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Glossary · Any country

What is a timesheet?

A timesheet is a record of the hours a person worked over a period — a day, a week or a pay period — usually broken down by day and sometimes by project or task. It is the document that turns attendance into pay: hours worked, leave and holidays, overtime, and unpaid time, approved by a manager before payroll uses it.

What a timesheet shows

A payroll timesheet lists, for each day of the period, the hours worked, leave taken, public holidays and absences, and totals them into the hours salary is paid on and the hours that are unpaid. A project timesheet splits the same hours by client or task, for billing and for knowing where the time went.

Attendance, time tracking and timesheets are related but not the same: attendance says when someone was at work, time tracking says what they worked on, and the timesheet is the approved summary that pay is calculated from. Attendance vs time tracking vs timesheets sets the three side by side.

Why the hours have to be right

Overtime rules make the record matter. Under the UAE Labour Law, normal hours are at most 8 a day or 48 a week, overtime is limited to two hours a day, and it is paid at a premium on the basic wage — none of which can be applied without knowing the hours. Approval is the control: a manager confirms the sheet, or sends it back with a note, before it reaches payroll.

Timesheets from AMS to Ledgr

AMS keeps personal and team timesheets with approvals. For payroll, Ledgr generates a pay-period timesheet from each member’s AMS hours, approved leave and the holidays in the period, and flags joiners, leavers, absences and attendance gaps. Reviewers approve it or ask for changes, and payroll runs on the approved sheet.

Related terms

All payroll and HR terms

Glossary · Timesheet

More questions about timesheet

Who approves a timesheet?

Usually the person’s manager, or a named reviewer with permission to approve timesheets. Approval confirms the hours before payroll or billing uses them; a reviewer who disagrees sends the sheet back with a note instead.

Is a timesheet the same as attendance?

No. Attendance records when someone clocked in and out. A timesheet summarises the hours for a period, including leave and holidays, and once approved it is what pay is calculated from.

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