A retainer subscription bills a customer in advance for ongoing work, such as monthly consulting or support. On a schedule, Avaza creates a retainer invoice that asks for the agreed amount. When the customer pays it, the payment is held as retainer credit. You then apply that credit to your regular invoices for the time, expenses and fixed fees you actually deliver.
You get paid up front, and the customer knows exactly what they commit to each period. Only Administrators and Finance Managers can see and manage retainers.
Set up retainers
- Switch the module on: in Settings › General, under Enabled/Disabled Modules, turn on Retainer Invoices. Retainer Subscriptions then appears under Invoices.
- In Settings › Invoice & Bill Settings, check these:
- Retainer Prefix, in the Sales area: it starts the number of every retainer invoice.
- Recurring/Retainer Invoice Send Time: when new retainer invoices are created. It's shared with recurring invoices.
- A default retainer template: open a template under Invoice & Quote/Estimate Templates, tick Set as Default Retainer template. and save. New customers get this template. To use another one for a customer, change the Retainer Template in their company details.
Create a subscription
Go to Invoices › Retainer Subscriptions and click Create.
Choose the Customer, or click Add new customer, then click Create.
Enter a Profile Name, such as "Fernleaf Media – Monthly Marketing Retainer" or "Bluegum Architects – Quarterly Design Retainer". Customers see it on their retainer statement and on invoices that use the credit.
Set Repeat every (days or months), the Start Date (today or later) and the Number of Invoices, or tick Never expires.
Tick Automatically Send Invoices and choose who to Send to, or leave it unticked to get drafts to review. Tick Enable Autocharge to charge a saved payment method: see Auto Charge. On the Free plan, both are greyed out.
Under Invoice Item Details, enter the retainer amount with its tax and any discount, and add Notes. The other fields and the smart tags for dates work as on a recurring invoice.
Click Save Retainer. The subscription page opens.
A retainer subscription doesn't add unbilled time or expenses. You bill the work on regular invoices and pay them with the credit.
Manage a subscription
- Stop Retainer Subscription pauses it, and Resume Retainer Subscription restarts it.
- Edit changes it for future retainer invoices.
- Statement downloads the retainer statement (see below).
- Delete only works while the subscription has no retainer invoices. After that, stop it instead.
- Associated Invoices opens Created Retainer Invoices: each retainer invoice with its status, amount, Paid Amount, Drawn Amount, the Drawn Invoices that used the credit, and a Draw Status of Open (credit left), Closed (used up, or nothing paid yet) or Expired.
Invoices › Retainer Subscriptions lists every subscription with its status (Active, Stopped or Expired), frequency, amount and next invoice date. Scheduling, sending and the emails you get when an invoice can't be created all work as for recurring invoices.
Retainer invoices and credit
Retainer invoices are on the Invoices page too, with a RET tag next to the number, and their totals are shown separately under the list. To find them, search for your retainer prefix, or open them from Associated Invoices. They go through the same statuses as regular invoices and have the same actions. A retainer invoice has a Retainer tag next to its number, and a link to its Retainer Subscription.
Credit only exists once a payment is applied to the retainer invoice, whether you record it, the customer pays online, or Auto Charge takes it. The Retainer Invoice Details panel at the bottom shows:
- Retainer Credit: the payments applied to this retainer invoice.
- Drawn by: each regular invoice that used the credit, and how much.
- Expired Credit: unused credit you expired.
- Available Credit: what's left to use. It's zero once the credit has expired.
Apply retainer credit to an invoice
When a customer has credit, their regular invoices show "This customer has available Retainer Credit".
Open the regular invoice and choose Actions › Apply Retainer Credit.
Allocate Retainer Credit to Invoice lists this customer's retainer payments that still have credit, with the retainer invoice each one paid. Enter the Amount to Allocate and click Apply Payment.
If the invoice still has a balance, send it to the customer for the rest. Its PDF and web view show the retainer credit that was applied.
To undo it, click remove next to the credit on the invoice. You can't remove it once that retainer credit has expired. And while credit from a payment is drawn, you can't delete that payment from the retainer invoice.
Expire unused credit
Depending on your terms, you can expire credit that hasn't been used after a certain time. Open the fully paid retainer invoice, choose Actions › Expire Retainer Credit, enter an Expiry Date after its latest payment, and click Expire Credit. The available credit drops to zero and the retainer invoice is marked expired, in the panel, in Created Retainer Invoices and on the statement.
Changed your mind? Choose Actions › Restore Expired Retainer Credit and click Restore Credit.
Send a retainer statement
Click Statement on the subscription page to download a PDF you can share with the customer. It lists the subscription's transactions by date, with a running balance:
- Retainer Invoice: a request for payment, so the balance doesn't change.
- Payment Applied: a payment received, which adds credit to the balance.
- Retainer Drawn: credit used by a regular invoice, which reduces the balance.
- Retainer Expired: unused credit you expired, which also reduces it.
A positive balance is money the customer has paid in advance and not used yet.
Retainers in your accounts
Retainer invoices aren't copied to Xero or QuickBooks Online. Until the credit is used, the money is a liability, and copying it would count the income twice. Regular invoices that draw on a retainer are copied as usual, but the retainer credit applied to them isn't sent as a payment, so Xero shows that part as still owing. Record it there to match. See the Xero integration. For the same reason, the Revenue by Month report doesn't count retainer invoices.
Recurring invoice or retainer?
Recurring invoice | Retainer subscription | |
|---|---|---|
Bills for | The services or products of each period | An agreed amount, paid in advance |
Payment | After the work is delivered | Before the work starts |
What the invoice lists | What was delivered, plus unbilled time and expenses if you like | Only the retainer amount |
Cash flow | Predictable, but payments can be late | Paid up front |
Flexibility | Fixed services on a fixed schedule | The credit can pay for any work |
To track the work done against a monthly retainer in a project, see tracking a monthly retainer. For one-off deposits, see collecting advance payments.