Is it fair to ask for billing reports?

The answer is "yes" with one caveat... be ready to learn how many hours were spent due to your internal process (read: inefficient).

It's the responsibility of anyone who bills hourly to be diligent in tracking their time. The reality is that 95% of companies bill properly. The other 5% gives our industry a black eye. Over billing has a tendency to work itself out in one of two ways:

1. You get fired
2. You end up "washing" the hours out in the next billing

Either way it makes it uncomfortable for both sides and will lead to a negative result.

Here's the caveat I mentioned... be careful what you ask for.

Clients are always shocked how long things take to get done. In many cases, they play a major role in the issue. Having inefficient systems, poorly trained staff and a lack of resources (money, staff, focus, etc...) leads to "hour burn", scope creep and missed deadlines. Outsourced resources and consultants are at the mercy of the team/ resources granted to them to execute the projects/programs.

Here's the "be careful what you ask for..."

90% of the time I'm asked to produce an hours report, I find that I have not billed all of the hours associated with the program and end up sending an overage bill. So the effort to "keep me honest", backfires.

Remember that the folks you trust to help you are not there to cheat you. If you feel uncomfortable with how your hours are being spent, have a conversation with your consultant before you ask for an hours report. The request before the conversation could be interpreted as you calling them a liar or a cheat.