Labor, time, and equipment costing
Charge employee time and equipment usage to jobs and cost codes, with labor burden and equipment rates, so job cost includes more than vendor bills.
- Plans
- Advanced and above
- Availability
- Available
- For
- Bookkeepers, Accountants
- In KontoCore
Projects → Time · Projects → Equipment · Projects → Payroll
Payroll processing for labor costs may require a payroll provider connection.
What this does
Time entries record hours by employee, job, and cost code. Labor becomes actual job cost when payroll (or a labor allocation) posts, using wage plus configured burden.
Equipment usage records hours or days by job at an internal rate, moving cost from an equipment cost pool to the job.
How to
Record time
- 1Open Projects → Time and add entries (employee, date, job, cost code, hours).
- 2Approve time.
- 3Post through payroll or labor allocation.
Record equipment
- 1Open Projects → Equipment, choose the unit, job, cost code, and usage.
- 2Post the allocation.
Statuses and lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Entered. |
| Approved | Ready to cost. |
| Posted | Included in job actual cost. |
Corrections, voids, and reversals
- Correct allocations through job cost corrections; reverse posted payroll per payroll procedures.
Provider and availability notes
- Payroll calculation and filing may depend on a connected payroll provider.
Permissions
- Employees may enter their own time; approvers and bookkeepers post.
What happens in your books
Posted labor and equipment allocations debit job cost and credit payroll expense clearing or the equipment cost pool.
Common mistakes
- Approving time to the wrong cost code and fixing it with a journal entry.
Troubleshooting
Labor not in job cost
Time is approved but payroll/allocation hasn’t posted.
Related articles
Job costingAssign labor, materials, equipment, and other costs to projects and compare them with budgets and billing.Employees and payroll importMaintain the employee directory, import payroll journals, and prepare for W-2 reporting.Correcting job costs and keeping source provenanceFix a vendor bill or expense posted to the wrong job, phase, cost code, or cost type without losing the trail back to the original source document.Job detail and closeoutUse a job’s detail page to see contract, budget, committed, actual, billed, and remaining amounts, and close the job out cleanly when work is done.
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Last reviewed October 6, 2026