Time and Billing Software for Accountants: 6 Top Picks 2026

Using time and billing software in an accounting firm is something employees dread, and managers find it a godsend for accounting firms.

We at Uku have researched how to make work more effective in an accounting firm. One of the most common ways is using work management software. We know that feature-rich time tracking and billing software helps boost productivity by automating tedious manual labour, data collection, and billing.

What is time and billing software for accountants?

Time and billing software for accountants is a tool that records billable and non-billable hours, links those hours to clients and tasks, and turns them into invoices automatically. In a firm setting, the best tools go further than a timer — they connect tracked time to client work, profitability, and billing on a single source of truth, so the whole team can see who’s doing what across every client. The payoff is fewer missed billable hours, faster invoicing, and far less manual spreadsheet work.

Time tracking software vs. time and billing software

These get used interchangeably, and the difference is the whole reason this category exists.

Time tracking software records hours. Time and billing software records hours and turns them into an invoice without anyone re-entering anything. A timer that exports to a spreadsheet still leaves someone rebuilding the bill by hand at month end — the hours are captured, but the rate, the client’s pricing model, the minimum time and the rounding rules all live in somebody’s head or in a second file. In a real time and billing tool, those rules travel with the hour, so the invoice is a by-product of the work rather than a separate monthly project.

That is the line to check when you shortlist. A general-purpose timer will track time for accountants perfectly well. Whether it can bill it is a different question, and it is the one that decides how your month-end actually goes.

What to look for in time and billing software for accounting firms

When you compare options, evaluate each tool against the capabilities that actually move the needle for a firm:

• Flexible time capture – stopwatch, manual entry, and bulk entry so nobody skips logging
• Billable vs. non-billable split – a clear distinction so you bill accurately and measure utilization
• Automated invoicing – bills generated directly from tracked hours, with proofreading before they go out
• Flexible pricing models – time, fixed fee, per item, or a combination, set per client
• Profitability and time-usage reporting – real-time visibility into which clients and engagements actually pay
• Accounting integrations – connects to the software you already run, such as Xero and QuickBooks Online
• A single source of truth – one place where the whole team sees who’s doing what across every client, so anyone can step in and cover an engagement

Why do accountants need time and billing software?

Accountants need time and billing software because manual spreadsheets and paper timesheets leak revenue and swallow hours that should go to client work. Accountants and bookkeepers should spend their time advising clients and building strategy, not chasing entries in Excel. Dedicated software protects billable hours by capturing time as the work happens, speeds up invoicing by generating bills straight from tracked time, and gives managers a real-time view of profitability per client and per team member.

Why start using a time and billing software in my accounting firm?

Traditional spreadsheets or paper-based time tracking and billing methods are unreliable and require a lot of manual work. Accountants and bookkeepers should spend time on advising clients and creating strategies, not filling out Excel sheets.

Time billing software automatically tracks billable hours, generates invoices and sends them out after proofreading.

Yet, choosing the time-tracking software can feel like a gamble. There are countless solutions on the market and choosing just one feels like a big commitment – importing data, setting up your workflows and onboarding your team can take considerable time and effort. It’s not a choice to be taken lightly.

Thankfully, several time billing software for bookkeepers stand out for their features, usability, and integration capabilities.

Here’s a look at the 6 time billing solutions in 2026

1. Uku
2. Financial Cents
3. Karbon
4. Harvest
5. QuickBooks Time
6. Mango Practice Management

Time and billing software for accounting firms reviews:

How the six compare against the checklist above

Star ratings tell you whether people like a tool. They do not tell you whether it does the job. Here is the same six scored against the capabilities listed above — each entry taken from what that vendor describes in its own feature list, which is what we walk through tool by tool below.

“Not stated” means the capability is not named in that vendor’s own feature description — not that it is missing. If it is on your must-have list, ask the vendor directly before you shortlist. That is exactly the kind of thing that is cheap to confirm in a demo and expensive to discover in month three.

