Hours in, revenue out.
For firms that sell time: projects with budgets, timesheets, resource planning, disbursements, progress claims, work in progress and revenue recognised as it is earned.
- →Projects
- →My Timesheet
- →Timesheet Approvals
- →Resource Planner
- →Billing Run
- →Disbursements
- →Retainers
- →Progress Claims
- →Revenue & WIP
- →Utilisation
Project accounting for firms that sell time rather than goods
A consultancy, an engineering practice or an agency has the same problem a shop does not: the thing being sold is hours, and hours are easy to work and hard to bill. Vantage Point's projects module treats a timesheet line as a financial record rather than as an administrative one — once time is approved against a project, it is unbilled value sitting on the balance sheet until somebody either invoices it or writes it off, and both of those are decisions somebody makes deliberately.
The week is the unit of work. A person fills in their own timesheet, billable and non-billable separated, and submits it; a manager approves the week rather than a hundred individual lines, with exceptions flagged first. Disbursements and mileage travel the same route. Because the resource planner shows who is committed to what for weeks ahead — including tentative work attached to an opportunity that has not closed yet — the same data answers both "can we take this job" and "what is this job costing us".
Billing is a run, not a chore. Approved time and disbursements become a draft invoice you can hold, adjust or release line by line, priced from the rate card that applies. Where a contract works on a retainer or on stages of completion rather than on hours, the module follows that shape instead, and revenue is recognised on percentage of completion with work in progress and accrued income posted to the ledger rather than estimated at year end.
The gap between the work done and the money billed.
A timesheet line is not a note in a spreadsheet — it is unbilled value on the balance sheet until it is invoiced or written off, and this is where it lives.
Projects & Services, asked and answered.
Does it do timesheets?
Yes. Each person has their own weekly timesheet with billable and non-billable time separated, entered against a project and a task. Weeks are submitted and approved as a unit, corrections keep the original entry alongside the correction, and approved time flows straight into billing and into project cost.
How is revenue recognised on a project?
On percentage of completion, with the method set per project, and the resulting work in progress and accrued income posted as real journal entries rather than calculated in a spreadsheet at year end. Unbilled value, billed value and cost to date are all visible per project at any point.
Can I see whether my people are busy enough?
Yes. The utilisation report shows billable hours against capacity per person and per team for any period, and the resource planner shows what is committed ahead, including tentative work attached to opportunities that have not yet been won.
Can I bill a retainer or a progress claim instead of hours?
Yes. A retainer is drawn down as work is done, and a progress claim is raised against a stage of completion. Both post correctly to the ledger, and both sit alongside time-and-materials projects in the same module.
The rest of the system.
ONE LEDGER UNDERNEATH IT ALLTake the high ground.
Set up your first store, till and ledger in an afternoon.