Service Types Overview

Service Types help you organize the work your firm does and control how it’s billed.

Examples:

• Accounting
• Tax Preparation
• Bookkeeping
• Consulting

They help you:

1. Organize work across jobs and time entries
2. Set default billing rates for each type of work
3. Apply client-specific rate overrides when needed

Why Service Types Matter

Service Types sit between your work and your billing.

They determine:

• How work is categorized in reports
• Which hourly rate is applied to time entries
• How WIP and realization are calculated

Where to Set Up Service Types

Go to:

Settings > Service Types

From here you can:

• Add a new service type with a name and default hourly rate
• Edit the name or default rate
• Delete a service type you no longer need
• Set client-specific rate overrides

If you use QuickBooks Online, you can also import service types from QBO. See the Importing from QuickBooks Online section below.

Integration with QuickBooks Online

Importing from QuickBooks Online

If QuickBooks Online is connected, you can import your existing QBO Service Items into TidyFlow as Service Types.

To import:

1. Go to Account > Integrations > QuickBooks Online
2. Open the Services tab
3. Select the QBO services you want to import
4. Click Import

What gets imported:

• The Name from the QBO Service Item
• The Default rate from the QBO unit price

Important notes:

• Already imported services are greyed out to prevent duplicates
• The import is a one-time manual action, not an ongoing sync
• Changes made in QuickBooks after the import will not automatically update in TidyFlow
• Changes made in TidyFlow will not sync back to QuickBooks

There is no automatic real-time linking between Service Types and QBO Service Items.

How Service Types Map to QBO on Invoices

When you create an invoice in TidyFlow and sync it to QuickBooks Online:

• Each invoice line is mapped to a QBO Service Item
• If the Service Type was originally imported from QBO, it maps to the matching QBO item
• If no mapping exists, TidyFlow uses your configured default QBO item

There is no separate interface to manually link existing Service Types to QBO items after import. If alignment is important, the recommended approach is to import from QBO first and use those imported Service Types going forward.

Where Service Types Are Used

1. Jobs

Each job can have a Service Type assigned.

When time is logged against that job, the Service Type automatically carries over to the time entry. This keeps reporting and billing consistent.

2. Time Logging

When logging time:

• There is a Service Type dropdown
• If a job is selected and it has a Service Type, it auto-fills
• You can manually change it if needed

3. Billing and WIP

Service Types determine the hourly rate applied to time entries.

The rate is calculated in this order:

1. Client custom rate (if set for that client + service type)
2. Default service type rate (if no custom rate exists)

You can filter unbilled time by Service Type when reviewing WIP.

4. Reports

Service Types appear in:

• Time Summary
• Time Entries
• Realization reports

You can:

• Filter by Service Type
• Group by Service Type

This helps you see how time and revenue break down across different types of work.

Client-Specific Rate Overrides

On each client’s detail page, there is a Service Type Rates section.

From there you can:

• See all service types and their default rates
• Set a custom rate for that specific client
• Bulk edit all rates for the client
• View the Effective Rate, which shows the rate that will actually be used

This is useful if:

• A client pays premium rates
• A long-term client has discounted pricing
• You charge different rates depending on the type of work

Service Types vs Tags

Both Service Types and Tags can categorize work, but they serve different purposes.

Use Service Types when:

• You want to control billing rates
• You want reporting by type of service
• You want client-specific rate overrides
• The category affects revenue

Service Types directly impact billing and WIP.

Use Tags when:

• You want flexible labeling
• The category does not affect billing
• You want to filter or group work in a different way

Tags are for organization only. They do not change rates.

Example Setup

In this example:

• Client A pays a premium for Tax Preparation
• Client B receives a discounted Bookkeeping rate
• All other rates use the default