As a consultant, you need to record and manage your working hours accurately to ensure that your consulting hours are remunerated correctly. Modern time tracking tools can help you do this effectively. In this guide, we explain the importance of time tracking for consulting companies and show you best practices and important criteria for choosing a suitable tool.
Table of contents - What you can expect:
The typical consultant week
Time recording in consulting
Project time recording instead of time log
ZEP - Digital time recording for consultants
The Digital time recording is crucial for you as a consultant in order to successfully complete the numerous projects running in parallel and to invoice them promptly. It provides you with accurate data instead of patchy reminders, allows you to monitor and control productivity, ensures transparency towards your clients and speeds up billing for timely cash flow. Project and customer-orientated time tracking tools, such as ZEP, also help you to save valuable time on administrative tasks.
| Advantages of digital time recording | Description of the |
| 📊 Exact data | You receive a reliable data basis for your work performance and invoicing. |
| 📈 Check and control productivity | You can assess and manage the performance of individual consultants more easily. |
| 🔍 Transparency towards customers | You avoid misunderstandings through detailed lesson logs. |
| ⏱️ Timely Settlement | You benefit from a simplified process in the Invoicing for prompt payments. |
| ⚙️ More efficiency with automatic time recording | You save time on administrative tasks by digitally recording working and project times. |
A typical "4 + 1" consultant week means that the consultant usually spends four days on site with the customer and one day - usually on Friday - working in the office. On this day, all organisational matters have to be dealt with before the consultant is back "on the road" to the customer on Monday. Meticulously recording the hours worked in the previous week and collating and submitting the receipts for the Travel expenses is really not one of a management consultant's "favourite jobs" and is therefore often put on the back burner. But as long as working hours are not recorded, they cannot be invoiced.
The main feature of a modern Time recording for management consultancies must therefore be to facilitate the mobile recording of working hours and travel expenses - via the Internet or a mobile app - to make this possible. An important selection criterion here is user-friendliness. The fewer clicks the consultant needs to record their times, the better.
Working hours in management consulting vary significantly depending on whether you belong to Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 consultancies. Tier 1 and Tier 2 consulting McKinsey, BCG, Bain & Company as well as Kearney, Oliver Wyman, Strategy& and Roland Berger generally expect longer working hours, often until late in the evening inside on some days. In contrast to this Tier 3 Consultancy such as Simon-Kucher, ZEB or Horvath as a rule slightly more balanced working hourswhich are often comparable to regular office hours.
Time recording in consulting is crucial for productivity and billing accuracy. But what else should you consider to get the most out of this tool?
Digital Project time tracking outperforms a manual time log in several aspects. It allows you to record working hours more accurately, link them directly to projects to avoid errors and provides a real-time overview of consultants' work performance. This significantly improves project controlling and makes it easier to make informed decisions about Resource planning - also for future projects. It also speeds up the invoicing process through automated data processing and minimises errors, resulting in faster invoicing and improved cash flow.
Time recording and project controlling play a central role for management consultancies in order to benefit from the ongoing industry boom. The company's success is only assured if it is possible to record and invoice the working hours worked for the various customer projects promptly and accurately. In addition, it is important for the project and management team not to lose sight of the big picture in the "jungle" of different consulting projects, which usually run in parallel.
Timely billing of project working hours is crucial in management consultancy. ZEP offers the additional module Invoicingwhich not only automates the recording and combination of working times with hourly and daily rates, but also offers clear added value through its functionalities:
🕒 Automated billing: Recorded times are automatically combined with the stored records.
📅 Reminder function: Notifications of outstanding invoices and incoming payments.
📊 Comprehensive analyses: Overview of invoices issued, open items list, sales forecasts and more.
🔄 Interfaces: Integration with other systems for seamless processes.
This module not only supports consultants in the efficient processing of project invoices, but also provides management with valuable tools for project and business controlling.
Precise, accurate time recording and billing of project working hours is crucial for business success in management consultancy. Modern time recording tools such as ZEP offer consultants crucial functions for the efficient management of their working hours. The additional module for invoicing optimises the combination of working hours with hourly and daily rates, increases accuracy and speeds up the invoicing process.
Consultants benefit from reliable, automated billing that minimises errors and improves cash flow through timely payments. The reminder function ensures that no invoices are forgotten, while comprehensive analyses such as an open items list and sales forecasts offer additional control and planning options. With ZEP, consultants and management maintain a clear overview of all ongoing projects and can plan resources efficiently to ensure long-term business success.
Management consultants typically work long hours, often more than 50 hours per week. Working hours can vary depending on the project and company size. At leading consulting firms such as McKinsey, BCG or Bain & Company, working weeks of 60 hours or more are not uncommon.
The duration of consulting projects can vary greatly and depends on various factors, including the complexity of the project, the objective and the client's requirements. Typical projects can last from a few weeks to several months. In the case of major transformations or comprehensive strategy projects, the project duration can also span several years.
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