Blog
Introducing Expense Tracking in DoubleTime
5 min read
TL;DR: DoubleTime Pro now lets you record supplier expenses, keep receipts with each record, and add agreed costs to client invoices. 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 attach the receipt or supplier invoice, 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 attached to both draft and finalised expenses, so supporting paperwork can be added later.
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
The Copy expense attachments to the invoice option copies the expense's attachments to the invoice. Use it when the client needs supporting documents, and review the invoice attachments before sending.
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.
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, 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.
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.

