I have a situation where I need to send out an invoice for retainers/prepayments. Then deposit those retainers/prepayments in my corporate checking account. And bill off that retainer/prepayment for time and reimbursable expenses (i.e., keep track of the amounts billed so that I can go back to the client when it runs out). How can I do that in AccountEdge 2008 on the Mac?

I used to be able to find Answer ID #55 on the MYOB KB site that would give me the information on how to start the process but that MYOB KB Answer ID no longer exists (and yes, I've spoken to MYOB tech support and *THEY* can't find it either).

You can find what is left of the Knowledge Base by logging into your account on the MYOB.com (if you have one.) If not go to the MYOB (US) website and click on "Order Status" on the right under "Store".
On that next page you can click on the Knowledge Base link in the grey bar. It is not organized or numbered like the old FAQ used to be.

You may want to use "Jobs" to track the balances of those clients.


Dan

Unfortunately, I've tried going there but haven't been able to find the article again. And with the articles no longer numbered the way they were, I can't tell if the original article #55 has been withdrawn or just renumbered. Of course, finding it again is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Can you receive a negative amount through a zero invoice and attribute it to a job so that all future charges in that job will deduct off it?

(Corrected mistake)

This is what I do and it works well:

1. Create a liability account called "Customer Deposits".
2. Create an Activity called "Retainer" and set the 'Income Account' for this activity to 'Customer Deposits' (liability account).
3. Also create an Activity Account called "Retainer not used" and set the 'Income Account' for this activity to 'Sales or Fees' or whatever your primary sales account is.

When you first create the retainer on an invoice (i.e. at the beginning of the month):
1. Create a line item for the retainer amount and set the unit to 1 and the activity to "Retainer". This creates a liability on your accounts.

When adjusting for the retainer on the next invoice (i.e. at the end of the month):
1. Enter the sales you would normally bill for the month.
2. Create a line item for the retainer amount and set the activity to 'retainer', the unit to -1, and the amount equal to the original retainer amount. This takes the retainer amount out of your liability account and subtracts the amount from the invoice (against the sales amount).
3. If they did not use the entire retainer (and your agreement is that they forfeit the retainer if they don't use it), create a third line item and set the activity to 'Retainer not used', the unit to 1 and the amount equal to the difference between the sales amount and the retainer amount. This will move any amount left over from the retainer into your sales register and create a zero balance.
4. If they did not use the entire retainer (and your agreement is that they do not forfeit the amount) then you can continue billing against this deposit on future invoices.

Of course, if you bill for a retainer every month then you will be creating a retainer and clearing the previous retainer on the same invoice. Which should look something like this:


Activity......Notes...........Hrs/Units...Amount
------------------------------------------------
Support.......Work............50(@20/h)...1000
Retainer......Retainer-Apr....-1.........-1500
R. not used...Retain.NU-Apr....1...........500
Retainer......Retainer-Jun.....1..........1500
------------------------------------------------
Total.....................................1500

Hope this helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: salguod,

quote:

1. Create a liability account called "Customer Deposits".
2. Create an Activity called "Retainer" and set the 'Income Account' for this activity to 'Customer Deposits' (liability account).
.
.
.
1. Create a line item for the retainer amount and set the unit to 1 and the activity to "Customer Deposits". This creates a liability on your accounts.

But you just said that "Customer Deposits" is a liability account and not an activity. Should the activity be "Retainer" instead?

quote:

When adjusting for the retainer on an invoice (i.e. at the end of the month):
1. Enter the sales you would normally bill for the month.

So I reuse/modify the same invoice that I already sent out in your preceding paragraph? And with this, I can't use the "Prepare Time Billing Invoice" button (I'm a consultant who does time billing) to convert my Activity Slips into an invoice? How does one then reconcile the matching Activity Slips with the now modified outgoing invoice? While the double-entry seems to work, it seems to break AccountEdge's ability to convert Activity Slips into invoices (a great time saver for me since I use the case notes in the Activity Slips in each line item description so the client knows exactly what I did--it's not just a bland "For Services Rendered" description).

Or am I missing something?

quote:

But you just said that "Customer Deposits" is a liability account and not an activity. Should the activity be "Retainer" instead?

Yes. You are right. My mistake. You should set the activity to "retainer" which is linked to the liability account called "customer deposits".

quote:

So I reuse/modify the same invoice that I already sent out in your preceding paragraph? And with this, I can't use the "Prepare Time Billing Invoice" button

No. First you invoice the retainer. Then at the end of the month on a separate invoice you reconcile the retainer with the client.

What I was trying to explain is that if you invoice for a retainer every month, then the invoice that you send at the end of the month will be for last months activities minus the retainer for last month (that you have already invoiced them for) plus the retainer for the next month.

I am a consultant as well. And it works perfectly with activity slips/prepare time billing invoice. First I create an invoice using "Prepare time billing invoice" selecting the client , job(s), and activities. Then underneath the time billing line items I create a header line item called 'Adjustments' (just to separate the retainer adjustments from the activity line items), then I enter the retainer info line items. First the negative retainer entry from last month, then the unused portion (if any) which they forfeit and I keep as income, then the new retainer for next month.

Underneath all of those I also add a header line item called "reimbursable expenses" followed by the reimbursable expense line items. As the retainer counts against my time only, this allows me to first reconcile the activity/retainer and then add on any reimbursable expenses.

The basic idea is that when you bill someone for a retainer, you essentially 'owe' them work so it is a liability until you a) use it against billable time, b) charge it off as income if unused, or c) return the unused amount to the client.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: salguod,