Last updated November 6, 2026
A practical billable-time workflow for accountants sets a fee basis per engagement, records time daily by client and task, closes the log monthly, reviews hours against fees, then bills or writes down before the next period opens. Record fixed-fee work too, because that log shows you which fees don't pay.
Why should accountants record time on fixed-fee work?
Recording time on fixed-fee work tells you what each fee really earns per hour. The client never sees it, and it doesn't change the bill. It's for you.
Two clients on the same monthly fee can take very different amounts of time, usually because of the state of their records. You won't know which is which from the invoices. The guide to fixed fee accounting covers how to price those fees in the first place. This one covers the routine that shows whether they work.
What should accountants record time against?
Record time against the client, the service and the period, so a figure can later be compared with the fee that covers it. A short list of codes does the job:
| Code | Covers | Usual fee basis |
|---|---|---|
| BK | Monthly bookkeeping | Fixed monthly |
| VAT | Preparing and filing VAT returns | Fixed, per return |
| PAY | Payroll runs | Fixed, per run or per head |
| YE | Year-end accounts | Fixed, annual |
| TAX | Tax returns | Fixed, annual |
| QRY | Routine queries, chasing records | Inside the fee, logged anyway |
| ADV | Advice outside the fee | Hourly |
An entry then reads "Client A, VAT, Q1 2026, 1.5 hours, reconciled purchase ledger". QRY is the code that repays the effort, because it picks out the clients who cost you the most in chasing.
The monthly workflow, step by step
- Every day: each person logs time by client, code and period, including short calls. The time log guide has the columns.
- Every Friday: fill the gaps while the week is still in mind.
- First working day: close the previous month. Later entries need the reviewer's agreement.
- By working day 3: the reviewer compares hours with fees and flags anything out of scope. For each flag, decide whether to bill it, absorb it or raise it with the client.
- By working day 5: issue the month's invoices: fixed fees, hourly advice and agreed extras.
- The same day: update your WIP report with what's been earned but not yet billed.
- Every quarter: review each client's fee against a rolling 12 months of hours.
The days are a suggestion. What matters is that review happens before billing, and that the month closes on a known date, so the figures stop moving.
How do you stop out-of-scope work leaking?
Out-of-scope work leaks because a client asks a quick question and nobody checks the engagement letter. It needs two things: a letter that lists what the fee includes, covered in the fees section of an engagement letter, and an email sent before the work starts.
That's outside our monthly fee, which covers bookkeeping and VAT returns. I estimate about 3 hours at €85 an hour, so €255 plus VAT. Shall I go ahead?
It's a short email, and clients rarely object to being asked first. What they object to is a surprise on the invoice. Keep the reply on file with the time entries.
A worked example: what each fixed fee earns per hour
Here's an invented example. A small practice wants its fixed-fee work to earn at least €75 an hour, a figure it worked out using the charge-out rate method.
| Client | Monthly fee | Hours this month | Fee per hour | Against €75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | €450 | 5.5 | €81.82 | +€6.82 |
| B | €300 | 6.0 | €50.00 | −€25.00 |
| C | €900 | 10.0 | €90.00 | +€15.00 |
| All three | €1,650 | 21.5 | €76.74 | +€1.74 |
The total looks fine, and that's how Client B stays hidden. At 6 hours a month, Client B needs a fee of €450 (6 × €75), or the work has to come down to 4 hours (€300 ÷ €75).
One month proves little in accounting, because year-end and VAT quarters pile hours into particular months. Compare fees with a rolling 12 months of hours before you speak to anyone. If QRY hours are the cause, a conversation about getting records in on time may fix it without touching the fee.
What do you do with time you can't bill?
Hourly time you decide not to charge is a write-down, and an invoice you can't collect is a write-off. Write-down vs write-off covers how to record each one.
An overrun on a fixed fee is neither of those. Nothing was going to be billed for it, so it simply goes into the fee review. Resist the urge to tidy it out of the log, because it's the evidence you'll want when the fee comes up for renewal.
Running this workflow in ERPFlow
ERPFlow doesn't have a timer or timesheets today, and time on a card doesn't become invoice lines. Time tracking, including converting tracked time into invoices, is coming soon. ERPFlow runs the practice rather than your clients' books, and isn't a ledger. Here's how the workflow fits today:
- Work and deadlines: one project board per client, linked to their customer record, with a card per task and period, such as "VAT return, Q1 2026". Each card has a deadline and assignees. The customer link sits on the board, so one board per client gives you a time total per client.
- Time: typed into each card's Time spent, with totals per board and per customer. There are no task codes and no per-person reports. Time has no date either, which is why a card per period is what keeps March apart from April.
- Fixed fees: recurring invoices issue on a schedule, monthly or every three months for example, one invoice per customer per run, emailed or left as drafts. They bill and never collect.
- Hourly advice: a service with your hourly price on an ordinary invoice, with the hours typed in as the quantity.
- The review: a customer's Analytics tab shows revenue, and the Projects tab shows time. Dividing one by the other is a sum you do yourself, because ERPFlow has no rates, budgets, or per-client cost or margin. It has no WIP report either.