Introducing Expense Tracking in DoubleTime

TL;DR: DoubleTime Pro lets you record supplier expenses, link receipts from Google Drive, and add agreed costs to client invoices. Choose which receipts clients can download, while keeping the originals in your Drive. Expense and profit and loss reports help you see recorded costs alongside invoiced income.

Client work often costs more than your time.

You might buy a software licence for a project, order materials, or pay a supplier before you send the client's invoice.

Those costs are easy to lose between a receipt folder, a spreadsheet, and the invoice you send at the end of the job.

With expense tracking in DoubleTime Pro, you can keep those costs and receipts alongside the rest of your billing.

You can record supplier bills and purchases, add agreed costs to client invoices, and review income alongside expenses.

Record the cost while the details are fresh

Open Expenses and create an expense. Choose the supplier from your contacts, add the expense date and currency, and enter the supplier's reference if you have one.

Add a line for each cost you want to record, including:

• a description and category

• the quantity and unit cost

• the tax rate that applies

You can also add notes and link the receipt or supplier invoice from Google Drive, so the details stay with the expense.

For example, a materials purchase could contain separate lines for printing and packaging. Keeping the lines separate lets you add only the relevant cost to a client invoice later.

You can save the expense as a draft while you check the details. Receipts can be linked to draft, finalised and on-charged expenses, so supporting paperwork can be added later without changing the financial lines.

Link receipts from Google Drive

Connect Google Drive in Integrations, then use the attachment manager on an expense or invoice to choose your files. You can browse My Drive and Shared drives. Linking files requires Pro and an active Google connection.

The originals stay in your Google Drive. DoubleTime does not store a separate copy of the file. When you or an authorised invoice recipient requests a download, DoubleTime retrieves the file from Google and sends it to the downloader.

If you update the contents of the same linked file in Drive, the next download uses the latest version. The filename shown on the expense or invoice may remain as it was when linked. These are links to working files, not frozen copies or a backup archive, so keep any records your business needs in your own storage.

Finalise it when the record is complete

Choose Finalise expense when you have checked the supplier, date, currency, line items, and tax.

Finalising locks the supplier, expense number, currency, and lines. You can still update the notes, supplier reference, and expense date. Finalised expenses appear in the expense reports and their lines become available to add to invoices.

If the lines need correcting, you can revert the expense to draft while none of them is linked to an invoice. An expense with an on-charged line cannot be reverted until that invoice link has been removed.

Finalising records the cost as complete. DoubleTime does not track supplier payments or whether the bill has been paid.

Add recoverable costs to the client's invoice

When a client has agreed to cover a cost, you can add it to their invoice. This is often called on-charging.

Open the client's draft invoice and choose Add expenses.

The list shows finalised expense lines from your suppliers that are not already linked to an invoice. Search or filter the list, select the relevant lines, and add them to the invoice. Each selected expense line becomes its own invoice line, with a link back to the original expense.

Each expense line can be linked to one invoice at a time. The expense also shows which invoice carries the line, making it easier to check whether you have already included it in the client's bill.

Review the description, quantity, price, and tax before sending. You can attribute the on-charged cost to a project belonging to that client. If the expense and invoice use different currencies, set the agreed invoice price yourself; DoubleTime does not automatically convert the cost using an exchange rate.

Choose which receipts the client should receive

When adding expenses to an invoice, select the receipts you want to include alongside the expense lines. Nothing is selected by default. Use Select all only when every listed receipt belongs on the client's invoice.

You can also select receipts later from the invoice attachment manager. There is no need to find the files in Drive again, and you can link other supporting documents directly from Google Drive when they are not part of an expense.

A supplier receipt may include other purchases or details that are only relevant to you. You choose whether those files belong with the client-facing invoice. Expense receipts stay private from invoice recipients until you select them.

The expense and invoice keep independent links to the same file. Removing one link does not remove the other or delete the original in Drive. Removing an expense line from an invoice also leaves its already-linked receipts in place, so review the attachment list separately before sending.

Clients download selected files through the invoice, using its access settings. They do not need a Google account, and you do not need to make the original file public in Drive. Review file contents before sharing, especially if you use an invoice link that anyone holding the link can open.

If a linked file becomes unavailable

If the file is deleted, its permissions change or Google is disconnected, its attachment entry stays on the invoice but the download may no longer be available. The invoice asks the client to contact your company or sender contact for a copy. Reconnecting the original Google account can restore downloads if that account still has access to the file.

Disconnecting the shared Google integration also disconnects Google Calendar if you use it. Changes to linked files do not change the financial amounts recorded on your expense or invoice.

See income alongside recorded costs

The Expenses report lists lines from finalised expenses using the expense date you entered. Use the date range, supplier, and category filters to review the costs you have recorded, then export the report to CSV when needed.

Profit and Loss compares the pre-tax value of finalised invoices, including their adjustments, with the pre-tax value of finalised expenses. Income follows the invoice date; costs follow the expense date. Paid and unpaid documents both count, so the report reflects recorded income and costs rather than money moving through your bank account.

For a simple example, suppose all amounts below are in the same currency, exclude tax, and fall in the same reporting period:

Recorded item	Amount
Your services on a finalised invoice	$800
A supplier cost added to that invoice	$120
Total invoiced income	$920
The finalised supplier expense	$120
Profit before other recorded costs	$800

Passing the $120 cost through to the client increases both income and expenses. The resulting profit is $800 before any other costs in that period.

Client and project views include expense lines you have added to invoices, using the project you chose on each invoice line. General business costs remain part of the overall view.

Currency also matters. DoubleTime keeps the recorded currencies and avoids presenting a combined monetary total where that would add different currencies together. It does not automatically convert them into one reporting currency.

Where to get started

Expenses are useful for costs you absorb as well as costs a client reimburses. Record both, then choose the recoverable lines when preparing the client's invoice.

Expense management, Google Drive attachment linking, adding expenses to invoices, and the Expenses and Profit and Loss reports are included in Pro. Existing expense records remain readable if a subscription lapses.

Existing receipt downloads remain available while the Google connection and files are accessible. You can remove attachment links or reconnect the original Google account without Pro, but adding or re-adding links requires an active subscription.

Start with the next supplier bill or receipt you need to keep. Record the cost, check the details, and decide whether it belongs on a client's invoice.

You can compare Core and Pro, or read how DoubleTime works before you begin.