Invoicera is time and billing software for accounting and CPA firms that bill their own clients. Staff record time in Invoicera or bring it from Harvest or Toggl, a manager approves the billable hours, and Invoicera applies the client's rate, fixed fee or monthly retainer before a partner reviews the invoice. The client portal and reminders handle what happens after it is sent. Billing outputs sync one way to the firm's QuickBooks Online or Xero, where its books stay. Time, retainers and multi-step approval are on Grow and above.
Recognise the work
Busy season ends. The billing for it has not started.
Hours sit in timesheets, the monthly bookkeeping fee runs on its own schedule and the extra year-end work was agreed by email. Someone rebuilds each client invoice from three places before a partner will sign it.
Compare the wider time tracking and billing path for any service team.
- 01
Hours without a billing decision
Recorded time has not been reviewed for which hours the client pays and at which rate.
- 02
Fixed fees and extras collide
A monthly fee and an agreed extra piece of work land on one invoice without separate support.
- 03
Write-downs live in memory
A partner reduced a bill, but the reason and the approver are not on the record.
For CPA firms
Accounting time and billing software for how a practice charges.
A practice rarely bills one way. The same client can have a monthly retainer, hourly advisory work at different rates by role and a fixed fee for year-end. Invoicera keeps each as its own billing rule and puts them on one reviewed invoice, so a CPA firm can answer a client's question line by line.
- 01
Rates by role or task
Approved time is billed at the partner, manager or staff rate the engagement sets.
- 02
Retainers with carry-forward
Monthly retainers run on schedule, with configurable carry-forward from one cycle to the next.
- 03
Approval before send
Multi-step approval routes an invoice to the right partner, with value thresholds for larger bills.
Where the books stay
Accountant billing software that leaves the ledger alone.
Invoicera runs the firm's billing operation; it is not an accounting product and keeps no second ledger. Invoices, payments and customers sync one way to QuickBooks Online or Xero, which stay the firm's book of record.
- 01
One book of record
Billing outputs reach QuickBooks Online or Xero; the ledger is never kept twice.
- 02
Payments recorded for you
Payments taken through Stripe or Razorpay are recorded in Invoicera automatically.
- 03
Advising clients instead?
Firms that want to recommend Invoicera to their own clients start on the partner page.
How it works
From approved time to a paid client invoice.
The firm keeps its engagement terms. Invoicera turns them into reviewed invoices and follows each one to payment.
Billing outputs reach the firm's ledger through the QuickBooks connection, one way.
- 01
Capture and approve time
Staff log time in Invoicera's built-in tracker or bring it from Harvest or Toggl; a manager approves the billable hours.
- 02
Apply the engagement terms
Role rates, fixed fees, monthly retainers and agreed extras become invoice lines that keep their source.
- 03
Review, send and follow up
A partner approves before send, the client views and pays in the portal and reminders follow any overdue balance.
A practical decision rule
Each engagement type has its own billing trigger.
Hourly, fixed-fee and retainer work can share one client invoice as long as each line keeps the rule that created it.
Firms on Xero use the Xero connection in the same way.
Worked example
One client month across three fee types (illustrative)
- Monthly bookkeeping retainer
- $1,200
- Approved advisory time
- 6 × $180 = $1,080
- Fixed-fee year-end milestone
- $2,500
- Invoice total
- $4,780
Related decisions
Continue with the next relevant control.
partner programmeFollow the related invoice decision→consultant billingSee the operating model in context→client portalReview the related billing control→PricingReview plans and included capacity→Industries
Billing by industry.
Explore billing by industry.
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Professional services
Control retainers, approved time, project work and client review before the invoice leaves finance.
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SaaS
Keep recurring periods, entered or imported quantities and renewal billing decisions visible.
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Construction
Turn accepted milestones, change orders and project billing checkpoints into controlled invoices.
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Logistics
Connect service records, rates, accessorial charges and customer requirements to outgoing billing.
