Timesheets are the foundation for payroll and a key input for your business's Operational Cost Control and Cash Flow Management. As a financial automation platform, Bizzi not only provides 17 standard timesheet templates of Circular but also analyzes manual data risks and a roadmap for seamless integration with existing ERP systems. This article will help Accountants and HR ensure the Certainty of timekeeping data right from the input stage.
A timesheet is a form used to record the actual working time of each employee during a certain period of time, usually by day, week or month.
Information typically recorded includes: check-in and check-out times, actual number of days worked, vacation time, overtime, or unpaid leave of each employee.
Popular forms of timekeeping today
Excel timesheet: Popular in small companies, easy to customize, but prone to errors if entered manually.
Specialized timekeeping software: Digital system, automatic recording, synchronization with payroll system, suitable for medium and large enterprises.
Fingerprint time attendance machine: Record entry and exit times based on fingerprints, high accuracy, reducing fraud.
Attendance by facial recognition (AI Camera): Advanced technology, suitable for high security environments and large staff.
Mobile app: Suitable for employees working remotely or on the go, “check-in” online by geographic location and real time.
TOP 17 Most Professional & Effective Timesheet Templates 2025 (With Download Link)
Choosing the right timesheet template for your needs is a must to ensure the legal validity of accounting documents, directly affecting the accuracy of data, salary processing time and human resource management efficiency. Below are free download links for a variety of timesheet templates, meeting all business needs.
1. Daily timesheet template
Characteristic: Record details of working time, vacation, sick leave, late arrival, early departure… of each employee on a daily basis. This is important original data to reconcile with the final payroll.
2. Timesheet template according to Circular 200 (for all fields, all economic sectors)
Characteristic: This form strictly complies with the Enterprise Accounting Regime, including detailed information on salary scales, ranks and positions. This is mandatory data for accurate allocation of labor costs in the Financial Report. The form also clearly shows the number of employees by each item such as employees by time, employees by product, social insurance benefits, etc.
Timesheet template according to Circular 200 (for all fields, all economic sectors)
3. Timesheet template according to Circular 133 (for small and medium enterprises)
Characteristic: This timesheet template is used to track employee working days by level. The design is streamlined to suit the SME scale but still ensures cost transparency to serve tax settlement work.
Timesheet template according to Circular 133 (for small and medium enterprises)
4. Timesheet template according to Circular 177 (for administrative agencies and public service units)
Characteristic: The timesheet template according to Circular 177 is standardized for units using the state budget, the "converted to work" part is simplified. The table only includes 3 main types of work: time-based salary work, unpaid leave work and social insurance work.
Timesheet template according to Circular 177 (for administrative agencies and public service units)
5. Simple daily timesheet template on Excel
Characteristic: The Excel daily timesheet template helps businesses record and accurately track the number of working days. This template is suitable for newly established businesses that do not have the need to integrate complex data.
Characteristic: This is a basic solution for organizations that need to manage working time manually. The timesheet template on Microsoft Word can be applied to all departments and divisions and is mainly used for manual data entry or printing for manual recording. Because it does not support automatic calculation formulas, this template should only be applied to groups of less than 10 people to avoid errors.
7. Timesheet template specifically for manufacturing companies (track work by shift, overtime hours)
Characteristic: Shift timesheets help managers monitor the number of employees per shift, allocate shifts appropriately, avoid excess or shortage of people, thereby ensuring the work efficiency of the workshop.
Timesheet template specifically for manufacturing companies (tracking work by shift, overtime hours)
8. Timesheet template for overtime employees (OT)
Characteristic: Overtime timesheets are an important tool for calculating wages and benefits. Accurately recording this form helps businesses avoid legal risks of violating overtime limits.
Characteristic: Weekly timesheet templates are designed to control working hours closely and accurately. Although less popular than daily or monthly timesheet templates, this template is very suitable for businesses that pay weekly salaries or need to report work progress periodically, helping to increase transparency and reduce conflicts in human resource management.
10. Sample timesheet for calculating working shifts
Characteristic: The shift timesheet template is an effective tool for businesses operating on a shift system, especially in manufacturing, hospitals or customer service – where human resource needs change hourly. This template helps to accurately track the number of working days and shifts of each employee, helping managers grasp an overview of the human resource situation and allocate shifts appropriately.
11. Timesheet template calculated by working hours (for part-time and freelance employees)
Features: Hourly timesheets clearly record employees' entry and exit times for each day or shift. This allows managers to accurately assess the level of diligence and take measures to improve compliance with company regulations.
Timesheet template based on working hours (for part-time and freelance employees)
12. Daily timesheet template for language centers/teachers based on teaching hours
Characteristic: This template is especially suitable for foreign language centers, private educational institutions and domestic or international educational enterprises. The timesheet template is specifically designed for the needs of the education industry, helping to effectively manage teachers' actual teaching hours, ensuring transparency in time management and salary payment.
Daily timesheet template for language centers/teachers by teaching hours
13. Timesheet template for teachers based on entry and exit times
Features: The timesheet template specifically shows the entry and exit times of each teacher, easily managing the actual teaching hours of teachers as well as ensuring transparency in salary payment.
Timesheet template for teachers based on entry and exit times
14. Daily timesheet template in English (for foreign companies or those with international staff)
Characteristic: Daily timesheet template for foreign companies or companies with international staff features full or bilingual English language usage, integrating information such as employee name, date, check-in/check-out time, actual working time, annual leave, and detailed information fields for international management and reporting.
