Working with a General Retainer

In this article:

• Enabling the General Retainer Function
• Receiving Funds into the General Retainer
• Paying Bills Using General Retainer Funds
• Transferring Funds Between General Retainers
• Refunding General Retainers
• Replenishing the General Retainer

Many firms require the ability to receive client funds prior to starting work (in the operating account in addition to the Trust Account). Actionstep’s General Retainer functionality makes receiving funds, paying invoices, transferring funds between matters, and refunding retainers simple yet customizable to suit the specific needs of your firm. 

Enabling the General Retainer Function

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

To enable the general retainer in Admin settings:

1. In Actionstep, 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 Actionstep will use to process your general retainers. The default chart of accounts in Actionstep 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) 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) or Manual (manually enter payment information from the retainer as you 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.

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

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, 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. 

Receiving Funds into the General Retainer

When you receive client payments, you can allocate them to be saved in the general retainer.

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, click the global Create button and choose Client Receipt from the Billing section. The New Client Receipt window appears.
2. Complete the fields. (See Processing Client Payments for help with individual fields.)
3. Optionally, if the matter includes invoices that require payment, you can enter the Pay amount for each invoice in the table.
   
   If the amount being received exceeds the amount that is allocated to invoices (or if you don't want to allocate any of the funds to a specific invoice), an information box prompts you to choose what you would like to do with the unallocated funds you are receiving.

4. Leave Apply as a general retainer selected for this field. 

5. Click Save to save the client receipt. Any amounts to allocated to the general retainer can now be viewed by clicking the General retainer link in the left-side menu.

Paying Bills Using General Retainer Funds

Funds held in the General Retainer on a matter can be used to pay invoices for that matter.

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, click the global Create button and choose Pay Invoice from the Retainers section. The New Retainer Invoice Payment window appears.
2. Click the Matter drop-down list and choose the matter you want to pay. 
3. Review the Available funds and enter the Amount to apply .
4. Complete any other fields as needed. 
5. Click Save to save the payment.

Transferring Funds Between General Retainers

Funds held in a general retainer can be transferred between matters to pay other bills for matters for the same client.

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, click the global Create button and choose Transfer from the Retainers section. The Transfer Retainer window appears.
2. Click the From matter drop-down list and choose the original matter. 
3. Enter the Transfer amount. 
4. In the Transfer to table, select the matter to which you’d like to transfer the funds. To distribute funds between multiple matters, click +Add row and select additional matters.
5. Click Save to apply the transfer.