What are Timesheet Approvals?

Timesheet approvals are the process where a manager or designated reviewer verifies and confirms submitted timesheets before they are used for payroll, invoicing, or reporting. This step ensures time entries are accurate, complete, and aligned with project or client requirements. Approvals help maintain data integrity and support compliance across teams.

Timesheet approvals provide a vital layer of oversight that helps prevent errors, overbilling, or missed hours before time data is used for payroll or client invoicing. This process promotes accountability across teams and ensures that submitted hours reflect actual work completed. For managers, it’s an opportunity to review project progress and resource use in real time. For employees, it builds trust that their time is valued and properly recorded—supporting fair compensation and clearer communication.

Learn more about Harvest's Timesheet Approval capabilities. 

Understanding Timesheet Approvals

Timesheet approvals are a structured review process where a manager, supervisor, or project lead checks and confirms submitted time entries before they are finalized for payroll, billing, or internal reporting. This process acts as a quality control step, ensuring that time records are complete, accurate, and aligned with business policies or project expectations.

How Do Timesheet Approvals Work?

Timesheet approvals are a key step in turning logged work hours into trusted business data. Whether used for payroll, client billing, or project oversight, the approval process helps ensure submitted time entries are accurate and aligned with business needs.

Key Principles of Timesheet Approvals

1. Submission and Review Cycle
   Employees submit timesheets through a time tracking system. These are then routed to a designated reviewer, often a manager or project lead, for validation.
2. Validation of Entries
   Approvers check that hours are recorded against the correct projects, within expected ranges, and follow internal guidelines or client agreements.
3. Feedback and Edits
   If inconsistencies are found, the approver may return the timesheet to the employee with comments. Most tools allow for easy resubmission after edits.
4. Approval Logs and Records
   Once approved, timesheets are locked for editing and stored as part of a company’s official records. Approval history is tracked for accountability and audits.
5. Integration with Payroll and Invoicing
   Approved timesheets flow into payroll systems or client invoicing tools, ensuring downstream data is accurate and trustworthy.

Benefits of Timesheet Approvals

1. Improved Accuracy
   Approvals catch errors or missed entries before they affect paychecks or client invoices, reducing costly corrections.
2. Increased Accountability
   Reviewing time entries reinforces expectations for accurate logging and fosters a culture of transparency and responsibility.
3. Operational Efficiency
   With clean, approved data, finance and operations teams can process payroll, generate reports, and issue invoices faster and with fewer back-and-forths.
4. Trust and Fairness
   Employees can trust that their time will be reviewed fairly and compensated correctly, while clients can be confident in the validity of billed hours.
5. Compliance and Risk Management
   For organizations working under contracts, grants, or labor laws, timesheet approvals provide a documented layer of oversight and audit readiness.

Common Use Cases

1. Client-Facing Services
   Agencies, consultants, and legal teams use approvals to validate billable hours before invoicing clients, minimizing disputes and delays.
2. Project-Based Work
   Teams working across multiple projects rely on approvals to ensure time is tracked accurately across tasks and budgets, helping manage scope and cost.
3. Payroll for Distributed Teams
   HR and finance departments use approved timesheets to process payroll for global or remote teams, ensuring consistent compensation based on verified data.
4. Grant-Funded or Government Work
   Organizations receiving external funding need approved timesheets to meet strict documentation and reporting standards for how time and resources are spent.
5. Internal Cost Allocation
   Companies use approved timesheets to understand how teams spend time across departments or initiatives, helping allocate internal resources more effectively.

Challenges & Misconceptions of Timesheet Approvals

Timesheet approvals are often misunderstood or seen as unnecessary bureaucracy. Addressing these myths helps teams adopt the process more effectively and consistently.

Myth 1: Timesheet approvals slow down the workflow

• Reality: When managed well, approvals add only a minimal step and actually streamline downstream processes like invoicing and payroll. Automation, reminders, and clear submission schedules keep the process efficient and on time.

Myth 2: If employees are trusted, approvals aren't needed

• Reality: Approvals aren’t about mistrust, they’re about validation. Even highly trusted teams benefit from oversight that ensures hours are aligned with project goals, budgets, or client contracts. It’s about accuracy and accountability, not suspicion.

Myth 3: Approvals are only useful for billable work

• Reality: While approvals are critical in client services, they also help in internal project tracking, performance reviews, and strategic planning. They ensure that all time, billable or not, is properly understood and documented.

Challenge 1: Managers don’t have time to review every entry

• Solution: Use filters and summaries to spot inconsistencies rather than reviewing every line item. Many tools allow quick batch approvals or flag unusual patterns, so managers can focus where it matters most.

Challenge 2: Inconsistent approval standards across teams

• Solution: Establish clear guidelines for what should be reviewed, what needs correction, and when approvals are due. Consistency builds fairness and simplifies the process for everyone involved.

Challenge 3: Employees view approvals as micromanagement

• Solution: Communicate the value of approvals early. Frame them as part of a shared commitment to clarity, fairness, and operational excellence. When employees understand the why, they’re more likely to support the how.

By addressing these challenges with practical solutions and reframing common misconceptions, timesheet approvals can become a trusted and efficient part of how teams operate.

Industry Examples & Statistics

Timesheet approvals are a proven practice across industries where accuracy, accountability, and compliance matter. From professional services to nonprofit organizations, approval workflows help teams avoid errors, reduce risk, and operate more efficiently.

Key Statistics

• 80% of Employee Timesheets Require Corrections - A significant number of timesheets submitted by employees contain errors, necessitating corrections by employers. This highlights the importance of implementing a robust timesheet approval process to ensure accuracy and reduce administrative overhead.

• Manual Timesheet Processes Are Still Prevalent - In the U.S., 38% of businesses continue to use manual systems like punch cards and paper timesheets. This reliance on outdated methods can lead to inefficiencies and errors in time tracking and approvals.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Timesheet Approvals

What are timesheet approvals?

Timesheet approvals are the process of reviewing and confirming employee-submitted time entries to ensure they are accurate, complete, and in line with project or payroll expectations.

Who is responsible for approving timesheets?

Typically, a direct manager, project lead, or department supervisor is responsible for reviewing and approving timesheets before they are processed.

Why are timesheet approvals important?

They help prevent errors, ensure billing and payroll accuracy, and provide oversight that supports project planning, compliance, and audit readiness.

How often should timesheets be approved?

Most organizations require approvals on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on their payroll cycle or project reporting needs.

Can timesheet approvals be automated?

Yes. Many time tracking systems allow for automated approval workflows, notifications, and flags for missing or inconsistent entries.

What happens if a timesheet is rejected?

If a timesheet is rejected, it is typically sent back to the employee with comments or change requests. The employee then corrects and resubmits the timesheet for review.

Are timesheet approvals necessary for salaried employees?

Yes. Even for salaried roles, approvals help track how time is spent on projects, support internal reporting, and ensure resource alignment.

Do timesheet approvals affect client billing?

Absolutely. In client-facing work, approved timesheets ensure that only validated hours are billed helping maintain transparency and avoid disputes.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Timesheet approvals are a critical step in ensuring that time data is accurate, accountable, and aligned with business goals. They support smooth payroll, reliable billing, and informed project oversight benefiting both teams and clients.

Explore our solutions to see how Harvest makes time tracking and approvals simple, reliable, and scalable. Check us out for free.