But we're going to write the time off when we bill anyway...

...so why bother recording it in the first place?

Conceptually, we need to understand the difference between the cost of delivering a piece of work - chargeable hour.

And how we price and bill the work - billable hour.

Billable does not mean chargeable.

It's a common mistake to confuse the two.

I'm no advocate for the billable hour (I don't use it in my consulting practice).

But for firms or practice groups with a mix of clients, work types and fee earners then there is a place for the chargeable hour and time recording.

When something goes wrong on a matter, resulting in a large write off of time, you can use the time records to learn and improve.

Even when something doesn't go wrong, there is significant strategic value in understanding which clients, which matter types and which fee earners are more profitable than others.

To do this you need good quality time recording data.

Writing time off is a decision to be made at the point of billing

At the point of time recording, you just need to know how long the task took - and record it. All of it.

And don't forget to close your timesheet!

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