
- Automatic time capture
- Timesheets
- Project tracking
- Team reporting
- Workload visibility
- Project budgets
- Time categorization
- Reporting
Automatic tracking can reduce forgotten hours, although firms should still establish clear rules for reviewing and approving recorded time.
8. TimeCamp – Best for Automated Timesheets and Billing
TimeCamp offers time tracking, automatic activity recording, timesheets, projects, attendance functionality, and billing-related features. It can suit teams that want a mixture of manual and automated time collection. Best for: Accounting teams that want automated tracking alongside traditional timesheets. Suitable for: Small businesses, accounting teams, agencies, consultants, and remote teams. Key features:
- Automatic tracking
- Manual timesheets
- Projects
- Attendance
- Billable hours
- Reporting
- Productivity insights
- Invoicing functionality
- Integrations
For accounting teams comparing timekeeping software for accountants, automated tracking can be useful when employees work across many applications during the day.
9. Everhour – Best for Project-Based Accounting Teams
Everhour is designed around project time, budgets, estimates, expenses, and billing-related workflows. It is especially useful when teams already manage work inside supported project management platforms and want time tracking to remain closely connected to those projects. Best for: Project-based teams that want budget and cost visibility. Suitable for: Accounting teams, consulting firms, agencies, professional services, and project-based businesses. Key features:
- Time tracking
- Project budgets
- Estimates
- Expenses
- Team timesheets
- Billing
- Reporting
- Project management integrations
Accounting firms handling fixed-budget engagements can benefit from seeing how actual hours compare with planned project effort.
10. My Hours – Best for Client and Project Profitability
My Hours focuses on project time tracking, clients, expenses, billing rates, budgets, and reporting. It can work well for service businesses that need a simple way to understand where project time is being spent and whether client work remains profitable. Best for: Firms focused on project cost and client profitability. Suitable for: Accountants, consultants, agencies, professional services, and small teams. Key features:
- Time tracking
- Clients and projects
- Billable rates
- Expenses
- Budgets
- Reports
- Timesheets
- Team management
For client-based businesses, reporting on actual hours and costs can reveal which engagements are using more resources than expected.
11. Timesheets.com – Best for Payroll and Billing Workflows
Timesheets.com combines timekeeping with payroll-oriented tracking, billing, expenses, mileage, approvals, and employee records. Its focus on administrative controls can be useful for firms that want more than simple stopwatch-based time tracking. Best for: Businesses that want time, billing, payroll, expense, and approval workflows together. Suitable for: Accounting firms, professional services businesses, offices, and small-to-midsize teams. Key features:
- Employee timesheets
- Billing records
- Multiple rates
- Expenses
- Mileage
- Approvals
- Audit history
- Payroll-related tracking
- Reporting
This type of platform can be particularly useful when evaluating time and billing systems for accountants because it addresses both employee hours and back-office administration.
12. DeskTime – Best for Productivity and Activity Insights
DeskTime combines automatic time tracking with attendance, project tracking, scheduling, productivity analysis, and reporting. It may appeal to managers who want to understand both total working time and how work is distributed across applications or projects. Best for: Accounting businesses that want time records plus productivity visibility. Suitable for: Remote teams, accounting departments, service businesses, and managers overseeing distributed staff. Key features:
- Automatic tracking
- Project tracking
- Attendance
- Scheduling
- Productivity reports
- Offline time
- Team dashboards
- Reporting
Firms should decide whether productivity monitoring is necessary for their workflow before selecting a platform with extensive employee activity features.
Why Accountants Need Time Tracking and Billing Software
Accounting work is often divided across multiple clients, projects, tax assignments, bookkeeping tasks, payroll work, consultations, audits, and internal administration. Without accurate time records, it becomes harder to determine how much effort each client or engagement actually requires. Reliable time tracking for accountants gives firms a clearer view of billable and non-billable work. Employees can record time against the correct client, project, or task instead of completing timesheets from memory at the end of the week. Using time tracking software for accounting firms can also help managers compare estimated and actual hours, review workloads, identify unprofitable engagements, and prepare more accurate invoices. The main benefits include:
- Capturing more billable hours
- Reducing manual timesheet work
- Separating billable and non-billable activities
- Monitoring project budgets
- Tracking employee utilization
- Improving payroll accuracy
- Simplifying client billing
- Understanding project profitability
- Managing tax-season workloads
- Creating accurate reports for clients and managers
For firms that charge by the hour, good accountant time and billing software can connect recorded hours with employee rates, client rates, project budgets, and invoices.
