Definition: A time ticket or time card is the document used to record the amount of hours an employee worked during a pay period. Time tickets come in all different shapes and sizes. Traditional time tickets are physical cards that are stamped with starting and ending times of employees work days. Remember when Fred Flinstone punched in and out when he went to work? This is the same concept.
What Does Time Ticket Mean?
After the pay period is over, the bookkeeper or payroll accountant takes to time tickets, inspects them for errors or fraudulent entries, and enters them into the payroll and accounting system. The time cards are then stored in the payroll records.
These physical cards act as a record of employee hours worked and more importantly an internal control. Employees can’t lie about their hours worked or alter work records because time tickets will only be accepted if they are stamped with the official time clock stamp. Since time tickets also require another employee to input the employee work hours, time tickets act as another internal control.
Example
The disadvantage to these traditional time tickets is that they are inefficient. One employee has to punch the time and another employee must enter the time into the payroll system. This problem is corrected with modern payroll systems.
In modern payroll systems, employees can sign into a computer system that enters the employee’s time directly into the accounting and payroll system. This eliminates the dual entry of traditional systems while providing same level internal controls.
Time tickets can also be used to keep track of hours worked on specific jobs.
