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Retainer style Invoicing.

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Mike Juras

02 Jul, 2013 03:47 PM

I have a retainer with a customer and I've created an item style invoice for the retainer amount. Now I have hours that I need to mark as invoiced. I'm sure I'm doing something incorrectly? Help! Thanks, Mike

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Seth B on 02 Jul, 2013 09:06 PM

   

   Hey Mike,

   Working with retainers / deposits is outlined in this help article:

   http://help.cashboardapp.com/kb/accepting-payments/working-with-dep...

   To mark hours as "invoiced" they'd need to be marked billable (in the project or timesheet), then imported onto an invoice. There's multiple ways to do this - but the easiest is simply to click the "Invoice" button next to the project on your Admin dashboard (in the table at the bottom of the screen) - or while viewing the project itself.

   After you read that help article let me know if you've got further questions on the deposit/retainer workflow.

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2. 2 Posted by Mike Juras on 03 Jul, 2013 03:52 PM

   

   Yeah, I figured I could create an invoice to mark them as invoiced, but don't those invoices alter the home screen billing summary? Won't they be seen as unpaid... forever? Or, if I mark them as paid, won't that effect my YTD balance?

   Since I didn't set this up as a deposit invoice from the start, I just set up a test project to see how it works. I get it. But what if my hours exceeds the retainer? Is there a way to mark those hours as "invoiced" without effecting my YTD balance?

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Seth B on 03 Jul, 2013 07:17 PM

   

   Yeah, I figured I could create an invoice to mark them as invoiced, but don't those invoices alter the home screen billing summary? Won't they be seen as unpaid... forever? Or, if I mark them as paid, won't that effect my YTD balance?

   Any payments you apply to a Deposit Invoice (what I think you're talking about here) are still available to be applied to a Real Invoice.

   But what if my hours exceeds the retainer? Is there a way to mark those hours as "invoiced" without effecting my YTD balance?

   Then usually you invoice, import those time entries, apply your retainer, and send the invoice for the remainder to your client.

   That's how most customers work.

   If you choose that you'd like to cover those extra hours, you can offset their price by adding a line item to your invoice and use a negative number in the "flat fee" box to essentially give your client those hours for free.

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