What Should Accountants Look for in Time Tracking Software?
The best system should match the way your firm records time, manages clients, calculates fees, and reviews employee work.
1. Billable and Non-Billable Time Tracking
A reliable time tracker for accountants should let employees clearly mark whether work is billable or non-billable. For example, preparing a client’s tax return may be billable, while an internal meeting or staff training session may not be. Separating these activities helps firms calculate utilization and understand how much employee capacity is generating revenue.
2. Multiple Billing Rates
Accounting firms may use different billing rates for partners, senior accountants, junior accountants, bookkeepers, or specific services. Your software should ideally allow rates to be set according to:
- Employee
- Client
- Project
- Service
- Task
- Role
This makes accountant time billing software especially valuable for firms with complex client pricing structures.
3. Manual, Timer and Automatic Time Recording
Different employees prefer different ways to record time. Some may use a start-and-stop timer, while others prefer entering hours manually after completing a task. Automatic tracking can also help professionals identify work that they forgot to record. Flexible accountants time recording software should therefore support more than one method of capturing working hours.
4. Client and Project Organization
The software should make it easy to organize work by client, engagement, project, task, or service. An accounting firm might create one client and then separate work into:
- Monthly bookkeeping
- Payroll
- Tax preparation
- Audit support
- Advisory work
- Financial reporting
This helps employees select the correct activity and gives managers better reporting later.
5. Timesheet Review and Approval
Managers should be able to review employee time before it is used for payroll, invoicing, or profitability calculations. Useful capabilities include:
- Timesheet approvals
- Locked pay periods
- Editing permissions
- Change history
- Missing-time alerts
- Manager review
6. Accounting and Payroll Integrations
Good timekeeping software for accountants should work with the rest of the firm’s technology stack. Depending on the business, integrations with accounting, payroll, project management, communication, or invoicing platforms can reduce repetitive data entry.
7. Project Budgets
Tracking hours is more useful when those hours can be compared against a project budget. For example, if a tax engagement was estimated at 25 hours but has already consumed 35 hours, managers need to know before the engagement becomes significantly unprofitable.
8. Reporting and Profitability
Reports should provide insight into:
- Billable hours
- Non-billable hours
- Employee utilization
- Client hours
- Project costs
- Budgets
- Labor costs
- Revenue
- Profitability
The best time tracking software for accountants should help firms understand not only how long employees worked, but whether that work was financially productive.
Free vs Paid Time Tracking Software for Accountants
Free time tracking tools can be a practical starting point for freelancers, solo accountants, bookkeepers, and very small firms that mainly need timers, basic timesheets, and simple client or project tracking. They allow teams to test a digital workflow without adding immediate software costs. Paid tools usually provide more control, automation, reporting, billing functionality, integrations, permissions, and management features. For growing firms, these additional capabilities can reduce manual administration and make it easier to manage larger teams and more complex client work.
| Requirement | Free Software | Paid Software |
| Basic time tracking | Common | Yes |
| Manual timesheets | Common | Yes |
| Client projects | Common | Yes |
| Billable rates | Varies | Common |
| Timesheet approvals | Limited | Common |
| Advanced reporting | Limited | Common |
| Invoicing | Varies | More common |
| Payroll integrations | Limited | More common |
| Project profitability | Limited | More common |
| Advanced permissions | Limited | Common |
1. When Free Software May Be Enough
Free software may be suitable when a firm only needs straightforward time recording and has a small number of users. It can work well for:
- Solo accountants: Useful when one person only needs to record billable hours and manage a small number of clients.
- Freelance bookkeepers: Suitable for tracking time across recurring bookkeeping work without requiring complex approvals or reporting.
- Very small accounting firms: Can work when the team needs basic project and client tracking but does not yet require advanced workflows.
- Businesses testing time tracking: A free plan can help firms understand whether employees will consistently use timers, timesheets, and project-based time entry.
2. When Paid Software Becomes More Useful
Paid software is usually more appropriate when firms require deeper control over billing, reporting, permissions, integrations, or team workflows. It may be worth upgrading when you need:
- Timesheet approvals: Managers can review and approve employee hours before payroll or client billing.
- Advanced reporting: Firms can analyze billable utilization, project budgets, labor costs, and client profitability.
- Billing and invoicing tools: Recorded hours can be connected more closely with billing rates and invoice preparation.
- Payroll integrations: Time records can move into payroll systems with less manual data entry.