Two structural things this table makes visible. First, the two general-purpose tools here — Harvest and QuickBooks Time — are strong timers that were not designed around a client list, an engagement and a fee arrangement, which is the shape accounting work actually has. Second, the pricing structures are not comparable to each other: Uku, Financial Cents, Karbon and Harvest charge per user per month, so cost tracks headcount; QuickBooks Time charges a monthly base fee plus a per-user fee, so a three-person firm pays a floor before it pays for anyone; and Mango quotes only after a demo. Read the structure before the sticker.

1. Uku

Uku started off as a mainly time tracking and billing solution for accounting firms but has quickly evolved into so much more. It’s a powerful and easy-to-use accounting practice management software with a catchy slogan: “Freedom to do less”.

What sets the best time tracking software for accountants apart isn’t the timer — it’s what the hours connect to. In Uku, tracked time feeds billing and a real-time profitability view, and it all sits on a single source of truth: one place where the whole team can see who’s doing what across every client, so anyone can step in and cover an engagement.

The famous accounting influencer and CPA Jason Staats has praised Uku:

“This planning tool might change your accounting firm’s life!”

Uku’s key time management and billing software features:

• Time tracking – stopwatch, manual entry, bulk entry
• Time estimations and automatic time entries
• Billable and non-billable time entries
• Analytical time-usage reports
• Automated data collection and invoicing
• Master contract templates and company default settings as well as settings by client
• Flexible and personalizable pricing options – time, fixed, item, and a combination of the previous.
• Minimum time and rounding on invoices
• API and integrations with accounting software like Xero and QBO

Why bookkeepers love Uku:

Comprehensive toolkit made for accounting firms

Uku has a well-rounded set of features covering most of the accounting operations, including workflow and task management, time tracking, detailed business analytics, and automated billing.

It integrates well with others

Uku integrates with major accounting software like Xero and QBO, allowing for easy import of clients and products, as well as export of invoices.

Uku has many niche integrations with accounting software as well:

• FreeAgent for smaller firms
• Tripletex for Danish accounting firms
• Fortnox for Norwegian accounting firms
• Merit and SmartAccounts for Estonian accounting firms
• Public API for more advanced integrations

Automated billing

If your team uses Uku to track their work, you can generate and send out tens or even hundreds of invoices in as little as 30 minutes. Export them to your accounting software or send them out directly to your client – the choice is yours.

“The integration of time keeping and time management/planning is a game changer.”

What the hours are actually worth

The point of the category is not the timer. It is what the firm recovers once every hour is captured and every captured hour reaches an invoice.

UAB JA&CH Konsultacijos, a six-accountant firm in Kaunas serving around 100 mostly small clients, has two numbers on that. Tracking all their tasks in Uku raised their billable hours by an estimated 10–20% — not because anyone worked longer, but because short work that used to be overlooked started getting recorded. And compiling the billing data for those ~100 clients, which used to take a full working day every month, now takes one to two hours.

Manually compiling billing information for around 100 customers used to take a day each month. Now it takes 1-2 hours and every little task gets accounted for.

UAB JA&CH Konsultacijos

JA&CH Konsultacijos raised 20% their billable hours with Uku

Time tracking alone grew their billable hours by 10-20% and reduced the time spent on invoicing customers from a full workday to 1-2 hours.

5 yearsUsing Uku

6Employees onboarded

Read case study

That is also the honest way to run the cost calculation. Divide the seat price by your average billed hourly rate, and you get the amount of recovered time each member needs to produce for the seat to break even. At Uku’s $38 Team seat and a $75 rate, that is roughly half an hour per member per month. The per-user price is the small number in this decision; the hours that never made it onto a timesheet are the large one.

Flexible pricing options

You can set up specific dynamic pricing for each customer and easily customize the invoices if needed. Choose between several pricing options, set minimum time, use rounding, and create custom fields, etc.

Cons and challenges:

Learning curve

If you have a more complex pricing model, you might find it time consuming to set up by yourself. It’s a good idea to consult the support team. They’ll help you launch your systems in no time.

You need to integrate your accounting software

If you want to automatically track received payments, you’ll need to integrate Uku with your accounting software.

Sounds good? Book a 30-minute personal Uku demo to see it on your own workflow.

