CPAs have a lot on their plate.
From making payrolls, and bookkeeping, to processing complex data on spreadsheets, they need a solution that makes things easier, simpler, and more efficient.
The best time and billing software for accountants helps in various areas of their jobs.
This includes monitoring the time spent on your clients, having robust project management features, advanced reporting, and smart suggestions.
When it comes to time and billing for CPAs, how does this software help?
Well, good time and billing software assists a CPA in tracking billing, invoicing, and the time spent on each task/project.
In this blog, we’ll time deep into the 12 best times and billing software for an accountant to see which suits them the best.
We will also cover each aspect of this software so you can decide which time and billing software are the best for you.
Ultimate List of Time Billing Apps for Accountants
# 1 Time Analytics ($4.99 – $6.99 user/month)
#2 QuickBooks Time ($10 – $20/month)
# 3 BigTime ($10 – $40/month)
# 4 Bill4Time ($27 – $80/month)
# 5 Harvest (Free – $10.80/month)
# 6 Toggl (Free – $18/month + Custom Solutions Available)
# 7 Xero ($3.25 – $17.50/month)
# 8 TimeCamp (Free – $10.99/month + Custom Solutions Available)
# 9 Time Doctor ($7 – $20/month)
# 10 Hubstaff (Free – $5/month + Custom Solutions Available)
# 11 Apploye ($2 – $3.5/month)
# 12 Clockify ($3.99 – $11.99/month)
Selection Criteria – Things to Look Out For
Accounting time and billing software are some aspects that make them great picks for accountants. Some are ease of use, general features and integrations, customer reviews, pricing (value to money), and security.
So, let’s debunk all of these aspects to see why a certain time and billing software should land on the criteria.
Ease of Use
An accountant’s job incorporates a lot of challenges, confusion, and chaos. To counter that, their billing and time software must provide them with ease of use. Ease of use includes easy navigation and good user experience so CPAs can easily track time and make billable hours compared to traditional practices.
The features and options should be correctly placed when discussing easy navigation. A good user- experience makes the software easy to use, fun to use, and effective regarding the option it provides.
General Features and Integrations
When it comes to time and billing software, you need to ensure that it has all the basic features for accountants. Some features include time tracking, timesheets, payroll, scheduling, invoicing, and great management features.
Most time tracking software nowadays provides you with a handful of useful features considered useful for accountants. Moreover, since the modern world is all about efficiency, knowing the support of integration in the software will massively help an accountant too.
Integrations like Google Calendar, Evernote, Keep, Meet, and Zoom will ensure that the CPA won’t have to browse multiple apps.
If time and billing software supports these integrations, everything will be present in a single app, making it easier and more efficient.
Customer Reviews
Having good customer reviews online is an indicator of the credibility of software. While customer reviews don’t necessarily mean that software is good or bad, it still gives you a deeper and more humane sense of what using a certain time and billing software is like.
Since real people give the reviews, their pros, and cons are more related to what the end users, in this case, the CPAs, would feel like.
Pricing (Value for Money)
Pricing is another important aspect of choosing the right time and billing software because your company needs a solution with all the necessary features and fits the budget.
In that case, you should always check the pricing. Most time and billing software are based on monthly subscriptions with free trials for you to leverage.
Security
Security is the priority of any organization. No one wants their data to be breached or disappear. So, you should always aim for a software service that takes regular backups. Billing software often uses data encryption to ensure the data can never be lost. Even if it’s lost, the backup feature will bring it back.
1. Time Analytics
Source: Time Analytics website
Time Analytics is an all-in-one solution for accounting firms due to the level of features it provides. Whether you’re a freelance accountant, a company, or a startup, Time Analytics contains all accountants’ time and billing features.
Time Analytics excels in the management of simple to complex tasks. Moreover, it is one of the best CPA time billing apps because it takes care of the billable hours so that there’s less manual work involved.
Time Analytics provides valuable time and billing features for accountants through an intuitive time-tracking tool and great timesheet features. It allows you to generate advanced reports, making things easier for accounting firms and individuals.
