Poll: How much time do you spend on administrative tasks (e.g. invoicing, recording project details)?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 21, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How much time do you spend on administrative tasks (e.g. invoicing, recording project details)?".

This poll was originally submitted by Paola Giardina. View the poll results »



 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:22
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
A couple of hours a month Jan 21, 2018

At most. I get large jobs, so I don't have much bookkeeping.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:22
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
A couple of hours a month Jan 21, 2018

Some of my invoices are sent out as PDFs together with the translation; these take no more than 5 minutes to prepare. For the remaining invoices, I always reserve the morning of the last day of the month, but they are prepared immediately after completing a job so that nothing is forgotten. I don’t do bookkeeping, but preparing the documents to be sent to the bookkeeper takes about one or two hours in the afternoon of the same day. Filing and recording project details are everyday tasks. All t... See more
Some of my invoices are sent out as PDFs together with the translation; these take no more than 5 minutes to prepare. For the remaining invoices, I always reserve the morning of the last day of the month, but they are prepared immediately after completing a job so that nothing is forgotten. I don’t do bookkeeping, but preparing the documents to be sent to the bookkeeper takes about one or two hours in the afternoon of the same day. Filing and recording project details are everyday tasks. All these administrative tasks are necessary and I like doing them, what I really hate is chasing payment: it’s just annoying, boring, disappointing, exhausting and time-consuming. It’s the most difficult administrative activity I have to do, though only occasionally, as a freelancer.Collapse


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:22
French to English
too much! Jan 21, 2018

I just loathe admin. I'd delegate, but it'd take as much time to explain as to do not to mention checking whether it's done.

 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:22
Czech to French
+ ...
Half a day to a day per month Jan 21, 2018

Monthly invoicing, VAT declaration, closing my accounts, listing late payments and nudging the clients concerned... takes about that long, depending on the number of invoices and the clients concerned (some have specific requirements/invoicing procedures). There is also posting payments from online banking into my accounting - I do this in the course of the month, when I need a break from translating. I no longer write offers to new prospects or register with new agencies, which can be very time... See more
Monthly invoicing, VAT declaration, closing my accounts, listing late payments and nudging the clients concerned... takes about that long, depending on the number of invoices and the clients concerned (some have specific requirements/invoicing procedures). There is also posting payments from online banking into my accounting - I do this in the course of the month, when I need a break from translating. I no longer write offers to new prospects or register with new agencies, which can be very time-consuming.Collapse


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:22
English to Italian
I don't know Jan 21, 2018

I mean, there are months when I have to prepare a lot of stuff for my accountant, the months I work for more clients and others I work for fewer clients, and some of them prefer an invoice after each job, others at the end of the month...
So it is really difficult to say the time I spend on these tasks, because it changes every month.

[Edited at 2018-01-21 15:23 GMT]


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:22
English to Spanish
+ ...
They forgot something. Jan 21, 2018

I consider answering to these polls an administrative task, don't you?




 
Vanda Nissen
Vanda Nissen  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 19:22
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
A couple of hours per day? Jan 21, 2018

I was just wondering how many translation projects should one get in order to spend several hours per day on administrative tasks???

 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:22
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Other Jan 21, 2018

More or less 10 minutes per day,

 
Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 18:22
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Other Jan 22, 2018

As little as possible

I get several projects a month and don't accept piddly, little 0.5 page rush jobs. This slashes the amount of time you need to spend on 'administrative tasks.' Also, a lot of my clients have their own TMS and portals which speeds up acceptance of orders, downloading/uploading, and billing as well. So, the time spent on such tasks is minimized.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:22
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Organization Jan 22, 2018

I'm a very organized person and I like very much my statistics. So, among my administrative tasks, I include filling up all my statistical spreadsheets, cleaning up my TM's (removing all tags, useless segments, repetitions), TB's, making backups, in addition to the mentioned taks. So, about two hours a week.

 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Jared Tabor[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Poll: How much time do you spend on administrative tasks (e.g. invoicing, recording project details)?






Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »
CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »