A retainer from three offices ago
A client signed for a four-person office and paid a retainer equal to a set number of months' fees, as your standard agreement requires. Since then they moved to a six-person office, then an eight-person office, and their monthly fee doubled. Nobody asked for the retainer to be topped up. When they give notice, the operations manager finds that the retainer held is well below what the current agreement says it should be.
Another client, who left three months ago, emails to ask where their retainer is. The exit inspection has not been reviewed, the final invoice has an open query, and nobody has calculated the return.
Why retainers drift
- Retainers are taken at signing and recorded in the accounts, not against the agreement.
- Office changes and price increases do not trigger a top-up request.
- Companies that change name or merge are hard to match to old retainers.
- At move-out, the return depends on final invoices, inspections and any deductions, handled by different people.
- Nobody reconciles the retainer balance to active agreements.
What your agreements say about retainers is set by your agreements and your advisers. The problem is keeping the records in line with them.
What drifting retainers cost
You hold less security than your agreements intend for your larger clients. Returns to departing clients are slow, which damages the relationship at the moment they might recommend you. Retainers that should be applied to unpaid final invoices are not, or are applied without a clear statement. And at the year end, the accountant asks for a reconciliation nobody can produce quickly.
Unclaimed retainers are also awkward. A company that has dissolved or moved abroad still has money on your balance sheet, and without a record of attempts to return it, deciding what to do takes a lot of digging.
Retainers that have fallen behind also make renewals awkward. Asking a client for a larger retainer is easiest at the moment their agreement changes. Raising it two years later, as a correction, feels like an accusation.
The retainer register we build
- Each retainer is recorded against its agreement in your membership platform, with the amount, date received and the terms from your agreement.
- When an agreement changes, such as a new office or a price increase, the required retainer is recalculated under your terms, and a top-up request is drafted for the account owner to send.
- Retainers held are reconciled monthly against the balance in your accounts system and against active agreements, and differences are flagged.
- At move-out, the return statement is assembled: retainer held, final invoice, any outstanding charges, and any deductions from the exit inspection for your team to approve.
- Once approved, the return is paid and recorded, and the client receives the statement.
- Unreturned retainers for departed clients are listed with their history for follow-up.
| Event | What the register does |
|---|---|
| Signing | Records the retainer against the agreement |
| Office or price change | Calculates the new amount and drafts a top-up request |
| Month end | Reconciles to accounts and active agreements |
| Move-out | Prepares the return statement for approval |
| Return | Records payment and sends the statement |
What your team gets
Every retainer is tied to an agreement and kept in line with it. Top-ups are requested when changes happen, not discovered at move-out. Departing clients receive a clear statement and their return promptly after approval. And the year-end reconciliation is a report, not a project.
Account owners also see the retainer position during renewals and expansions, which is the natural time to adjust it.
Is this your retainer position?
- Retainers are not linked to agreements.
- Office moves and price rises do not trigger top-ups.
- Departing clients wait a long time for returns.
- Deductions are not clearly explained to clients.
- Nobody can reconcile retainers quickly at year end.