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Legal
Keep the fee arrangement, reviewer and receivable path connected to the outgoing invoice.
View industry →Blog
Relevant reading for this decision.
Explore billing decisions.
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5 Common Project Billing Problems and How to Fix Them
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Billing operations · Sep 15, 2026
How to Simplify Complex Billing Without Replacing Your Business Systems
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Billing operations · Sep 9, 2026
Zoho Billing vs Invoicera: Which Fits Growing Businesses?
Read article →Customer perspective
What customers say about working with Invoicera.
My contractor business moved away from a manual invoicing process. Invoicera made invoicing simpler, which leaves me more time to help clients.
Late payments made cash flow difficult to manage. Invoicera gives me notifications when clients have not paid, so I can respond and keep the business moving.
Invoicera has streamlined our billing operations and helped us reduce manual effort. We particularly value its automation, ease of use, and professional invoicing experience. It’s a great solution for growing businesses, and we’re happy to recommend it.

Questions buyers ask
Know where this fits.
Each answer stands on its own, including the boundary of what Invoicera does and does not do.
What should accountants look for in time and billing software?
Look for approved time with rates by role, fixed fees and retainers on one client invoice, review before send, client payment and reminders, and a clean hand-off to the firm's ledger. Invoicera covers those on Grow and above. Practice management, tax preparation and document collection need other tools.
Can our staff track time in Invoicera?
Yes. Invoicera includes simple time capture on Grow and above, and time recorded in Harvest or Toggl can become invoice lines. A manager approves billable hours before billing. The iPhone and Android apps also log project time and create invoices from timesheets.
We want to recommend Invoicera to our clients. Where do we start?
This page is for firms billing their own clients. If you advise clients on their billing and want to discuss a referral or advisory relationship, start on the partner page. No programme tier, commission or certification is promised unless agreed in writing.
When is for accounting firms a good fit?
Use this path when an accounting or CPA firm bills its own clients from approved time, fixed fees or retainers and more than one person prepares or reviews the invoices. Start with the actual source record, people and exception rather than a polished demonstration. The right fit should keep the amount, authority, current state and next action understandable when a normal input changes or a required detail is missing. Confirm the applicable plan and configuration before treating the example as your operating design.
What is outside the scope of for accounting firms?
Invoicera does not provide practice management, workpapers, tax preparation, document collection or bookkeeping, and it does not keep client ledgers. It bills the firm's own clients. A page title does not extend the documented product scope or decide a legal, tax, financial or contractual conclusion. Keep the responsible delivery, payment, books and professional-review processes in their established systems, and verify any material assumption before it changes an invoice, customer balance or published commitment.
What should we test before choosing this path?
Test one client with a monthly retainer, approved hours at two role rates, one fixed fee and one write-down that needs a partner's approval. Use a controlled billing record without real customer data and include one changed term, missing reference, partial amount or delayed decision. Ask a second reviewer to identify the current owner and next action without verbal guidance. Record any required integration, permission and plan limit as a pass-or-fail condition rather than assuming it from a general feature label.
How should the hand-off to another system work?
Time can stay in Harvest or Toggl, while invoices and payments sync one way to the firm's QuickBooks Online or Xero, which remains the book of record. Name the object, direction, trigger, failure owner and authoritative system before implementation. A familiar vendor logo or exported file does not prove that every field or state is supported. Reconcile one small controlled batch first, retain the source evidence and keep ambiguous records open until a responsible reviewer resolves them.
What evidence should support the decision?
Use current official product information, a controlled workflow review and attributable customer evidence where available. Do not substitute invented outcomes, generic badges or an unverified screenshot for proof. Record the evaluation date, assumptions, required plan, limitations and decision owner so another reviewer can reproduce why the product path was accepted.
Start with the real billing case
Bring the schedule, exception or approval that is hardest to control.
See how Invoicera would run it without moving the ledger out of the system your finance team already uses.
Book a Demo