Uku’s pricing:

• Solo plan: $19/member/month billed yearly ($25 monthly) — single accountant, up to 20 active clients
• Team plan: $38/member/month billed yearly ($49 monthly)
• Elite plan: $48/member/month billed yearly ($62 monthly)
• Enterprise plan: $88/member/month billed yearly ($99 monthly)

Every signup starts with a 14-day free trial of all features — no credit card required.

2. Financial Cents

Financial Cents is a practical and efficient accounting practice management software with the focus on quick implementation, ease of use and small learning curve. It can also be used as a time and billing software for accountants.

Financial Cents’ key time management and billing software features:

• Time tracking – stopwatch, manual entries
• Time estimatations and budgets
• Billable and non-billable time entries
• Analytical reports to gain insights into profitability
• Billable rates to see how much you are owed
• Invoicing when integrating with QBO

Why accounting firm employees love Financial Cents:

User-friendly interface

Financial Cents focuses on easy design, which makes it simple to navigate, reduces the learning curve and saves time during onboarding.

Powerful workflow management

It simplifies tracking and managing tasks with deadlines and automated reminders.

Affordability

Financial Cents provides essential features for good prices without compromising on quality.

You can give tasks to customers

you can send clients automated requests, e.g. about providing documents and the system automatically follows up until they get it done.

Cons and challenges:

Not very customizable

the options to customize workflows and reports can be limited.

Can fall short on advanced needs

while cost-effective, Financial Cents can lack some advanced features found in more expensive solutions. Assess beforehand if the available features meet your needs and explore complementary tools or workarounds where necessary.

Financial Cents’ pricing

• Team plan: $49/month per user
• Scale plan: $69/month per user

3. Karbon

Karbon has been a serious player in the market since 2014. It’s a collaborative practice management platform for bigger accounting firms.

Karbon’s key time management and billing software features:

• Time tracking – stopwatch and timesheets
• Time estimations and budgets
• Automated invoicing with time based, fixed fee, and recurring billing
• Customizable invoices
• Invoice collaboration with colleagues
• WIP and Realization Reports
• API and integrations
• Payment options and auto-payments

Why bookkeepers and accountants love Karbon:

Collaboration at its core

Karbon’s main focus is on team collaboration, which makes it perfect for bigger accounting teams.

Detailed reporting

Karbon provides reports on time spent, task progress, and team performance, helping you understand your profitability and optimize the billing processes.

Cons and challenges:

Setup takes time and effort

With the wide range of features, setting up Karbon can be overwhelming and time-consuming for new users. It’s triage system is sometimes difficult to get used to and might get overwhelming for not as tech-savvy accountants.

Higher pricing

Karbon’s pricing is relatively higher ($89$ per user/per month) than some competitors’ and may not be suitable for very small firms or solo practitioners.

Karbon’s pricing

• Team plan: $59/month per user
• Enterprise plan: $89/month per user

4. Harvest

Harvest goes beyond being a time and billing solution for accountants. The software is for many industries, including law, construction, marketing, etc.

Harvest’s key time and billing software features:

• Time tracking – Stopwatch, manual time entries, weekly timesheets
• Time tracking integrations – Asana, Slack, Trello, Nifty, and many more.
• Budgets according to time tracking
• Time reports and analyzing
• Creating invoices
• online payments
• Integration with QBO and Xero

Why businesses love Harvest:

Insightful Reporting to See Actionable Insights

It provides reporting features that turn time-tracking data into actionable insights. These reports help businesses understand project profitability, team capacity, and overall business performance, enabling better decision-making and resource management.

A Large Number of Integrations

By integrating with many popular tools, Harvest helps simplify workflows when working on different tasks or programs.

Scalable Prices for Teams of All Sizes

Harvest supports teams of all sizes, offering discounts for large teams and special pricing for nonprofits and educational institutions.

Cons and challenges

Limited Project Management Features

Harvest does not offer comprehensive project management features like task assignments and workflow automation, which are often essential in tools such as marketing automation software. Businesses looking for a full-fledged project management solution might need to integrate Harvest with other tools or consider alternatives.

Dependency on Internet Connection

Harvest requires a stable internet connection for its desktop and web versions to function effectively which can be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity.

