A timesheet is a record of the hours a person worked in a set period, split by day and usually by project or task. Payroll uses it to pay people, and billing uses it to invoice clients.
Quick answer: A timesheet (also written “time sheet”) lists who worked, on which days, for how many hours and on what. Once submitted and approved, it becomes the source for payroll, client invoices and project reports.
The definition is the easy part. The same grid of dates and hours means different things to a payroll clerk, a client and a project lead. 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 is used for, the main types, the fields to include, a labelled example, and how submission and approval work.
What is a timesheet used for?
Every timesheet answers three questions for a period: when the work happened, how much 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 pay can be worked out. Which project the hours went to often does not matter.
A client-billing timesheet cares about the split. It records hours against a client, project or task, and marks which hours can be invoiced. If you bill by the hour, how to calculate billable hours explains what belongs in that column.
A project timesheet cares about the plan. It records hours against tasks so a lead can compare effort to estimate. That way a drifting project shows up before the invoice does.
A single sheet can serve all three if it captures enough detail. That is why well-designed time sheets record start and finish times, breaks, worked time, and a project or task with a billable flag.
What are the main types of timesheet?
Timesheets are usually grouped by the period they cover and by what they track. The table shows the common types and who tends to use each one.
| Type | What it covers | Typical user |
|---|---|---|
| Daily timesheet | One day of entries, often with start, finish and break times | Shift workers, site crews, anyone paid daily |
| Weekly timesheet | Seven days on one sheet, the most common period | Agencies, consultancies, salaried staff tracking projects |
| Biweekly or monthly timesheet | Two weeks or a calendar month, matching the pay cycle | Payroll teams, contractors invoicing monthly |
| Project timesheet | Hours per task for one project, across all people | Project leads comparing effort to budget |
| Client or billable timesheet | Hours per client, split into billable and non-billable | Accountants, lawyers, freelancers billing by the hour |
The period and the purpose combine. A weekly timesheet for an agency is usually also a client timesheet, because the same entries feed retainer reports and invoices.
What should a timesheet include?
A useful timesheet captures enough detail for anyone downstream to check it. These are the fields that matter, and why.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Person and period | Identifies whose hours these are and which pay or billing cycle they belong to |
| Date of each entry | Lets a reviewer match hours to calendars, tickets or site logs |
| Start and finish time | Makes the total checkable, and is needed for overtime and working-time rules |
| Break time | Deducted explicitly, not assumed, so short and long days are both right |
| Client, project and task | Drives billing, budgets and project reporting |
| Billable flag | Separates time that can be invoiced from internal and admin time |
| Notes | Gives the reviewer and the client context for each entry |
| Status | Draft, submitted, approved or rejected, so everyone knows which hours are final |
A single daily total is quicker to fill in, but nobody can check it. Start and finish times with breaks take seconds longer and prevent most disputes.
What does a timesheet look like?
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.
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 paid time that no client will be invoiced for. Thursday has 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.
Is timesheet one word or two?
Both are correct. “Timesheet” as one word is the usual form in business and software, and the Cambridge Dictionary lists it that way, with “time sheet” as an alternative. Merriam-Webster lists the two-word “time sheet” and dates it to 1849. Both dictionaries were checked on 23 October 2026.
Pick one form and use it consistently in your own documents. The hyphenated “time-sheet” is rare and best avoided.
How is a timesheet different from a time card?
The two words are often used interchangeably. 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. It is what a freelancer or agency means by “send me your timesheet”.
If you only need the attendance total for a week, the free time card calculator applies breaks and any overtime rule without an account. If you also need the project and billable split, you need a timesheet.
How do payroll and client billing read the same timesheet?
Payroll and client billing read the same hours in different ways. The differences explain most disputes.
Rounding. Payroll often works in whole minutes or quarter-hours under the employer’s rule. Client billing commonly rounds up to a minimum increment in the contract, such as six or fifteen minutes. The same task can 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. The gap is non-billable time, 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 vary by project or seniority. 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 without anyone rebuilding the week from memory. That is the idea behind AI agent time tracking for professional services.
How does timesheet approval work?
Most organisations add two steps to a timesheet: the person submits it, and someone approves it. A typical approval flow runs like this:
- Track. People log time during the week, against a client, project and task.
- Submit. At the end of the period, each person submits every entry they have not submitted yet. Submitted entries can be viewed but not edited.
- Review. A manager checks the sheet against the work: missing days, double entries, wrong projects, billable flags.
- Approve or reject. Approved entries are locked and can flow into invoices and reports. Rejected entries go back to the person with a reason, to fix and resubmit.
- Use. Approved hours feed payroll, client invoices and budget reports.
That is how the submitting timesheets flow works in Keito when the Approvals feature is on. Reminders can nudge people before the submission deadline. If late sheets are the real problem, see how to get employees to submit timesheets on time.
What does approval prove?
Submission fixes the record at a point in time. Approval says a named person reviewed it and accepted it for the next step. Neither step makes the hours legally correct 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 next to the work evidence spots a day logged twice before the invoice goes out. The contractor timesheet approval workflow describes a lightweight version of that loop.
Do you need timesheet software?
A spreadsheet works for one person or a small team with simple billing. It starts to break when several people log time against many clients, or when someone has to chase, check and retype hours every week.
Timesheet software, sometimes called timesheet management software or timesheet tracking software, replaces the spreadsheet with a shared record. Most online timesheet software and timesheet apps cover the same core jobs:
- Timers and a weekly grid, so a time sheet fills in as people work rather than on Friday afternoon.
- Clients, projects, tasks and billable rates set up once, not typed on every row.
- Submission, approval and reminders built in.
- Reports and invoices generated from approved hours.
For timesheet software for small business, the test is simple. Does it cut the time spent filling in, chasing and retyping hours? Our guide to time tracking software compares the main approaches. Practices that bill by the hour can start with time tracking software for accountants.
How do you calculate a week of timesheet hours?
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 start and finish times, deducts breaks, applies an overtime rule 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 is a timesheet?
A timesheet is a record of the hours a person worked in a set period, split by day and usually by project or task. Payroll uses it to pay people, and billing uses it to invoice clients. Project leads use it to compare effort with the plan.
Is timesheet one word or two words?
Both are correct. “Timesheet” as one word is the common form in business and software, and “time sheet” as two words is the older form that some dictionaries still list. Pick one and use it consistently.
What should a timesheet include?
At minimum, the person, the period, the date of each entry, the hours worked and the project or task. For client work, add a billable flag and notes. Start and finish times with breaks are better than a 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 and total. A timesheet adds what the hours were spent on, which 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, and in most systems it locks the entries. It does not settle a client dispute or decide what employment law requires. The contract and the applicable rules do that.
How long should timesheets be kept?
Long enough to answer questions from clients, auditors and regulators for the period they can ask about. That varies by country and by contract. Check the requirements that apply to your business rather than relying on a general rule.