Daily timesheet template in English (for foreign companies or companies with international staff)
15. Monthly timesheet template
Characteristic: The monthly timesheet template has the feature of recording and summarizing the number of working days, vacations, sick leave, overtime, etc. of each employee throughout a month. This is the most popular template, helping businesses easily calculate salaries, allowances and evaluate overall work performance.
Characteristic: The daily timesheet template according to Circular 107/2017/TT-BTC has many similarities with the templates according to Circular 200 and 133, but the highlight is the "conversion to work" section which is designed more neatly and clearly, making recording and calculation simpler and more accurate. This table is divided into 3 specific types of work: Time-based salary work, Unpaid leave work and Social Insurance work
Characteristic: The timesheet according to Circular 185 is built based on form No. 01a-HD, issued with Circular 185/2010/TT-BTC dated November 7, 2010 of the Ministry of Finance, to guide the accounting regime for administrative units. This form is used to record working time, vacation, sick leave... of employees in the month, helping to manage transparently and conveniently for salary calculation.
Public Data Value Analysis (Accounting/CFO Perspective)
Timesheet templates play a role extremely important in human resource management and business operations, especially for medium to large sized companies. Here is a complete analysis of importance and benefit of using timesheet templates:
Support transparent and accurate salary calculation: Is the basis for the human resources department to calculate salaries, allowances, and deductions fairly.
Manage leave and overtime effectively: Clearly record days off, overtime, help track employee rights and obligations.
Increase responsibility and discipline: Encourage employees to comply with working hours and raise awareness of personal performance.
Optimize resource coordination: Helps managers grasp the human resource situation to coordinate appropriately according to shifts or projects.
Ensure compliance with labor laws: It is an important legal document to prove that the business complies with regulations on normal working hours (no more than 48 hours/week) and overtime limits (maximum 200-300 hours/year) as prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
Provide data for performance evaluation (KPI/OKR): Timesheets are a strategic data source that, when combined with KPIs/OKRs, helps differentiate between “working long hours” and “creating real value.”
Contributes significantly to labor cost control and overall budget management: Need to classify and manage strictly types of business expenses to optimize. Furthermore, understanding public data helps businesses identify and reduce invisible human resource costs and plan spending and budgets effectively.
Instructions on how to create a simple and effective Excel timesheet template
To create an accurate and time-saving timesheet template, you can refer to the 7 steps below:
Step 1: Determine the appropriate timesheet model
Clarify the content, required items and how to design a scientific table.
Includes 1 file with 13 sheets (1 employee list, 12 months).
Step 2: Create the layout of the sheets in the file
Create the first two sheets (“Employee List” and “Month January”), then copy them for the remaining months.
You should design a complete and professional “January” sheet from the beginning to save editing time.
Step 3: Create a personnel information table
Including columns: Serial number, Employee code, Full name, Date of birth, ID card number, Official contract signing date.
Note to enter data from column B, row 4 and date of birth format.
Step 4: Create a timesheet structure for the “January” sheet
Set up sub-items such as Sheet name, Month/year of attendance, Working department, Attendance date standard.
Step 5: Create dates in the timesheet
Using Excel functions DATE to create a date and WEEKDAY to determine the day of the week.
Use Conditional Formatting to highlight the weekend days.
Step 6: Set the symbol for the timesheet
Establish and standardize work symbols (e.g., X – full work, P – vacation, K – unpaid leave, O – sick leave, V – half day).
Step 7: Set the formula function to automatically calculate
Use functions like COUNTIF to count the number of working days, SUMIF to calculate total overtime hours, IF for special conditions, NETWORKDAYS to calculate standard working days.
Important notes when creating Excel timesheet templates
Complete and consistent information: Make sure items are clear, easy to follow, and free of omissions.
Clear notation convention: Unify symbols to avoid confusion when entering data and calculating work.
Has a transparent verification process: Includes confirmation steps from staff to management, HR, accounting to ensure fairness.
Manual Data Risks and High Cost of Retrieval When Using Excel (H2)
Although Excel is popular, for CFOs and CFOs, maintaining manual timekeeping poses many data risks and increases the Cost of Retrieval:
High Cost of Retrieval: Accountants spend hours manually reconciling timesheets, leave requests (paper/email) and payroll. This disjointed process slows down the month-end close cycle.
Certainty Risk: Errors in Excel formulas or incorrect data entry can lead to incorrect salary calculations, directly affecting the accuracy of Financial Reports and the risk of personal income tax arrears.
Lack of Integration: Data on Excel is isolated, cannot be automatically reconciled with risks in processing Input Invoices and B2B Payments related to personnel and supplier costs.
Optimal Solution: Automate and Integrate Timekeeping Data into Financial – Accounting/ERP System (H2)
To solve the problem of data risks, the trend of modern businesses is to shift from "table management" to "automated data management".
Applying digital solutions helps standardize timekeeping data right from the start. More importantly, this standardization is the first step to seamless integration with major ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle. Understanding 10 Benefits of ERP bring to the business will help CFOs optimize system investment decisions. This helps:
Update human resource costs in real-time.
Automate accounting and reduce manual operations for the accounting department.
Make the budget approval and control process transparent. business expense policy established effectiveness.
Conclude
Accurate timekeeping data is an essential input for Payroll Certainty and financial reporting. If your medium to large business is looking for a FinTech solution that not only automates timesheets but also seamlessly integrates with existing ERP to tightly control Invoices, Expenses and Cash Flow in real time, Bizzi is the digital transformation solution specifically for CFOs and Chief Accountants.
Hopefully, through the above article, businesses have a clearer view of popular timesheet templates and how to apply them. In addition, if leaders or accounting departments are considering additional solutions to automate and manage corporate finances, register here to receive advice: https://bizzi.vn/dang-ky-dung-thu/