Best Feature
Time Tracking:
Time Analytics makes time tracking easier, which is the key for any CPA. The software contains an all-in-one team tracking ideal for remote and hybrid work. Moreover, time-tracking has many features, making it even more valuable. Some of them are as follows:
- Select the project and task
- Add manual time or start the automatic timer
- Mark any activity as billable
- Add notes to any hours for better management
- Move, edit, or copy all entries
Timesheets:
Time Analytics features online timesheets that aim to reduce admin and accounting tasks. It helps you understand the cost better and allows CPAs to focus on more important tasks. Here are some of the timesheets features:
- Complete insight from each employee’s timesheet
- Get useful employee data to track how much progress has been made
- Edit, filter, remove, or add a note to the timesheet
- Review the team’s activities and notes
Time Billing:
Time Analytics provides advanced time billing options for CPAs to save weekly hours and create error-free billing. It only takes a few minutes to create invoices, billing, and reports; here are a few features:
- Create transparent invoices and presentations
- Find clients t be billed for a specific period
- List all projects, team members, and work tasks working on a project with a client
- Export invoices into excel
Client and Project Time Reporting:
Reporting is a strong forte of Time Analytics. From profit generation management to transparency assurance, it gives accounts complete control over the areas of improvement in their company. Here are a few features of time reporting:
- Get clear evidence of work when the client asks for it
- Get a chance to review all the work before the final submission
- Troubleshoot issues in hourly or specific tasks
Pricing
Starter Plan:
Price: $4.99 user/month (billed annually), $5.99 user/month (billed monthly)
Features included: Team tracking, overtime tracking, time off and holiday tracking, performance dashboard, visual reports, manager role, data import, 24-hour email support, and more.
Free trial: 14 days without credit card
Optimum Plan:
Price: $6.99 user/month (billed annually), $8.45 user/month (billed monthly)
Features included: All features in the starter plan + invoicing (time billing), revenue and profit reporting, email reminders, and customized onboarding.
Free trial: 14 days without credit card
2. QuickBooks Time
Source: QuickBooks Time website
QuickBooks Time has become one of the most reliable and intuitive time & billing software for accountants.
It is most suitable for small businesses to track time and bill clients with recurring payments.
QuickBooks Time offers great payroll and accounting features for CPAs and even has a geofencing technology to track each employee’s location for tracking. Moreover, QuickBooks does most of the job for you, so you can eliminate manual tasks and focus on the important ones.
Here are some of the features:
QuickBooks Time Best Features
- Scheduling: Schedule projects for employees suitable for their time and shifts
- Integration: Supports many software integration options and automatically syncs data for the invoice and payout generation
- Geofencing: Geofencing technology reminds users, irrespective of their location, to log in and log out when it’s their shift.
- Advanced Reports: Generates interactive reports for better decision-making and profitability.
Pricing:
- ProAdvisor: Free Account (free for accounting professionals, discount for clients, and more – limited to 1 user)
- Premium: $8/user/month +$20 base fee/month (basic time tracking and attendance features)
- Elite: $10/user/month +$40 base fee/month (premium + project collaborating and tracking features)
3. BigTime
Source: BigTime website
BigTime is an accounting software well-suited for timesheet management and billing automation. It incorporates advanced project management features while providing a user-friendly interface, so everything gets noticed.
BigTime Best Features
- Project Management: Advanced project management features, including roles like manager, client, employee, and more
- Time and Expense Tracking: This makes time and expense tracking a breeze with minimal input, as everything gets done automatically.
- Client Portal: One of the biggest highlights of BigTime is the client portal which lets them view all the important information.
Pricing:
- Express: $10/month/user (time tracking and QuickBooks integration)
- Pro: $30/month/user (time tracking, QuickBooks integration, expense tracking, payment processing, revenue recognition, and a lot more)
- Premier: $40/month/user (everything in pro + salesforce integration, multi-level approval workflow, resource allocation, revenue dashboard, and more).
4. Bill4Time
Source: Bill4Time website
Bill4Time is a reasonable time & billing software for all sorts of firms. It is designed for law practice management and is used by thousands of lawyers daily.