Harvest’s pricing

• Harvest plan: Free
• Harvest Pro plan: $10,80/month per user

5. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time is supposed to be the perfect time and billing software for accountants to be used alongside QuickBooks. The seamless integration between the two makes it perhaps the most precise time-tracking tool for QBO users.

QuickBooks Time’s key time and billing software features:

• Time tracking – timesheets, mobile time tracking, and time kiosks
• GPS tracking for employees
• Customizable reports with predictions
• Integrations with QBO, etc.
• Geofences for team management
• Team task management
• Flexible pricing options

Why accounting businesses love QuickBooks Time:

Easy-to-use time tracking

The seamless integration with QuickBooks Online and Desktop simplifies time tracking and invoicing for employees and managers. The mobile app makes QuickBooks Time convenient for remote and on-site workers .

Accurate reporting improves business decisions

QuickBooks Time reports provide insights into project profitability, employee productivity, and overall business performance.

Great integrations with QuickBooks

QuickBooks Time integrates well with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and other payroll software, providing a unified platform for managing finances and time tracking. This integration eliminates the need for multiple systems, reducing complexity and improving efficiency.

Cons and challenges:

Limited integration options

Compared to some competitors, QuickBooks Time offers fewer integration options. While it connects well with major payroll solutions like Gusto and QuickBooks, businesses needing a wider range of integrations might find this limiting.

Confusing user interface

Some users report that the user interface can be confusing and not always intuitive. Navigating certain features can be challenging and require additional time. The mobile app also tends to require frequent software updates, making the new app always confusing for existing users. Partnering with a mobile app agency can help improve design consistency, streamline navigation, and ensure a smoother update process.

Costly for smaller and very large businesses

The base-plus-subscriber fee model can be costly for large or small businesses. The Elite plan, which includes advanced features like geofencing and mileage tracking, comes at a higher cost, which all companies may not justify.

QuickBooks Time’s pricing

• Premium plan: 20$/month + 8$/month per user
• Elite plan: 40$/month + 10$/per user per month

6. Mango Practice Management

Mango Practice Management is practice management built for accounting, tax and CPA firms, with time and billing included in every tier rather than sold as an upgrade. It is the tool most likely to appear next to the others on this list in a US search for time and billing software, so it belongs in the comparison even though it is the least transparent option here.

Mango’s key time and billing software features:

• Time tracking with timers, plus shortcut data-entry codes for fast manual entry
• Branded, recurring and batch invoicing
• Apply time after invoicing — useful for firms that bill first and reconcile later
• Integrated payments: credit card and ACH processing
• Expense management and label printing
• Scheduling and appointments, to-do lists, client contacts and note history
• Education/CPE tracking, which most general tools do not carry
• Reporting and user permissions

Mango lists all of the above as standard across tiers rather than gating them by plan, and every plan includes implementation — import assistance, setup, training and 200 eSignatures — at no extra cost.

Cons and challenges:

The price is not published

Mango does not publish per-seat pricing. The site names two tiers, Essential and Standard, with no figures attached to either, so a comparison requires booking a demo first. (The $149/mo visible on their pricing page belongs to Mango Websites, a separate website product, not to the practice management software — worth knowing before you quote it.) For a firm running a shortlist, an unpublished price is a real cost: it delays the comparison and makes budgeting guesswork.

CPE and appointment features are not billing features

Much of what distinguishes Mango sits outside time and billing. If the problem you are solving is specifically “hours in, invoice out”, part of the platform will go unused.

Mango’s pricing

• Not published. Two tiers, Essential and Standard; pricing quoted after a demo.
• Implementation, training and 200 eSignatures included in all plans.
• Mango Websites (a separate add-on product) starts at $149/mo.

Verified against mangopractice.com/pricing on 2026-08-11.

Which one should you choose?

Six good tools is not an answer. Here is how the shortlist usually collapses once you know your own situation — using only what each tool describes about itself above.

