Billable

Term Definition
Billable refers to resources that can be billed to clients. For professional service firms such as attorneys, accountants and consultants, the billable resource is typically time. However, it can also be expenses and materials.

Organizations that invoice billable time must keep accurate track of that time. Small to mid-sized companies may use spreadsheets for billable work, expenses and materials. The information is then re-entered or manually imported from spreadsheet files into the company's accounting, payroll and project systems. This process is highly error prone and can result in significant payroll and billing errors and lost or duplicate entries. Consolidating this kind of data later frequently results in conflicts and errors that are often difficult to identify or address. A time tracking software that is integrated with your accounting system and provides point of entry data validation, policy-based approval, and notification setup will eliminate such errors. Studies have shown that eliminating duplicate systems, manual processes and entry/approval errors can save you up to 3% of total payroll costs and increase your billable hours by as much as 4%.

Time and billing software can streamline enterprise operations and create efficiencies for project or service-oriented businesses. Automatic tracking, controlling and analyzing of billable work enhances operational control, facilitates compliance with various employment and regulatory regulations, reduces costs, and improves efficiency. Time and billing applications are used in professional services organizations such as legal, engineering, accounting and hi-tech consulting firms, where detailed time and expenses are tracked and billed to specific customers. Time and billing software is used when there is little to no product inventory to sell and maintain.

Equally important to service providers is reducing un-billable time. For example the time devoted to bookkeeping and record keeping is non-billable time. Utilizing the most efficient procedures will reduce non-billable time and improve an organization's profit margin.

Area of Application
Cost Accounting

Related Terms
Time and Billing

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