What is the formula for billable hours?
Asked by: Andre Bartoletti PhD | Last update: October 27, 2025Score: 4.9/5 (15 votes)
Calculating billable hours is straightforward: you take how much you've worked and multiply it by your hourly rate.
How do you calculate billable hours?
For hours to be billable, they must be spent on tasks directly related to client projects. Non-billable hours are hours worked on non-client tasks such as business administration. Calculate billable hours by multiplying your hourly rate by billable hours worked.
How many hours is 2000 billable hours?
Now on first glance, being required to work (on average) 2,000 billable hours per year may not seem terrible. After all, forty hours of work per week times fifty working weeks per year works out to exactly 2,000 hours of work per year.
How to check billable hours?
You can either manually log the start and end times for each task or use time-tracking software that does it automatically. To calculate total billable hours, sum the time spent on all tasks for a client or project and multiply by your hourly rate to determine the total amount due.
What is the formula for billable hours in Excel?
Using Excel to calculate billable hours
Format the duration column to display the time in hours and minutes. Create a column to define the hourly rate for each activity. Multiply the duration by the hourly rate using the formula “=duration*hourly_rate” to calculate the total cost for each activity.
Convert Hours & Minutes in Excel to decimals for billable hours by Chris Menard
How do lawyers track billable hours?
Lawyers can track billable hours with a billable hours chart, which will save them the time, effort, and frustration of calculating the hours manually. Most lawyers bill in standard increments, with 1/10 of an hour (six minutes) as a common increment.
What do 1800 billable hours look like?
To achieve 1,800 billable hours, an associate would work “regular” hours plus an extra 20 minutes Monday through Friday, or work one Saturday each month from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The first option would give an attorney 1,832 billable hours, with a total of 2,430 hours spent “at work” (AKA: including performing ...
Why do lawyers bill in 6 minute increments?
There are numerous methods and techniques lawyers can use for time tracking and billing. Some are more laborious and time-consuming than others. Among them, 6-minute increments are a great way to keep track of your time and tasks. A chart with 6-minute increments also helps with calculating and invoicing.
How to keep track of billable hours?
If you are just starting to track your billable hours, an excel spreadsheet can be an easy manual way to track your time. For more accurate timestamps and automatic invoicing, a time tracking software is the easiest way to make sure you get paid for your billables.
How do lawyers calculate their hours?
Lawyers use spreadsheets to log their time manually and track billable hours. Formulas can automatically calculate total hours, which speeds things up a bit. However, this method is still time-consuming and error-prone, leading to inaccurate billing records.
How do you calculate billable amount?
- Determine your Average Cost Per Hour (ACPH) As we previously mentioned, your ACPH is the total amount you have to pay for your team for every hour worked. ...
- Set your target delivery margin. ...
- Calculate your hourly billable rate.
What is an example of a billable hour?
Here are some examples of billable hours: Project ideation, management, meetings, and other related tasks. Actual client work. The hours spent on delivering the project include developing, designing, writing, coding, etc.
How many billable hours are realistic?
The Goal is Between 1,700 and 2,300 Hours
Most law firms set a yearly billable hour target for their associates. This figure typically ranges between 1,700 and 2,300 hours, forming the average billable hour requirement.
Do lawyers make $500 an hour?
For example, an attorney practicing in a small rural area in Kansas may earn $50 per hour for the same exact legal services performed by a lawyer in Los Angeles, Atlanta, or New York where hourly rates for the same legal service could be as high as $300 to $500 per hour.
Can you get a retainer fee back if nothing was done?
Any unearned retainer fees that are not used can be returned to the client. Earned retainer fees are the portion of the retainer that the lawyer is entitled to after work begins. Earned retainer fees may be granted to the lawyer bit by bit, depending on the number of hours worked.
What is the highest retainer fee for a lawyer?
Lawyers typically charge retainer fees ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on their experience, location, and case complexity. For more complex cases, retainers can exceed $10,000. The specifics are outlined in a retainer agreement, which may be refundable or non-refundable.
How to calculate billable hours in Excel?
To calculate billable hours in Excel efficiently, you can use the SUM and SUMPRODUCT functions. These methods make it easier to track and invoice work hours accurately. You can calculate billable hours in Excel by using the SUM function.
Are billable hours on top of salary?
In order to be profitable to your firm, you must make enough money from your billable hours not only to cover your salary and overhead, but also to generate revenue for the firm. It's not a complicated equation – the more hours you bill, the more revenue for the firm.
Is there a free Excel template for billable hours?
Free Download
ClickTime's billable hours template will help you track, manage, and plan how you and your team bill for their time. The template can be printed or simply viewed in Excel or Google Sheets.
How to calculate your billable rate?
Use the formula Billable hourly rate = (Total costs / Billable hours) x Profit margin.
How to calculate hours for pay?
- Step 1: Pinpoint start and end times. ...
- Step 2: Convert time formats for clarity. ...
- Step 3: Subtract start time from end time. ...
- Step 4: Account for break time. ...
- Step 5: Convert the final output to decimal format. ...
- Step 6: Add up total hours for the pay period. ...
- Step 7: Calculate the total pay.