Time tracking and invoicing for consultants
Record hours per client and mandate, invoice monthly retainers without retyping them, and send invoices your client's accounts team can process right away.
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Reports
Total hours
86:30
Billable
91%
Billable amount
$ 14'570.00
Uninvoiced amount
$ 8'810.00
| Name | Hours | Billable amount |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy retainer Kessler & Partner AG | 32:00 | $ 5'760.00 |
| Market entry study Nordlicht Verlag | 24:30 | $ 4'410.00 |
| Board workshop Bergwerk Bikes | 22:00 | $ 4'400.00 |
| Internal — | 8:00 | $ 0.00 |
What consulting work loses between calls
The short work goes unbilled
A 20-minute call, a document reviewed between meetings, an email that took half an hour. Spread over several clients, it adds up to hours nobody records.
The same retainer invoice every month
Each month you copy last month's invoice, change the date and the period, and hope you didn't forget a client. Once a year you do forget one.
Clients ask what the hours were for
A client's finance team wants to know what they're paying for. Your notes are in a calendar, a notebook and three email threads.
Consultant time tracking by client and mandate
Each mandate is a project, each kind of work a task: workshops, analysis, calls, reporting. At the end of the day or the week you enter the durations with a short note. A 20-minute call is simply 0:20.
- Rates can come from the project or from the person, so senior and junior work is priced correctly.
- Each entry keeps the rate it was recorded with, so next year's rate increase doesn't change past hours.
- Internal work and business development go on non-billable projects and stay out of invoices.
Monthly retainers as recurring invoice drafts
Set up a recurring invoice template for each retainer client, for example every month on the 1st. Buezli creates the invoice as a draft on that day. You check it, add anything unusual and send it yourself.
- Templates can end on a date, for fixed-term mandates, and can be paused and resumed.
- Give the mandate a monthly hour budget to get an email when the hours reach 80%.
- The overview shows your recurring revenue per month and per year.
- Repeats
- Every month
- On
- The 1st
- Next invoice
- 1 November 2026
- Ends
- Never
- Amount
- $ 1'800.00
Consulting invoices sent with a secure link
Buezli emails the invoice under your name, with replies going to your own address. Your client gets a secure link and, if you like, the PDF attached. You see when the invoice was opened and record payments as they arrive, including partial ones.
- Invoices follow each client's language and currency: German, English, French or Italian, in CHF, EUR or USD.
- CHF invoices from a Swiss account can include a Swiss QR bill.
- Email templates are editable, so the text sounds like you.
Hello Anna,
here is our invoice for the website relaunch in September, for $ 2'520.00.
- Sent1 Oct, 09:14
- Opened by the client1 Oct, 11:02
- Marked as paid24 Oct
A two-partner consultancy
Two partners with three clients on a monthly retainer and a few hourly mandates on top. Retainer invoices come from templates, hourly invoices from the tracked time.
- Active users
- 2
- Price per year
- CHF 198 (2 × CHF 99)
- Monthly retainers
- 3 × CHF 1,800
- Recurring revenue per month
- CHF 5,400
- Hourly work per month
- about 60 hours
- Invoices per month
- 7 (3 retainers, 4 hourly)
When Buezli fits your consultancy
A good fit if you
- Work alone or in a small consultancy and bill by the hour, per mandate or by monthly retainer.
- Want each retainer invoice checked before it goes out.
- Advise clients in different languages or currencies.
- Need a clear record of what every billed hour was spent on.
Look elsewhere if you need
- Automatic payment reminders or dunning.
- Online card payments or payment links on the invoice.
- Bookkeeping, VAT returns or a sync with your accounting software.
Questions and answers
How do I invoice a monthly retainer?
Create a recurring invoice template with the retainer amount and a schedule, such as every month on the 1st. On each date Buezli creates an ordinary invoice draft. You review it and send it by email or as a PDF.
Are recurring invoices sent automatically?
No. Buezli only creates drafts, and nothing goes to your client until you've checked and sent it. That leaves room to add a note or change the amount in a month that was different.
Can I see how many hours a retainer has used?
Yes, with a budget. Give the retainer project a monthly hour budget, and Buezli emails you when the hours pass the threshold. Buezli doesn't carry unused hours over into the next month.
Is Buezli suitable software for a small consulting firm?
Yes, for everything between the work and the payment: time tracking, estimates, invoices, recurring retainers and budgets. It doesn't include a CRM, resource planning or accounting.
Does Buezli replace my accounting software?
No. Buezli handles hours, estimates, invoices and incoming payments. Keep your accounting software, or your accountant, for bookkeeping, VAT and year-end.
Send your next invoice from buezli.app.
Clients and projects are set up in minutes. Track the week and invoice it on Friday.
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