With a retainer you agree on an amount per period. The work you do in that period is deducted from that budget; what remains or falls short rolls over to the next period.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Monthly fee | The agreed amount for this period. |
| Rollover | The balance that goes to the next period. Positive: less was done than agreed. Negative: more was done (overservicing). |
| In fee | Work and costs that fall within the agreed amount. |
| Additional | Work and costs that are invoiced separately and therefore do not affect the balance. |
| Initial rollover | An opening balance for the very first period of a series, for example when taking over from another system. |
Balance correction
Sometimes the balance changes without any work behind it: a customer pays an extra invoice in the meantime, or a credit note goes out. That is what Correct balance in the edit view of the report is for.
| Field | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Amount | Positive improves the balance (something was invoiced separately), negative worsens it. |
| Type | Why you are correcting, for example an extra invoice or a credit note. |
| Reason | Required. You will read this text back later in the year overview. |
| Reference | For example the invoice number the correction belongs to. |
The correction is attached to the period, not to a line on the report. If you discard the draft and generate it again, the correction is still there. You will see it back in the year overview and in the series overview, with the reason included. It does not appear on the customer PDF: that one never shows the retainer balance anyway.
Take care when comparing figures. The year overview calculates with the raw value of the logged hours, while the report calculates with the lines exactly as you have edited them (merged, hidden, rolled over). If you have edited a lot, those two numbers can diverge. The report is leading for what the customer receives.