Timesheet best practices for IT contractors (Romania)

A good timesheet is not bureaucracy. It is:

• a billing tool (so you can invoice confidently)
• a client communication tool (so everyone agrees what happened)
• a self-management tool (so you can price and plan your work realistically)

If you want to be “reference-level” as a contractor, your timesheet is part of your professionalism.

TL;DR

• Track time daily, not at the end of the month.
• Record both billable and non-billable time (or you’ll underprice yourself).
• Keep descriptions short but specific (enough to justify the invoice).
• Align with the contract: hour/day unit, rounding rules, approval workflow.
• the Attendance sheet

Who this is for

• Freelancers and contractors invoicing clients in Romania (PFA/SRL).
• People moving from employment to B2B and building an invoicing workflow.
• Anyone who wants to stop “guessing” their billable hours and improve pricing.

Step 1: Align with your contract (before you track anything)

Timesheet conflicts happen because the contract and the timesheet speak different languages.

Clarify:

• Unit: hourly, daily, weekly?
• Rounding: 5/10/15-minute increments, or exact?
• Minimum billing unit: 0.5h? 1h? 1 day?
• Approval: who approves and when?
• Breaks: are breaks included or excluded?
• On-call: how is availability vs actual work treated?

Write these rules at the top of your timesheet template and share them with the client.

Step 2: What to track (minimum viable timesheet)

At minimum track:

• date
• project/client (and optionally a sub-project)
• hours (or start/end)
• short description (“what was done”)

Good descriptions are:

• short (1 line)
• specific (mentions deliverable/outcome)
• non-sensitive (avoid personal data and confidential details)

Example description patterns:

• “Implement API endpoint for X + tests”
• “Debug production incident + root cause notes”
• “Sprint planning + backlog refinement”

Step 3: Billable vs non-billable (track both or you will underprice)

Track both categories:

• Billable: delivery work that the contract defines as billable
• Non-billable: planning, proposals, admin, learning, internal docs, context switching

Why it matters:

• If you invoice only billable time but ignore non-billable, your “effective hourly rate” becomes lower than you think.
• Seeing the ratio lets you improve: better planning, fewer meetings, clearer scope.

This connects directly to pricing: see the freelancer hourly rate formula and compute the number in the freelancer hourly rate calculator.

Step 4: Track start/end vs “just hours”

Two approaches:

1. Start/end times (more accurate, easier to defend)
2. Total hours per day (faster, but easier to drift)

If you often have breaks or fragmented days, start/end plus break time is more reliable: use the time with break calculator (or the simpler time calculator).

Step 5: Weekly review (the habit that prevents month-end chaos)

A simple workflow that works:

1. Track daily (2 minutes at end of day)
2. Review weekly (10–15 minutes)
3. Invoice monthly based on approved totals

In the weekly review:

• check if any day looks “too low” or “too high”
• fix descriptions while memory is fresh
• align categories to the contract
• flag scope creep early (“this is outside the original scope”)

Step 6: Evidence and “defensibility” (without being paranoid)

In B2B, clients can ask: “what did we get for these hours?”

You don’t need to share sensitive details, but you should be able to back up the invoice with:

• timesheet entries
• tickets/PRs (IDs, not internal confidential text)
• meeting notes (high level)

If you work with enterprise clients, they may require a specific template. Adapt the same principles.

Step 7: Connect timesheets to invoicing (Romania practical)

A clean monthly flow:

1. Export your approved hours/days
2. Generate an invoice (and receipt if needed)
3. Apply VAT logic if relevant (VAT-registered contractors)

Tools: the invoice generator, the receipt generator, and VAT utilities: the VAT calculator, Extract VAT, and Add VAT.

If your client requires e-Factura, you should also ensure your invoice workflow can generate the right structure: see RO e-Factura: a practical guide.

Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Filling timesheets retroactively (memory lies; you undercount non-billable).
• Not aligning time units with the contract (hour vs day confusion).
• Missing descriptions (harder to justify; increases dispute risk).
• Over-precision that wastes time (choose a simple rounding system that matches the contract).
• Mixing multiple clients/projects without separation (makes invoices ambiguous).

FAQ

How detailed should a timesheet be?

Detailed enough to defend the invoice, not so detailed that you leak sensitive information. One line per entry is often enough if the deliverable is clear.

Should I track learning time?

Yes. Even if it’s non-billable, it affects your true cost and your hourly-rate decisions.

What should I read next?

For continuity, see the hourly rate formula and invoice/proforma/receipt basics.