- Project profitability tracking: Managers can compare actual hours and costs against budgets and expected revenue.
- Advanced permissions: Different team members can receive appropriate access to projects, rates, employee data, and reports.
- Automation: Alerts, recurring workflows, automatic tracking, and integrations can reduce repetitive administrative work.
Firms searching for accountant time and billing software free should therefore compare more than the subscription price. A free platform may be suitable initially, but missing billing, reporting, approval, or integration features can create extra manual work as the business grows. The right choice depends on team size, client volume, billing complexity, reporting needs, and whether the software can support the firm as its workflow becomes more demanding.
How Accountants Can Track Billable Hours More Accurately
Accurate billable-hour tracking helps accounting firms reduce missed revenue, improve client invoicing, and understand how much time is spent on each engagement. Instead of relying on memory at the end of the week, firms should use a consistent process for time tracking for accountants that connects clients, projects, tasks, billing rates, and approvals. A practical approach includes:
- Create each client in the system: Set up individual client profiles so employees can assign time to the correct customer and avoid mixing hours across different accounts.
- Create the relevant project or engagement: Separate bookkeeping, payroll, tax preparation, audits, advisory work, and other services into clearly defined projects.
- Add clear tasks or service categories: Use specific task names so managers can understand exactly where employee time is being spent.
- Set employee or client billing rates: Assign the correct hourly rate based on the employee, service, client, or project to improve billing accuracy.
- Mark work as billable or non-billable: Clearly separate revenue-generating client work from internal meetings, training, administration, and other non-billable activities.
- Record time while work is being completed: Encourage employees to use timers or enter time during the day rather than rebuilding timesheets later from memory.
- Review missing or unusual entries: Check for gaps, duplicate records, unusually long sessions, or time assigned to the wrong client before approval.
- Submit timesheets for approval: Use a review process so managers can verify employee hours before the data is used for billing, payroll, or reporting.
- Compare project time against budgets: Monitor actual hours versus planned hours to identify budget overruns before they become larger profitability problems.
- Use approved time for billing and reporting: Once timesheets are reviewed, use the approved records to support client invoices, utilization reports, project analysis, and profitability calculations.
Following this process makes time tracking for accountants more accurate and gives managers earlier visibility into workloads, project costs, and client profitability.
Why CPA Firms Need Time & Billing Software
CPA firms handle multiple clients, deadlines, billable tasks, and staff workloads at the same time. Time and billing software helps centralize these processes by tracking hours, organizing client work, supporting accurate invoicing, and giving managers better visibility into firm performance.
- Accurate Billable Hours: Track time spent on each client, project, or task to reduce missed billable hours and improve billing accuracy.
- Simplified Timesheets: Digital timesheets make it easier for accountants to record, review, and approve working hours without relying on spreadsheets.
- Client-Based Billing: Assign different hourly rates, projects, and billing rules to clients so invoices better reflect the work completed.
- Better Project Visibility: Monitor project progress, deadlines, workload, and hours spent on accounting engagements from one central system.
- Improved Profitability Tracking: Compare billable time, labor costs, and project revenue to understand which clients and services generate better margins.
- Faster Invoicing: Convert tracked time into invoices more efficiently, reducing manual entry and helping firms bill clients sooner.
- Staff Utilization Insights: Review how employee time is divided between billable work, administrative tasks, and internal activities.
- Reduced Billing Errors: Automated time records and billing calculations help reduce mistakes caused by missed entries, incorrect rates, or manual calculations.
How to Choose Timekeeping Software for Accountants
Choosing timekeeping software for accountants should begin with your firm’s existing workflow, not with the longest feature list.
1. Define How You Bill Clients
Determine whether clients are billed using:
- Hourly rates
- Fixed fees
- Monthly retainers
- Value pricing
- Mixed pricing models
Firms that rarely bill hourly may still need time tracking to understand profitability and employee utilization.
2. Identify Required Integrations
List the systems that already contain important business data. These could include:
- Accounting software
- Payroll software
- Project management platforms
- CRM systems
- Calendar tools
- Communication platforms
A strong integration can prevent duplicate data entry.
3. Decide How Employees Should Record Time
Some firms prefer live timers. Others prefer daily or weekly timesheets. Teams with many small tasks may benefit from automatic tracking. The best timekeeping software for accountants should support the method employees can realistically use every day.
4. Check Billing and Profitability Reports
Make sure reports answer practical questions such as:
- How many hours were billed this month?
- Which clients consume the most time?
