Timesheet

A timesheet is the record used to capture and report an employee’s work time for payroll or timekeeping purposes.

In payroll, it is one of the main inputs used before pay is calculated. If the timesheet is incomplete, late, or wrong, the payroll run can still fail even when pay rates and deduction settings are correct.

Why A Timesheet Matters

A timesheet matters because it affects:

• how many hours payroll pays
• whether overtime or premium time is recognized
• when a payroll run can be approved
• how corrections are handled when time was entered inaccurately

For hourly payroll in particular, the timesheet is often the foundation for the entire earnings calculation.

Where It Appears In Payroll Workflow

The timesheet appears near the beginning of the payroll workflow, before gross pay is built. In practice, payroll teams may:

• collect the timesheet from the employee or timekeeping system
• review it for missing or unusual entries
• route it for manager approval
• send approved hours into the payroll calculation

That means the timesheet is not the paycheck. It is a source record used to create the paycheck.

Simple Example

An employee submits a timesheet showing:

• 40 regular hours
• 4 overtime hours

Payroll uses the approved timesheet to calculate regular pay and overtime pay for the employee’s next payroll run.

Common Confusion

Timesheet is often confused with:

• Timecard, which is a closely related timekeeping record
• Pay stub, which explains the final payroll result rather than the input
• Pay period, which is the time window being paid rather than the record that captures hours
• Payroll register, which summarizes the payroll run after calculations are complete

Related Terms

• Timecard
• Pay Period
• Weekly Payroll
• Biweekly Payroll
• Overtime Pay
• Payroll Register
• Pay Stub

Knowledge Check

1. Does payroll use a timesheet before or after calculating pay? Before. It is an input to the payroll calculation.
2. Can a bad timesheet create a wrong paycheck even when the pay rate is correct? Yes. Wrong hours still produce wrong pay.
3. Is a timesheet the same thing as a pay stub? No. A timesheet is an input record, while a pay stub is an output record.