Help Center

Setting Up General Retainers

Note: General retainers are typically supported for U.S. firms only.

Many firms require the ability to receive client funds prior to starting work (in the operating account in addition to the trust account). The general retainer functionality in Actionstep Practice Management makes receiving funds, paying invoices, transferring funds between matters, and refunding retainers simple yet customizable to suit the specific needs of your firm.

NOTES: 
• General retainers do not work with the QuickBooks Online or Xero integrations.
• If you set up a general retainer and then attempt to connect to QuickBooks, the connection will not work.

 

Enabling System-Wide General Retainers (Admin)

To use general retainers, an admin must first enable them in your Practice Management system. This is done in both Admin settings and for the individual matter.

 

To enable the general retainer in Admin settings:

  1. In Practice Management, go to Admin > Billing. The Billing page appears.
  2. In the General retainer section, toggle Enable to on.
  3. Review the following fields:
    • Liability account: Shows the account in your general ledger that Practice Management will use to process your general retainers. The default chart of accounts will come with a General Retainer Liability account for you to map to.
    • To pay: If you have funds in a general retainer for a matter, they will be applied to any New Charges that you create (i.e., new bills or invoices) for that matter.
  4. Click the Payment automation drop-down list and choose how you want to pay invoices: 
    • Automatic: Invoices are paid automatically as you create them from any available funds in the general retainer
    • Manual: Users must manually enter payment information from the retainer as they produce a bill.
  5. Click Save to save your changes.

See Configuring Your Billing Settings (Admin) for additional instructions on setting up your billing strategy.

Tip: When you enable general retainers in your system, you will see a new Retainers section added to the global Create menu. This section will provide options for common retainer-related tasks.

 

Enabling a General Retainer for a Specific Matter

You also need to enable the general retainer for the specific matter.

 

To do this:

  1. In Practice Management, view the matter you want to enable the general retainer for. (See Editing a Matter for help.)
  2. Click the Billing menu icon. The Billing page appears.
  3. Click Matter billing options on the left-side menu.
  4. In the General retainers section, toggle Enable to on.
  5. Choose your options from the To pay and Payment automation fields.

 

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