You are a solo accountant or a two-person practice. Per-seat pricing barely matters at this size; base fees and minimum-seat rules do. Uku’s Solo plan is $19 per member per month billed yearly ($25 monthly) and is capped at one member and 20 active clients — the full toolkit, not a stripped-down tier. Harvest’s free tier is the other realistic starting point if you only need to time work and can live without firm-shaped client and engagement structure.

You are a 5–20 person firm and month-end billing is the pain. This is the centre of the category and where the decision is genuinely contested. The question to settle is the one from the table above: does the tool bill the way you actually price? If you charge a mix — time on some clients, a fixed monthly fee on others, per item on a third group — you need a tool that carries all of those at once, per client. That is the specific thing Uku is built around, and it is the reason a firm outgrows a general timer rather than a cheaper competitor.

You are 40+ people with several offices and heavy internal collaboration. Karbon’s centre of gravity is team collaboration and its WIP and realization reporting, and this is the size where the setup effort its own users describe is worth absorbing.

You are already standardised on QuickBooks and want one less vendor. QuickBooks Time is the path of least resistance. Go in aware of the pricing structure — a base fee plus a per-user fee — and of the fact that it is a workforce time tool, not practice management.

You want the cheapest workable option and are willing to lean on QBO for invoicing. Financial Cents is the budget-friendly practice management option here, with invoicing via its QuickBooks Online integration.

You need CPE tracking and appointments alongside billing. Mango bundles those into every tier. Budget for a demo before you can compare it on price at all.

The verdict of time and billing software for accounting firms

Selecting the right time tracking and billing software is more than just a convenience – it’s a strategic decision that can significantly improve your firm’s efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction. Each solution comes with its unique strengths and target audiences, reflecting the diverse needs accounting professionals can have.

Start with assessing your firm’s specific needs, e.g. the need for advanced features, billing customization, or integration with your existing systems. This way you can choose a solution that not only meets your current needs but also supports your company’s growth.

For more detailed information, read more from Karbon, Financial Cents, and Uku.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time and billing software for accounting firms in 2026?

The top time and billing tools for accounting firms in 2026 are Uku, Financial Cents, Karbon, Harvest, QuickBooks Time, and Mango. Uku is built specifically for accounting firms and connects time tracking to billing and a real-time profitability view on a single source of truth. Financial Cents is a budget-friendly practice management option, Karbon suits larger collaborative teams, Harvest is a general-purpose cross-industry tool, and QuickBooks Time fits firms already standardized on QuickBooks. The right pick depends on firm size, billing complexity, and which accounting software you already use.

How much does time and billing software for accountants cost?

Pricing typically ranges from around $10 to $90 per user per month in 2026. From the tools in this guide: Uku starts at $19/member/month (billed yearly), Financial Cents at $49/user/month, Karbon at $59/user/month, Harvest Pro at $10.80/user/month, QuickBooks Time from $20/month plus $8/user, and Mango does not publish per-seat pricing. Per-user cost is only part of the picture — the bigger return comes from recovered billable hours and faster invoicing.

What is the difference between time tracking software and time and billing software?

Time tracking software records hours. Time and billing software records hours and turns them into an invoice without re-entry. The gap between the two is where firms lose money: a timer that exports to a spreadsheet still leaves someone rebuilding the bill by hand each month. In a true time and billing tool the rate, the client, the pricing model and the rounding rules travel with the hour, so the invoice is a by-product of the work rather than a separate monthly project.

Does the per-user price tell me what time and billing software will cost my firm?

Not on its own — the pricing structure matters as much as the number. Uku, Financial Cents, Karbon and Harvest charge per user per month, so cost scales linearly with headcount. QuickBooks Time charges a monthly base fee plus a per-user fee, which means a very small firm pays a floor regardless of size. Mango quotes after a demo. Read the structure before the sticker: a small firm and a 40-person firm are penalised by different models.

How do I know whether time and billing software will pay for itself?

Divide the seat price by your average billed hourly rate — that is how much time each member has to recover per month for the seat to break even. At a $38 seat and a $75 billing rate, that is roughly half an hour per member per month. Most of the recovery does not come from working more; it comes from capturing short work that never made it onto a timesheet, and from invoicing that no longer has to be rebuilt by hand.