- Which projects exceeded budget?
- How much employee time is non-billable?
- Which engagements are profitable?
- Which employees have available capacity?
5. Test the Full Workflow
Do not evaluate software based only on screenshots or feature pages. Create a test client, assign employees, track several tasks, edit a timesheet, submit it for approval, review reports, and test your intended billing workflow. This provides a much clearer picture of whether the software fits your accounting practice.
Common Time Tracking Mistakes Accounting Firms Should Avoid
Even with good software, poor time-tracking habits can lead to missed billable hours, inaccurate invoices, weak project reporting, and lower profitability. Accounting firms should identify common problems early and create clear processes for recording, reviewing, and approving employee time.
1. Recording Time Only at the End of the Week
Waiting several days increases the chance that employees forget short client calls, emails, revisions, meetings, and administrative tasks. This can lead to incomplete timesheets and lost billable revenue. How to avoid it: Encourage employees to record time immediately after completing a task or use timers and automatic tracking throughout the day. Daily timesheet reviews can also help identify missing entries before they are forgotten.
2. Using One Generic Project for Every Client
Using a single project for all client work makes reports less useful because managers cannot easily see how much time is spent on tax preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, audits, consulting, or other services. How to avoid it: Create separate projects, tasks, or service categories for important types of work. Use a consistent naming structure so employees can quickly select the correct client and activity.
3. Mixing Billable and Non-Billable Work
Not every working hour should be treated the same. Combining client work with internal meetings, training, administration, and other non-billable activities can distort utilization and profitability reports. How to avoid it: Clearly define which tasks are billable and which are non-billable. Configure these classifications in the time tracking system and train employees to choose the correct category when recording hours.
4. Using the Same Rate for Every Employee
Senior accountants, junior accountants, partners, and bookkeepers may have different billing rates and labor costs. Applying one rate to everyone can make revenue and profitability calculations less accurate. How to avoid it: Set billing and cost rates based on employee role, experience, client agreement, project, or service type. Review rates regularly to ensure they still match the firm’s pricing structure.
5. Tracking Hours Without Monitoring Budgets
Recording time without comparing it against project budgets means managers may only discover overruns after an engagement has already become unprofitable. How to avoid it: Set estimated hours or budgets before work begins and review actual time against those limits regularly. Use alerts or reports to identify projects that are approaching their budget.
6. Ignoring Timesheet Approvals
Unreviewed timesheets can contain incorrect clients, missing descriptions, duplicate entries, excessive hours, or incorrect billing classifications. These errors may affect both client invoices and payroll. How to avoid it: Introduce a structured approval process where managers review timesheets before they are finalized. Check client selection, billing status, notes, hours, and unusual entries before approval.
7. Choosing Software Only Because It Is Free
Free tools can be useful for small teams, but limited reporting, approvals, billing features, integrations, or user controls may create additional manual work as the firm grows. How to avoid it: Compare software based on total workflow requirements rather than subscription price alone. Test whether the platform supports time tracking, billing, reporting, integrations, approvals, and future team growth.
8. Not Testing Integrations
An advertised integration does not always support every workflow an accounting firm expects. Data may not sync in the required format, or certain fields and processes may still need manual work. How to avoid it: Test accounting, payroll, invoicing, and project management integrations during the trial period. Run a complete workflow from time entry to reporting or billing before deploying the software across the firm.
Accountant Time Tracking Software Evaluation Checklist
Before choosing a platform, accounting firms should test it with realistic client work instead of relying only on feature lists or product demos. A practical trial helps reveal whether the software fits daily time entry, billing, reporting, approvals, and accounting workflows. Use this checklist during your evaluation:
- Create two or three accounting clients: Add realistic client profiles to see how easily the system organizes accounts and separates time records.
- Create several client projects: Set up projects for tax preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, audits, advisory work, or other services your firm provides.
- Add recurring bookkeeping or payroll tasks: Test whether repeated work can be organized efficiently without recreating tasks every week or month.
- Create billable and non-billable activities: Check whether employees can clearly distinguish revenue-generating client work from internal meetings, training, and administration.
- Set different staff rates: Add separate billing or cost rates for partners, senior accountants, junior staff, and bookkeepers to test pricing flexibility.
- Track time with a timer: Start and stop a live timer during a task to see whether daily tracking is simple enough for employees to use consistently.
- Add time manually: Enter completed work manually and check whether the process is fast, clear, and easy to correct.