Bill4Time Best Features
- Time Tracking: Supports flexible time tracking software with a mobile app.
- Expense Tracking: Provides simple and accurate expense reports with features like mobile snapshots, expense types, easy cost & markup, and more.
- Billing and Invoicing: Bill4Time makes invoicing easier for CPAs and lets you create invoices in minutes.
Pricing:
- Time & Billing: $27 per user/month when billed annually (accounting features, reporting, client portal, payment processing, and it’s ideal for accountants)
- Legal Pro: $45 per user/month when billed annually (all features of Time & Billing + advanced contingency billing, box integration, UTBMS codes, LEDES Exporting evergreen retainers, and a lot more)
- Legal Pro: $85 per user/month when billed annually (all features of Legal Pro + custom LEDES Export, customizable data fields, and dedicated account manager)
5. Harvest
Source: Harvest website
Harvest is one of the most popular expense-tracking tools for small business accounting. It has an intuitive UI with some of the most advanced features.
Harvest Best Features
- Time tracking tools: Harvest incorporates automatic and manual time-tracking tools for both mobile and desktop
- Integration: Besides integrating with your workflow, Harvest can also integrate with popular apps like Google Sheets and a lot more.
- Accounting features: For CPAs, Harvest offers automatic invoice and billing generation.
Pricing:
- Free: $0 forever (limited to 2 projects)
- Pro: $10 (unlimited projects)
6. Toggl
Source: Toggl website
Toggl track is a simple time-tracking solution for accountants that give them all the necessary features to do their job.
Toggl Best Features
- Reporting: Toggl allows you to leverage detailed weekly reports and gives you a summary of them.
- Expense calculation: Accountants can easily track expenses and bill the respective client.
- Integrations: Toggl offers app integrations with Jira, Slack, Evernote, Salesforce, and more.
Pricing:
- Free: $0 (unlimited time tracking, idle time detection, exportable reports, unlimited projects, clients, and tags, desktop activity tracking, 100+ popular tracking tools – still lacks a lot of basic time tracking features for accountants)
- Starter: $9 per user/month (everything is Free + billable rates, favorite time entries, project time estimates, and more)
- Premium: $18 per user/month (everything in Starter + archive clients, team time tracking reminders, time tracking audits, lock time entries, single sign-in, and more)
- Enterprise: Custom solutions for enterprises (priority reports, expert training, and assistance, customizable solutions)
7. Xero
Source: Xero website
Xero is an advanced specialized software with useful accounting tools for CPAs. It includes timecards, payments, expenses, and CRM.
Xero Best Features
- Accounting features: Xero offers daily business transactions and financial statements by linking your bank accounts
- Payment Integrations: You can accept online payments and manages billing rates
- Tax Calculation: Automatically calculates sales tax and makes returns report
Pricing:
- Early: $3.25 (enter five bills, send quotes and 20 invoices, reconcile bank transactions, capture bills and receipts, short-term cash flows)
- Growing: $9.25 (everything in Early + bulk reconcile transactions, send invoices and quotes, enter unlimited bills)
- Established: $17.50 (everything in growing + track projects, claim an expense, view in-depth analytics, and more)
8. TimeCamp
Source: TimeCamp website
TimeCamp is a popular time & billing software focusing on accounting features like budget and expense tracking.
TimeCamp Best Features
- Productivity Tracking: Allows stakeholders to view the progress of employees on desktop or mobile apps
- Timesheet Feature: Allows accountants to mark and billable timesheets and speed up the invoicing process
- Insights: TimeCamp provides advanced insights that increase productivity and profitability of a company
Pricing:
- Free: $0 – doesn’t contain many advanced features for accountants
- Basic: $7.99/user/month (Time rounding, Custom report, Hiding time from users, Management roles, Team productivity tracking, XLS reports export, Unlimited integrations, Billable time & budgeting)
- Pro: $10.99/user/month (everything in basic + custom user roles, billing rates, timesheet approvals, and more)
- Enterprise: According to requirements (everything in Pro + personalized training, private cloud implementation, self-hosted server)
9. Time Doctor
Source: Time Doctor website
Time Doctor has established itself as a powerful time-tracking and productivity management tool for accountants. It is one of the best CPA time billing apps and contains many features for accountants.
