Timesheet approval before invoicing: a review checklist

Choose a cutoff and a reviewer

The consultancy billing workflow focuses on approved advisory hours and suitable invoice evidence without exposing confidential recommendations.

State the review period and when teammates should finish their entries. A predictable cutoff gives the reviewer time to ask questions before an invoice is due. Decide who will check records and who will create the invoice, even if one agency Owner performs both tasks.

Use a dated review note that identifies the client and project. Avoid reviewing a global total without checking its composition. Work logged late should be assigned to the correct service dates and handled explicitly, rather than pushed into a different period just to match the current billing run.

Use the billing mistake prevention checklist to identify which handoff needs a responsible reviewer before the invoice is sent.

Check the identity and purpose of each entry

Confirm the client, project, task and work date before reading duration. Look for entries attached to an internal project or a similarly named client. A clear description explains the service, such as reviewing a named deliverable, without copying private strategy discussions or personal information.

Use the time tracking invoice guide for logging conventions and rounding decisions. This approval checklist extends that process; it does not create a second logging method. Ask the person who did the work to clarify missing context instead of inventing a description from a calendar event.

Separate billable work from useful internal records

Billable status should follow the agreement, not how busy the team felt. Internal training, agency administration and disputed work need distinct treatment. Retaining a non-billable record can help explain delivery effort while keeping it out of the client invoice.

Do not classify all unapproved work as non-billable just to clear a review queue. Some entries may be valid client work that needs a description corrected or a scope question answered. Maintain a short exception list with the entry reference, reason for the hold, responsible person and next review date.

Worked example: approve 23 hours and hold two

Illustrative fictional example, USD, excluding taxes: a team logs 31 hours during the review period. It identifies 25 hours of candidate client billable work, 4 internal hours and 2 disputed hours. The agency reviews the 25 candidate hours, approves 23 and holds 2 for clarification. The separate 2 disputed hours also remain outside this invoice.

At an agreed $95 hourly rate, the first invoice uses 23 approved hours multiplied by $95, or $2,185. The 4 internal hours contribute $0.00 to that invoice. Neither the 2 held candidate hours nor the separate 2 disputed hours are included. The reconciliation is 23 approved plus 2 held plus 4 internal plus 2 disputed, totaling 31 logged hours.

Later, the agency resolves the 2 held candidate hours. If they are confirmed as billable under the agreement, their potential value is 2 multiplied by $95, or $190. They enter a later reviewed billing decision, with a check that they were not already invoiced. The originally disputed hours need their own resolution; they do not become billable just because the other hold was cleared.

Approve deliberately, including in bulk

ABH supports single and bulk time-entry approval. Before using a bulk action, review the selected records as a group and inspect exceptions individually. Similar dates do not guarantee identical clients, projects or billable treatment. Avoid treating approval as a housekeeping action that simply empties the queue.

Internal time approval confirms your agency review. It is not an invoice approval feature or proof that the client accepted extra scope. For retainer extras, use the overage authorization guide. For changed deliverables, preserve the external commercial agreement separately from the timesheet decision.

Check the resulting invoice lines

Compare the invoice draft with the approved selection, applicable rate and agreed rounding convention. Check whether the billing method is hourly, fixed fee or a retainer before converting hours into charges. A fixed-fee project does not automatically become hourly because the team logged time against it.

The proof-backed invoice feature connects invoice lines with logged work. Use that traceability to answer questions, then review the actual client-facing descriptions and PDF. An internal record may contain detail that should remain private even when its duration supports a legitimate invoice line.

Keep an exception trail after sending

Once an invoice is shared, record which entries supported it and which remained on hold. When a teammate corrects an entry, reconcile the correction with existing invoices before creating another charge. A later clarification should not silently alter the explanation the client already received.

Track the next action for each hold: clarification requested, scope confirmation needed or no charge under the agreement. Review that list at the next cutoff. This makes unresolved work visible without promising that every held hour will eventually be collected or that time approval itself creates a payment obligation.

Give held entries a clear next action

An exception list needs enough structure to survive the next billing cycle. Record the entry reference, the unresolved question, the person who can answer it and the next review date. Keep the original service date visible even if the answer arrives after month end. In the worked example, the two held candidate hours need a different question from the two separately disputed hours, so they should not share an unexplained pending label. When a question is resolved, record the result and check existing invoices before selecting the entry again. This approach helps a second reviewer understand what happened without asking the whole team to reconstruct the conversation from memory.

For the eligibility boundary behind approval, use the billable and non-billable hours guide.

To establish the routine before review day, follow the guide to consistent team time tracking.

Before-invoicing approval checklist

• Set the period, cutoff and responsible reviewer.
• Check client, project, task, service date, description and duration.
• Separate internal, disputed, held and approved eligible hours.
• Validate any bulk approval selection before applying the action.
• Reconcile selected hours, rates, rounding and previously invoiced records.
• Review the client-facing draft and retain an exception list for the next cycle.