Whats the difference between a retainer and an advance billing?
An advance billing is limited to a particular job ticket, is based on that job’s estimate, and is applied only to that job’s billings. A retainer is much more flexible as it can be applied to any A/R invoice created for a client regardless of the job number, as well as a client’s miscellaneous or finance charge billings. The only limitation is the retainer is applied to only the client for whom the retainer was created. Both advances and retainers are treated as a liability, not income; this means they appear on your Balance Sheet as a short-term debt to a client (because you’ll potentially have to give the money back if the job is canceled).
