Time activities and timesheets in QuickBooks work differently, Diane, and understanding their purpose can help you decide which tool fits your needs better.

Time activities are individual time entries logged directly from a client’s page or the menu at the top left corner of QuickBooks. These are used to track billable hours for invoicing clients but don’t appear on employee timesheets, as they are managed separately. Timesheets, are designed for payroll purposes, consolidating employee hours to calculate pay. Timesheets focus on payroll-related data rather than tracking billable hours for clients.

QuickBooks keeps reports for time activities and timesheets separate. Time Activities by Customer Detail shows billable hours and project time related to each customers, while Time Activities by Employee Detail tracks employee productivity and labor costs. These reports don’t include payroll timesheet data unless entered manually. On the payroll side, Timesheet reports, such as Payroll Summary, focus specifically on employee hours for pay calculations. Currently, QuickBooks doesn’t have a combined report, but you can export both to Excel for side-by-side comparisons.

To summarize, time activities are best for tracking billable hours for invoices, while timesheets are ideal for payroll. 

Alternatively, you could explore third-party apps that links billable hours to invoices and integrates with payroll, providing complete reporting for both time activities and timesheets in one place.

Also, consider generating and modifying a report to have an overview regarding the time activity of your employee, such as their hourly rate and duration.

On top of that, you can track your labor costs and profitability by project in QuickBooks Online. This feature enables you to track how much money has been spent on labor for each task and make well-informed decisions about future projects.

What's more, we also have a team of experts who can provide personalized help with linking your accounts, automating tasks, and improving your bookkeeping practices to make your workflow more efficient. You can learn more by checking out QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted.

Let us know if you have further questions or needs assistance achieving your goals with QuickBooks.