Time Doctor Best Features
- Time Tracking: This lets you track time easily and effectively with automatic time-tracking tools
- Project Management: One of the best project management features with individual tracking and expense tracking options
- Reports: Allows customizable advanced reports that help businesses grow
Pricing:
- Basic: $70/user/year (time tracking, tasks, and projects, unlimited screenshots, and activity tracking)
- Standard: $100/user/year (everything in Basic + tracking app URLs, Payrolls, 60+ integrations, daily email notifications)
- Premium: $200/user/year (everything in Standard + client login access, VIP support, video screen captures, and more)
10. Hubstaff
Source: Hubstaff website
Hubstaff offers automated time-tracking features to track processes, manage the workforce, and track productivity metrics. Here are the best features that it provides:
Hubstaff Best Features
- Time Tracking: Easy to use and intuitive online time tracker app
- Time Reporting: Get an advanced overview and track productivity easily
- Geofence Time Tracking: Track time and add time from virtually anywhere.
Pricing:
- Desk Free: $0 (basic time tracking features with limited screenshots, reports, and payments)
- Desk Starter: $3.75/month/user (unlimited reports, one integration, 24-hour support, per-user settings, and more)
- Desk Pro: $3.75/month/user (everything in starter + track apps and URL, payments, and payrolls, limited public API, scheduling, budgeting, and a lot more)
- Enterprise: Custom solutions with custom features
11. Apploye
Source: Apployee website
Apploye is a budget-friendly solution that allows accountants to do their job easily and efficiently.
Apploye Best Features
- Time Tracking: Efficiently track time with their intuitive user interface and easy-to-understand platform
- Projects & Budgeting: Manage roles, track projects, and assign projects to the suitable person
- Scheduling: Powerful scheduling features with integrations like Google Calendar
Pricing:
- Solo: $2/user/month (time tracking, task management, reporting, and a lot more)
- Standard: $2.5/user/month (Integrations, team, and admin profiles, payrolls, attendance, and leaves)
- Premium: $3/user/month (everything in Standard + geofencing, GPS location, location notes, and more)
- Elite: $3.5/user/month (everything in Premium + screenshot monitoring, real-time instant screenshots, URL tracking, activity, and engagement analytics)
12. Clockify
Source: Clockify website
Clockify is a free productivity tracking and accounting software that keeps track of work, attendance, productivity, and more.
Clockify Best Features
- Simply Time Tracking: With its simple-to-use time-tracking software, Clockify makes it easier to track time
- Billing: Records of each billable hour and the ability to create invoices easily
- Manual Time Entry: Ability to enter manual time for a more accurate time tracking experience
Pricing:
- Basic: $3.99/user/month (time adding, hiding time and pages, bulk editing, time audit, customized reports, and a lot more)
- Standard: $5.49/user/month (everything in basic + time off, invoicing, approval, lock time, attendance, and overtime)
- Pro: $5.49/user/month (everything in Standard + scheduling, forecasting, expenses, labor cost, budgets, estimates, and more)
- Enterprise: Custom solutions according to your needs
Time Tracking Features Comparison
How to Choose The Best App For Your Team?
You must first understand your requirements to choose the best CPA time and billing software. For accounts, the best software would be easy to use, has all the important accounting features like billings, invoices, and advanced reporting, should have good customer reviews, and should be value for money.
Time Analytics is a great time-tracking and billing software for accountants, which features all the powerful options that freelancers, companies, and accounting firms need. With its powerful time tracking and billing options, accountants can generate invoices instantly and get valuable data through easier reports. All these features come at value-to-money pricing, making Time Analytics a great option for accountants.
Saad Ali
Saad started his Content Writing journey in 2019 on Fiverr, where he catered to over 100 businesses in different niches like SaaS, Crypto, Meta, Gaming, Entertainment, and more.
