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Managing Client Retainers

I am looking for suggestions/ways others manage client retainers. We seem to spend a lot of time outside C&P keeping track of the actual use by the client. Each month we calculate what the client has used for that month manually according to their agreement and then apply the retainer to those jobs we decide on. Frequently, the client is over in the time allotted to the retainer work. Of course, being under on time presents a tracking issue also. As you know, C&P applies the retainer to the oldest time on the job not necessarily the month we are billing. Thus, looking at reports in the system never quite gives a true picture of where the client stands as to retainer use. We keep a spreadsheet to track the overage and underage (true hours) of the retainer but seems there should be a way to do this in C&P.

Ellen C. Freireich
Barry Group, Inc.

We follow the same procedure you have mentioned. Only difference is we do it on a quarterly basis.

Johnson Paul
CML Canada

Long before C&P, we kept an Excel worksheet which shows payments, payment dates, jobs billed against the retainer (including job #), amounts billed and the balance. I haven't found a retainer report in C&P that will give all of this information. I do reconcile to the retainer balance in C&P-nothing more than comparing the balance on my Excel worksheet to the balance shown in C&P. The C&P balance shows all retainers billed in the balance, so if all retainers have not been paid, I deduct those amounts from the C&P balance to reconcile to my worksheet. If there is a way in C&P to show all the necessary information, I'd also like to know.

Nell Stewart
Tillman Allen Greer Marketing & Communications

I have never used the retainer function in C&P. What works very well for me is to set up a job called "**Client Name**-Holding fund" which I use to invoice the initial retainer. It is not G/L coded as income, but to an advance billing balance sheet account. Then we set up, and charge time & costs to jobs for the piecework for the client. Business as usual. Then when each job is ready to close, we use the Multi-Job Billing Invoice function to debit the piecework job for all time & materials (this is where income is recognized), and then "credit" the holding fund job for the advance billing (this is where the balance sheet is relieved of the liability portion). I haven't had to keep auxiliary spreadsheets! I can review the holding fund job 'at-a-glance' to see where we are. And I can pull reporting on the job to see where we applied the retainer. It has worked like a charm for me. Hope I described the process well enough to understand...

Roxanne Cowan
Rutherford Bolen Group Integrated Marketing

It would be helpful to see example of the analysis you're looking for. Anything that shows the rows, columns, and subtotals would help me clearly see what should be on the report. (I'll keep any information confidential.) You can fax it to my attention at (760) 945-2365.

Mark Robillard
Developer, Clients & Profits