Travel, software licences, stock photos, subcontractors, hosting — project expenses add up fast. If they’re tracked in a separate spreadsheet (or not at all), two things happen: you forget to re-bill some vendor costs to your clients, and your project profit looks better than it really is. Here’s a clean way to track project expenses and pass the right ones on to clients.
Log expenses on the project, when they happen
The best moment to record an expense is when you pay it. Record it against the project it belongs to, with:
- date, description and amount;
- a category if you use them (travel, software, subcontractor…);
- the receipt attached;
- whether it’s re-billable to the client.
In Clocknico, expenses live on the project page, in the client’s currency. Receipts are uploaded with the expense and stored in a folder that belongs to your company only, with every download checked against your company.
Decide what’s re-billable — and agree it in the contract
Common practice:
- Re-billable: travel for the client, licences bought specifically for their project, third-party services ordered on their behalf.
- Not re-billable: your own tools, general overheads, costs included in a fixed price.
Put the rule in the contract so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Add a markup where it’s fair
Buying, managing and pre-financing third-party costs takes time and carries risk. Many agencies add a handling markup — often 10–20% — to re-billed expenses. Clocknico lets you set a markup on re-billable expenses, and the invoice line includes it automatically.
Put expenses on the invoice automatically
When you generate an invoice for a client, Clocknico includes the project’s unbilled re-billable expenses as separate invoice lines, next to the billable hours. Once invoiced, an expense is linked to that invoice, so it can’t be billed twice. Cancel the draft, and it’s free to bill again.
Count all expenses in profitability
Every expense — re-billed or not — is a cost. Clocknico’s Profitability page adds expenses to labour cost and compares them with revenue, so a project that “looked fine” but bought €3,000 of licences shows its real margin.
Keep an eye on the budget
Expenses count against the project’s budget amount. On large projects, check them along with hours every week — see project budget tracking.
Expense tracking checklist
- Every expense recorded on its project, with a receipt
- Re-billable flag set at entry time
- Markup agreed and applied consistently
- Re-billable expenses included on the next invoice
- All expenses included in project profitability
Project expenses, receipts and re-billing are included in every Clocknico plan — free for teams of up to 5 users.