My Company is requesting 'questionable' timesheeting practices

I work at a consultancy (UK based). As such I fill out timesheets allocating where I have done work for the customer. Recently we have been asked to allocate more time to the customer than we had previously been doing. This has some with several justifications: Time spent on 1-to-1's is just an overhead of running a consultancy so it is the cost of doing business - therefore bill it Similarly, all hands meetings / town hall meetings are another overhead - therefore bill it Social "coffee mornings" increase the happiness of the team and so also the value to the customer - therefore bill it Learning time improves the quality of the services that we can offer and increases value to the customer - therefore bill it I am uncomfortable assigning all of these hours to billable time (for many reasons, including opinion-based reasons that are not on topic, and where I need to see if I can square-the-circle), but specifically I want to ask: Is this fraud? And can I personally get in trouble for filling out timesheets in a way I would consider dishonest?

Jan 15, 2025 - 10:27
 0
My Company is requesting 'questionable' timesheeting practices

I work at a consultancy (UK based). As such I fill out timesheets allocating where I have done work for the customer. Recently we have been asked to allocate more time to the customer than we had previously been doing. This has some with several justifications:

  • Time spent on 1-to-1's is just an overhead of running a consultancy so it is the cost of doing business - therefore bill it
  • Similarly, all hands meetings / town hall meetings are another overhead - therefore bill it
  • Social "coffee mornings" increase the happiness of the team and so also the value to the customer - therefore bill it
  • Learning time improves the quality of the services that we can offer and increases value to the customer - therefore bill it

I am uncomfortable assigning all of these hours to billable time (for many reasons, including opinion-based reasons that are not on topic, and where I need to see if I can square-the-circle), but specifically I want to ask:

Is this fraud? And can I personally get in trouble for filling out timesheets in a way I would consider dishonest?

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