Accounting and bookkeeping practices face unique time tracking challenges—constant context switching between client files, mixed billing arrangements for the same client, and the pressure to capture every billable minute without disrupting client work. This guide shows how MinuteDock fits naturally into your existing workflow to solve these specific problems.
Tracking time across multiple client files
Accountants typically work across 10-30+ client files daily, switching between bank reconciliations, tax queries, BAS preparation, and advisory calls. MinuteDock lets you quickly assign time to different Contacts as you move between client work throughout your day.
Short Codes act as quick reference tags for your Contacts—like @bakers for Baker's Café or @henderson for Henderson & Co. This makes it fast to log time to the right client even when jumping between multiple files. When interruptions happen, you can resume previous work using the redock feature without losing any context.
Learn more about tracking time and using Contacts
Managing different billing arrangements per client
Most practices have clients on mixed billing structures—monthly retainers for bookkeeping, hourly rates for advisory work, and fixed fees for tax returns. MinuteDock's Projects let you separate these billing types under a single Contact, so Thompson Transport can have separate Projects for "Monthly Bookkeeping & BAS" and "Tax Advisory" that bill differently.
MinuteDock's rate hierarchy means you can set standard rates at your Account level, then customize them for specific Contacts, Projects, or service types. Task rates override Project rates, which override Contact rates, which override User rates, which override your Account default. This flexibility handles the complex rate structures common in accounting practices.
Tasks provide global service type tracking across all clients—#bookkeeping, #bas, #taxreturn, #advisory work the same way regardless of which Contact you're working for. Learn more about organizing work with Projects and Tasks.
Capturing small time increments
Quick phone calls, brief email responses, and rapid file reviews add up to significant billable time but often go untracked. MinuteDock's natural language time entry lets you add time like "5 min" or "0.25 hr" without starting and stopping timers constantly.
Tasks like #clientcall, #email, and #review help categorize these small activities, making them easier to track in the moment and analyze for profitability later. Learn more about tracking time.
Eliminating month-end time reconstruction
Your Timesheet maintains a searchable record of all logged Time Entries that you can filter by Contact, Project, Task, or date range. Descriptions added during tracking become invoice line items, eliminating the need to reconstruct what you did weeks later.
For team practices, Reports show unbilled time by Contact and User in real-time, giving you visibility into work in progress for better cash flow decisions. Learn more about running Reports.
💡 Tip: Encourage your team to add brief descriptions when logging time. "Reconciled May transactions" or "Prepared Q3 BAS" provides enough context for invoice generation without slowing down the tracking process.
Syncing time directly to your accounting platform
MinuteDock integrates with Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB, and Wave. Invoices you create in MinuteDock sync directly into your accounting platform with all Time Entry details as line items, eliminating double-entry between time tracking and invoicing.
Available integrations:
What you'll achieve
With proper setup, you'll capture 95%+ of billable time instead of the typical 60-70% most practices track. Your month-end invoicing time drops from hours to minutes because descriptions are already recorded. Work in progress visibility improves cash flow forecasting.
Beyond immediate time capture, you gain data for profitability analysis. See which services and Contacts are actually profitable, identify capacity constraints before they become problems, and make informed decisions about rate adjustments based on actual time data.
Next steps
New to MinuteDock? Start your free trial—no credit card required, full features for 30 days.
Essential setup:
Recording Time Entries explains the Dock, Timer, and Timesheet
Creating and Sending an Invoice covers invoice generation and integration sync
Connect your accounting platform: Xero | QuickBooks | MYOB | Wave
Optimize your workflow:
Running Reports for WIP and profitability insights
Set up billing rates at Account, User, Contact, Project, and Task levels
Configure Projects to separate retainer work from hourly billing under the same Contact