The invoice does not show all the work a project consumed
You sold a project for $3,000 and planned thirty hours. A teammate also chased materials, processed revisions, and prepared the handover. If that work is absent from the time record, the project looks more profitable than its actual effort supports.
For a first review, collect complete project hours, their internal cost valuation, and direct expenses. These give you the project’s contribution toward the company’s other costs. Contribution is not net profit or cash received.
Open the project-contribution calculator, download the blank time record, and compare the fictional example. The calculator starts with that example, not industry rates. Dollar figures are a separate illustration, not a currency conversion of the Czech edition.
Include time that is not separately billed
Each time record needs project, date, person, duration, and work category. Begin with delivery, rework, and project-related administration. Also distinguish time included in the fee, billed additionally, or unbilled. That is a different question from the cost of an hour.
An unbilled hour still uses capacity. A zero billing rate does not establish zero cost. Value your own work using an agreed internal rate, marked as an estimate unless supported by cost records. Without that rate, you can compare hours but cannot claim a precise monetary result.
Add a project and work category in your existing tracker. Toggl distinguishes billable time and billing rates, with its own rate-setting rules. These are not automatically labor costs. Bring actual hours into the calculation rather than treating the tool’s revenue amount as cost.
Calculate one completed project
This case is fictional. The fee is $3,000 excluding applicable taxes, and each hour is valued internally at $60. Direct expenses use a consistent tax basis; determine the appropriate treatment in your own records.
| Item | Hours or expense | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | 25 hours × $60 | $1,500 |
| Rework | 5 hours × $60 | $300 |
| Project administration | 5 hours × $60 | $300 |
| Subcontractor | Direct expense | $400 |
| Total direct costs | 35 hours and subcontractor | $2,500 |
Contribution is fee minus direct costs: $3,000 − $2,500 = $500, or 16.7% of the fee. Omitting the five administrative hours would produce $800 and 26.7%. The engagement did not improve; some work disappeared from its records.
That $500 may still need to cover shared company costs such as premises and work outside the project. An unpaid invoice also has not produced cash. Use the delivery-to-payment workflow for that separate issue.
Review unfinished work on a matching basis
Compare plan and actuals for the same scope and period. Halfway through delivery, estimate remaining work and add it to hours already spent. Comparing the whole fee with only half the costs does not show a completed result.
Record scope changes separately. Then explain whether additional hours came from new requests, unusable inputs, or correcting your own error. That tells you whether to change the next price, revision allowance, or handover process.
Contribution can be negative; the calculator does not hide it at zero. A zero fee permits calculating a cost or loss, but not a percentage relative to zero. A missing input stays missing rather than becoming free labor.
Begin with one review in existing tools
Review one completed engagement with the person who delivered it. Compare records with the calendar and task list, add forgotten work, and mark estimates. The purpose is understanding delivery and future estimates, not covert screen monitoring.
A few minutes of monthly reconciliation may fit your existing spreadsheet. Consider a timer when hours repeatedly go missing, and a connection when the transfer can distinguish projects and work categories correctly. Include setup and maintenance in the workflow cost.
Documentation checked October 10, 2026. The calculator was verified locally against the example and boundary inputs; these amounts are not a real client’s results.
The default calculator model is a completed project. For unfinished work retain actual hours separately from estimated remaining hours; enter their sum only as an explicitly labeled completion forecast. Do not enter unknown costs as zero.