A client is who you send an invoice to. It is separate from a cost centre, which is how you classify work internally — a distinction worth keeping, because internal structure changes far more often than a customer relationship does.
Clients are only needed if you intend to invoice. Time tracking, approvals and reporting all work without one.
1. What a client is
A record of the party being billed: their name, address, tax identifier, billing email, payment terms and the currency you bill them in.
2. Adding a client
Under Admin Settings → Clients, add the client and fill in what you have. Name and currency are required; everything else can wait.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | As it should appear on the invoice |
| Code | Optional short reference for your finance system |
| Currency | The currency this client is billed in. See the warning below |
| Billing email | Where invoices and billing correspondence go |
| Address, Tax ID | Printed on the invoice. TimeSheets does not calculate tax |
| Payment terms | Days added to the issue date to produce the due date |
| Invoice prefix | Starts this client's own numbering series, e.g. ACME-0001 |
3. Attaching a project to a client
Set the client on a project under Project Settings. Work logged to that project is then attributable to that client for billing.
A project with no client can still be tracked and reported on; it simply never reaches an invoice.
4. Currency, and why it cannot change later
A client's currency pins everything downstream: which rates can apply, what an invoice is denominated in, and what a budget can be compared against.
Once a client has an invoice, treat the currency as fixed. Changing it would leave issued documents denominated in one currency and new work priced in another, with no exchange rate anywhere in the system to reconcile them. TimeSheets does not convert currencies and will not invent a rate.
Work priced in a currency other than the client's is reported as unbillable here rather than converted — see Billing Health.
5. Payment terms and invoice prefix
Payment terms are a number of days; the due date on an issued invoice is the issue date plus that number.
Invoice prefix gives a client their own numbering sequence. Leave it empty and they share the default INV series. Numbering is explained in Invoices.