QuickBooks Time: Best Practices for NZ Time Tracking

Key line: QuickBooks Time does a lot—GPS, scheduling, mileage—but the price tag and unreliable overtime tracker leave room for better value.

Quick Snapshot

• Overall score: 7.3/10
• Best for: Businesses already within the Intuit ecosystem
• Pricing: From $20 base + $8 per user/month

Why You Can Trust This Review

We ran QuickBooks Time for 30 days in a 25‑person delivery company, logging 2 100 shifts. Data below comes from real payroll exports, GPS heatmaps, and staff surveys.

Why QuickBooks Time Matters for Kiwi Businesses

QuickBooks Time began life as TSheets and still promotes three main features:

1. Deep Intuit Integration – Syncs hours straight into QuickBooks Online invoices.
2. Feature Overload in One App – GPS, scheduling, kiosk clock, mileage, face‑ID.
3. Enterprise Brand – The QuickBooks name feels “official” to accountants.

Pricing in Plain English

Plan	Monthly Cost	What You Get
Premium	$20 base + $8/user	Time tracking, scheduling, GPS, basic reports
Elite	$40 base + $10/user	Everything in Premium + mileage, signatures, project budgets

Reality check: A 30‑user team on Elite pays $340/month, versus $49 on Shifton Advanced. QuickBooks Time is six times costlier for equal headcount.

Pros & Cons at a Glance

Pros	Cons
Drag‑and‑drop scheduler is slick	Base + per‑seat pricing escalates
GPS geofence reduces buddy‑punching	Overtime calculations unreliable
Facial recognition kiosk	Mobile app crashes on older Androids
Smooth sync to QuickBooks Online	Support knowledge base sparse

QuickBooks Time — Web Dashboard & Mobile App

Web Dashboard

The QuickBooks Time web UI keeps main tabs—Time Clock, Schedule, Projects—left‑aligned. Icons are clear, loading time ≈1.5 s on 4G. Downside: windows stack instead of replacing, cluttering the screen quickly.

Mobile Workforce App

Employees like the simple green “Clock In” button. GPS ping interval auto‑adjusts to save battery, but offline sync lagged up to 8 minutes. Managers complained about pop‑up ads for Intuit loans.

Core Features Detailed Review

1 Time Tracking

Clock in via mobile, web, or kiosk. QuickBooks Time logs start/stop plus breaks. Facial recognition deters buddy punches but misfires under low light.

2 Employee Scheduling

Drag a name onto a calendar; colour code shifts; publish. Staff get push alerts. Missing: shift swapping—managers must edit manually.

3 GPS & Geofencing

Set a radius; if a worker tries to clock in outside the zone, QuickBooks Time blocks the action. Works, but consumes 6 % extra battery per day.

4 Mileage Tracker

Elite plan auto‑records trips and exports IRD‑ready logs. In tests, undercounted distances by 4 % versus odometer.

5 Overtime & Double‑Time

Buggy—the system failed to flag 16 of 220 OT entries. Intuit claims a patch is coming.

Security & Compliance

• SOC 2 Type II certified
• TLS 1.2 in transit, AES‑256 at rest
• No HIPAA compliance: healthcare organisations beware

QuickBooks Time vs. Key Competitors

30 users	QuickBooks Time Elite	TimeCamp Ultimate	Hubstaff Team	Shifton Advanced
Monthly cost	$340	$239.70	$300	$49
GPS	✔	✔	✔	✔
Scheduling	✔	✔	✔	✔
Overtime accuracy	✖	✔	✔	✔
Free plan	✖	✖	✖	✔ first 25 users

Implementation Timeline

1. Day 1: Import customers & payroll codes via CSV.
2. Day 2: Launch wizard, set overtime rules, create geofences.
3. Day 3: Distribute QR join codes to staff.
4. Week 2: Audit GPS heatmap; adjust battery settings.
5. Month 1: Export first payroll; verify overtime figures.

Real‑World ROI Scenario

A plumbing firm loses 2 % billable hours due to manual timesheet errors. QuickBooks Time should fix that, worth $1 200/month. But software costs $340, net gain $860. Shifton at $49 delivers similar fix, net gain $1 051. Maths matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is QuickBooks Time free? No—30‑day trial, then paid.Does QuickBooks Time track PTO? Yes, admins approve requests.Can I disable GPS? Yes per role. Managers often require it for field staff.Does QuickBooks Time integrate with Gusto? Only via Zapier.

Verdict & Recommendation

QuickBooks Time nails core tracking and plugs straight into QuickBooks Online. If you’re locked into Intuit and okay with higher fees, it’s a solid option. If you want equally accurate hours, better overtime logic, and a smaller bill, Shifton Advanced is the smarter choice.