- Correct an incorrect entry: Edit a test entry to see whether changes are simple and whether the platform keeps an audit history where needed.
- Test automatic tracking if available: Check whether automatic time capture correctly identifies work across applications, websites, or projects.
- Submit a timesheet: Complete a realistic timesheet and test how easily an employee can send it for manager review.
- Approve the timesheet: Review the approval workflow and check whether managers can identify missing, duplicate, or incorrectly classified entries.
- Review employee utilization: Confirm that reports clearly separate billable and non-billable hours and show how employee capacity is being used.
- Compare project hours with the budget: Test whether managers can quickly see actual hours against estimated hours, costs, or project limits.
- Generate a client report: Create a report showing time spent by client, project, task, employee, or billing category.
- Review billing totals: Check whether recorded hours and billing rates produce clear totals that can support accurate client invoicing.
- Export data: Download timesheets or reports and confirm that the exported format works with your accounting or reporting process.
- Test accounting or payroll integrations: Connect the software with relevant platforms and verify that time, payroll, or billing data transfers as expected.
- Review permissions: Check whether administrators can control which clients, projects, rates, reports, and employee data different users can access.
- Review audit history: Confirm whether the platform records important changes to timesheets, approvals, or billing data when accountability is required.
- Test mobile use: If employees work from client offices or outside the workplace, test mobile time entry, project selection, and timesheet access.
Completing these tests makes it easier to identify the best time tracking software for accountants based on actual accounting workflows, usability, reporting needs, and billing requirements rather than marketing claims alone.
Why Choose AYYES for Accountant Time Tracking?
AYYES can be useful for accounting teams that want to manage employee time alongside projects, tasks, schedules, and operational reporting. Instead of treating time records as isolated timesheets, firms can connect working hours with the projects and tasks employees are responsible for completing. For teams using time tracking for accountants, this can make it easier to understand how much time is being spent on different clients and internal activities. AYYES may be suitable for:
- Small accounting firms: Useful for smaller teams that want to manage client projects, employee time, tasks, schedules, and internal work from one platform.
- Bookkeeping teams: Helps teams organize recurring bookkeeping activities, track time spent on each client, and manage regular financial tasks more efficiently.
- CPA practices: Suitable for practices handling tax preparation, audits, advisory services, reporting, and other client engagements that require structured time and task tracking.
- Finance departments: Can help internal finance teams track working hours, organize responsibilities, manage deadlines, and monitor ongoing financial projects.
- Remote accounting teams: Provides better visibility into employee time, project progress, assigned tasks, and team workloads when staff work from different locations.
- Professional service businesses: Useful for firms that manage multiple clients, projects, billable work, deadlines, and team responsibilities across different service areas.
Its broader project and task structure can also help firms that want a time tracker for accountants combined with day-to-day work organization.
Frequently Asked Questions on Tracking Software for Accountants
1. What is the best time tracking software for accountants?
The best option depends on the firm’s billing model, team size, integrations, reporting needs, and preferred time-entry method. AYYES, Toggl Track, QuickBooks Time, Clockify, Harvest, Hubstaff, Timely, and other tools each support different workflows.
2. What is time tracking for accountants?
Time tracking for accountants is the process of recording how much time accountants, bookkeepers, or finance employees spend on clients, projects, tasks, and internal work. The data can support billing, payroll, workload planning, budgeting, and profitability analysis.
3. What does accountant time and billing software do?
Accountant time and billing software combines employee time records with financial information such as billing rates, client invoices, project budgets, expenses, or profitability reports.
4. Is there free time tracking software for accountants?
Yes. Several platforms provide free time tracking plans, although the number of users, reporting features, approvals, billing functionality, integrations, or project controls may be limited. Firms should compare free-plan restrictions carefully.
5. What should small accounting firms look for?
Small practices should prioritize ease of use, affordable pricing, client organization, billable time tracking, flexible billing rates, useful reports, integrations, and straightforward timesheet management.
6. Can accountants track billable and non-billable time separately?
Yes. Most professional time tracking systems allow employees to classify work as billable or non-billable. This helps firms calculate utilization and understand how employee capacity is being used.
7. Can time tracking software connect with accounting platforms?
Many time tracking products provide integrations with accounting, payroll, invoicing, project management, and other business applications. The available integrations vary by provider and plan.
8. Why is accurate time recording important for accounting firms?
Accurate time records help firms avoid missed billable work, create more reliable invoices, monitor project budgets, understand employee workloads, calculate profitability, and plan staffing more effectively.


