Hiring reliable staff is only half the job. It doesn’t guarantee payroll compliance or prevent duplicate efforts across internal and external teams.
That’s where QuickBooks Enterprise comes in. Its built-in time tracking tools help you pay employees fairly, bill clients accurately, and get a clear view of your true project costs.
Get it wrong, and you risk profit leaks, payroll errors, and compliance issues.
Sound like a dream? In this guide, our expert CPAs walk you through the ins and outs of tracking hours in QuickBooks Enterprise.
Why Track Employee Hours in QuickBooks Enterprise?
Time is money, and without clear oversight of employee hours, it’s easy to lose both. That’s why time tracking is about more than just keeping a record of hours worked; it also helps you control labor costs for optimum project profitability.
Here’s what it helps you achieve:
- Accurate payroll. Get employee wages right, especially when dealing with complexities around overtime and leave.
- Stronger reporting. See exactly where time is going to improve project planning and resource allocation.
- Regulatory compliance. Complete records make it easier to comply with tax and labor laws.
Built-In Time Tracking Options in QuickBooks Enterprise
To reduce manual entry, QuickBooks Enterprise integrates with time tracking apps like QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets). This means that employees clock in and out via desktop or mobile, assign hours to jobs or service items, and time data will be directly synced to your QuickBooks reports. Giving you cleaner, faster inputs minus the spreadsheets.
But, not all teams track time the same way – that’s why QuickBooks Enterprise offers two flexible options: weekly timesheets and single activity entries. So, you’re covered for everything from standard shifts to task-based work.
Weekly Timesheet
Need a full view of an employee’s hours across the week? Use this when your team works across multiple clients or jobs.
- Navigate to Employees > Enter Time > Use Weekly Timesheet
- Record by employee, customer/job – or sync them from a time tracking app
- Extract the relevant consolidated data
This view helps you monitor where hours are spent and ensures labor costs are properly assigned across projects.
Single Activity Entry
Not using an integrated time tracking app? Or need to log a quick one-off task? The Single Activity Entry is your go-to.
- Go to Employees > Enter Time > Time/Enter Single Activity
- Log hours for a specific date and task
- Assign the entry to a job, service item, or payroll item
- Mark it as Billable or Non-Billable, if needed
This is ideal for quick manual entries and still feeds directly into your payroll and job costing workflows; giving you flexibility even without full integration.
How Do You Set Up Time Tracking?
While QuickBooks Enterprise offers the functionality, you need to enable time tracking in the settings before you can track hours. Here’s how to do it:
Step-by-Step Setup
- Go to Edit > Preferences
- Select Time & Expenses from the left-hand menu
- Click the Company Preferences tab
- Check Yes to “Do you track time?”
- Choose the First Day of the Work Week — this affects how time reports are displayed
- Click OK to save your settings
Limit Who Can Enter Time
For good governance, you can select for only certain users, like managers or payroll staff, to enter or approve time as follows:
- Go to Company > Users > Set Up Users and Roles
- Assign appropriate Time Tracking roles with custom access levels
If You’re Using an Integrated App
Planning to track time with QuickBooks Time or another third-party app? Here’s how to sync it with QuickBooks Enterprise:
- In QuickBooks Enterprise, from the main navigation, go to Edit > Preferences > Integrated Applications
- Under the Company Preferences tab, make sure your app is listed and grant it access to exchange data
- In your time tracking app, map employees, jobs, and service items to match your QuickBooks setup
- Enable time syncing, so the app can push time data into QuickBooks automatically
Once connected, tracked hours will flow directly into your Weekly Timesheet or Single Activity Entry screens.
QuickBooks Time Elite is included with the Diamond edition of QuickBooks Enterprise. Other editions can still integrate with time tracking apps with an optional subscription.
Best Practices for Employee Time Tracking
While the right tools help with automation, you still need clear processes in place to maintain clean data across your team:
- Set clear policies. Ensure employees understand when to clock in/out, which job codes to use, and how to log time consistently.
- Review entries weekly. Regular checks will help you catch errors like unassigned time or entries missing job or service items, early.
- Use approval workflows. Prevent unapproved edits and ensure time is signed off before it hits payroll.
- Leverage time tracking apps. Integrate tools like QuickBooks Time to automate tracking and make things easier, especially when using field teams or remote staff.
- Work with an expert – A QuickBooks specialist can help ensure your time tracking workflows are built for payroll compliance and profitability.
From streamlined payroll to smart job costing, At Fusion CPA can help you make sure your system is built for compliance and growth. Contact us today!
____________________________________________________
This blog does not provide legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice. We base articles on current or proposed tax rules at the time of writing and do not update older posts for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability regarding actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.