3 Reasons To Use Time Tracking and Billing Software Instead of Excel

Oct 1, 2026

Explains why legal professionals should stop using Excel templates for time tracking and billing and switch to specialized software. Highlights lost billable time when recording late, and the high risk of leakage and overbilling. Argues Excel creates inconsistent workflows across spreadsheet tools and can break through uploading or conversions. Also describes dangers from internal meddling, template customization, and difficult compliance, emphasizing that good software supports help, feedback, rights management, and compliance to protect firm productivity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

Reason #1: Inconsistent skill sets

Excel vs other spreadsheet tools

Risks when sharing or converting spreadsheets

Reason #2: Meddling, customization and updates

Template upgrades by power users

Future updates and productivity impact

Features of good time tracking and billing software

Approachable interface

Support and knowledgebase

Feedback and evolution

Compliance and reduced non-billable work

3 Reasons To Use Time Tracking and Billing Software Instead of Excel excel-time-tracking-min It feels like everybody uses Excel for time tracking. Okay, maybe not everyone, but definitely the majority. Most legal professionals use Excel to track their time. It’s an industry standard. There are Excel templates everywhere. Why use anything else? This rationale makes sense. Most legal professionals are already using it. It’s cheap, free and widely available. Why go out of your way to work with something different? Time tracking with Excel makes it easy to lose But that’s not what you do. You’re paid to win. Your clients, your firm and peers – they all expect you to win. Your firm expects revenue in the form of billables. Your clients expect you to perform, to produce results. Excel makes that difficult. In my previous post, I showed how Excel costs firms an estimated $86,294 to $106,294 per person, per year. This figure doesn’t even include the financial fallout from leakage/overbilling. Remember those figures? You lose 10% of billable time if you record time the day of, once a day You lose 25% if you wait 24 hours to record your time You lose 50% if you wait one week Here’s the horrifying part about all of this. These are conservative estimates. That’s right. As a system, Excel is dysfunctional. It’s not just our bias talking here. It’s a simple fact that extends to all Excel users, regardless of industry or experience. What does this mean for you? If you’re looking to optimize and grow your firm Excel makes it harder. Does this mean you should use something else instead? Absolutely. In fact, I’m suggesting that you rely on specialized software. Here’s why. Reason \#1: Inconsistent skill sets Excel has a steep learning curve. If you know what you’re doing Excel can be simple, straightforward and powerful. If you don’t know what you’re doing it’s incredibly easy to make a mess. Here’s the subtle problem. Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice, Zoho Sheets and Numbers – they all do things a bit differently. Sometimes these differences are minor sometimes they’re major. Sometimes they’re incompatible. The impact on your record keeping could be subtle or significant. It all depends on the spreadsheet you’re using. You’re essentially rolling the dice. But it doesn’t feel that way… Right? What if associates upload/convert your Excel spreadsheet to Google Sheets and something breaks? What if they download and share their broken spreadsheet – as the original copy? This sounds bizarre . And it is until you realize these subtle (and frankly ridiculous) problems have cost you money. When that happens, it’s no longer a laughing matter. Good software compensates for this. Your software should: Be approachable. Novice, intermediate and advanced users should be able to perform simple and routine tasks quickly. With a bit of training, users should be able to perform their day-to-day tasks efficiently. Come with support . Users should have direct access to additional help via email or phone. They should have access to a searchable knowledgebase that gives them instant answers to routine or common questions. Encourage feedback. Your time tracking and billing software should grow with your firm. Ideally, your software should evolve over time, adapting to legal and industry changes. Facilitate compliance. Are you LEDES compliant? Maybe your clients require that you use ABA codes? Good software makes it easy to maintain compliance. If you’re relying on spreadsheets this requires additional work. Additional non-billable work = less billable time. This is easy to ignore. These problems are so subtle, so common they feel downright ridiculous. Which is why they’re ignored. So most firms lose money. They lose a significant amount of money unnecessarily due to simple, yet correctable mistakes like these. Reason \#2: Meddling, customization and updates Le

FAQs

Why does recording time later in Excel lead to lost billables?

The document states that firms can lose 10% of billable time if time is recorded the day of, 25% if recorded after 24 hours, and 50% if recorded a week later.

What problem does the document describe about using Excel across different spreadsheet tools?

It explains that Google Sheets, other Excel variants, and similar tools handle features differently, which can make records subtly or significantly inconsistent, especially after upload or conversion.

How can internal customization of shared Excel templates hurt a firm?

It warns that upgrading templates with advanced formulas, macros, or scripts can break usability for others, increase the chance of errors or lost data, and create ongoing productivity problems when templates need updating.

Oct 1, 2026

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