Clients / Prepaid & retainer balances
The parent folder holding one running ledger record per client who pays in advance. The active list stays short because closed retainers move to the client's own folder.
Client finance records
Client prepaid and retainer balance records
When a client pays you a retainer or buys a block of prepaid hours, the money sits as a credit you draw against as work gets delivered. Without a clear ledger, two questions get fuzzy fast: how much has this client actually used, and how much credit is left before they need to top up again. A prepaid balance record in Cash Workspace is a standing, per-client drawdown ledger. Each client gets one running record where you log every top-up that comes in, every amount drawn out as you deliver work, and the remaining balance after each line. It is the same shape whether you call it a retainer, a prepaid package, a deposit-on-account, or a block of hours. This page covers building and maintaining that drawdown ledger. It is not about logging the one-off incoming deposit event, and it is not the current-snapshot one-pager that summarizes a client's whole account at a glance.
The problem
Why a running balance is hard to keep straight
Retainer money moves in two directions over time, and the math only stays right if every movement lands in one place. The trouble starts when top-ups live in your email, the hours used live in a timesheet, and the leftover balance lives only in your head. A standing ledger fixes that by making the remaining balance a recorded line, not a calculation you redo from scratch every time a client asks.
- Top-ups and drawdowns get tracked in different places, so the remaining balance is never written down where you can find it.
- A client asks 'how many hours do I have left?' and you have to reconstruct it from invoices, emails, and memory.
- Work keeps getting delivered after the balance has quietly hit zero, and nobody notices until billing time.
- Multiple small drawdowns across a month blur together, so you cannot show the client exactly what their credit was spent on.
- A mid-engagement top-up gets forgotten, and the balance you quote is lower than what the client actually has on account.
How it works
Build and run a prepaid balance ledger
The ledger is one record per client that you append to over the life of the engagement. You add a line whenever money comes in or work is drawn out, and you carry the remaining balance forward each time. Cash Workspace does not sync with your bank or read your invoices, so every line is one you enter from the proof you already have on hand.
- 1
Create one prepaid record per client
Make a record named for the client and the arrangement, for example 'Northwind Studio - Retainer balance' or 'Acme Co - Prepaid hours'. This single record is the running ledger; you do not start a new one each month.
- 2
Log the opening top-up
When the first retainer or prepaid payment lands, add a line dated to the payment with the amount in, a short note (e.g. 'Q1 retainer'), and attach the proof such as the paid invoice or transfer confirmation. Set the remaining balance equal to that amount.
- 3
Draw down as work is delivered
Each time you deliver billable work against the balance, add a line with the amount out, the date, what it covered ('March design sprint, 12 hrs'), and recalculate the remaining balance on that line by subtracting from the prior balance.
- 4
Record every later top-up the same way
When a client replenishes the balance, add an amount-in line, attach the new payment proof, and add the top-up to the running balance so the credit reflects everything they have paid in.
- 5
Watch the remaining balance and flag low credit
Because the latest line always shows what is left, you can see at a glance when a balance is running low. Add a note or a 'low balance' marker so you remember to ask for a top-up before the next block of work.
- 6
Close the line when the balance reaches zero or the engagement ends
When credit is fully drawn or the retainer ends, add a closing note (balance to zero, refunded, or carried forward) and file the record in the client's folder so the full drawdown history stays retrievable.
Record structure
What to record on each ledger line
Each line in the ledger is a single movement of the balance, in or out. Keeping the same fields on every line is what makes the running balance trustworthy and the history easy to read back to a client.
- Date
- The date the top-up was received or the work was drawn down, so the ledger reads in chronological order.
- Direction (in / out)
- Whether this line adds credit (a top-up paid in) or uses it (work drawn out). This is the single most important field for keeping the balance correct.
- Amount
- The value of the movement, in money or in hours if you track a prepaid block by time. Pick one unit per ledger and stay consistent.
- Description
- A short note on what the line is: 'June retainer top-up', 'Homepage build, 8 hrs', 'discovery call'. This is what you read back when a client asks where their credit went.
- Remaining balance
- The carried-forward total after this line. This is the field that turns a list of movements into a usable drawdown ledger.
- Attached proof
- For top-ups, the paid invoice or payment confirmation; for drawdowns, the linked invoice, timesheet, or delivery note that justifies the amount used.
- Status note
- Optional flag such as 'low balance', 'top-up requested', 'closed', or 'carried to next quarter' so the record's state is obvious at a glance.
Example setup
An example layout
A simple, repeatable structure: one folder for prepaid and retainer clients, one running ledger record inside it per client. Here is how it might look for a small studio carrying a few retainer clients.
Northwind Studio - Retainer balance
Ledger lines: '+$6,000 Q1 retainer' (balance $6,000), '-$1,800 Jan content sprint' (balance $4,200), '-$2,400 Feb redesign' (balance $1,800), 'low balance - top-up requested'. Paid invoice attached to the top-up line.
Acme Co - Prepaid hours (40h block)
Tracked in hours: '+40h prepaid block purchased' (balance 40h), '-12h March build' (balance 28h), '-9h April revisions' (balance 19h). Timesheet attached to each drawdown line.
Bright Lane Consulting - Monthly retainer
Recurring top-ups: '+$2,000 May retainer', '-$2,000 May advisory hours' (balance $0), '+$2,000 June retainer' (balance $2,000). Shows a balance that resets monthly rather than depleting once.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes to avoid
- Starting a fresh record each month instead of appending to one running ledger, which breaks the carried-forward balance.
- Logging top-ups but not drawdowns (or the reverse), so the remaining balance drifts away from reality.
- Mixing units on one ledger, putting some lines in dollars and some in hours, which makes the balance impossible to total.
- Forgetting to recalculate the remaining balance on the line you just added, leaving the most recent balance stale.
- Treating this ledger as the place to log the incoming deposit event in detail, when that belongs to the deposit-held records; here you only carry the top-up's effect on the balance.
How it helps
How Cash Workspace helps
One running record per client
Keep a single standing ledger per client that you append to over the whole engagement, so the remaining balance always lives in one findable place.
Attach the proof to each line
Link the paid invoice to a top-up and the timesheet or delivery note to a drawdown, so every movement of the balance is backed by a document.
Organize by client folder
File active and closed retainer ledgers in each client's folder alongside their other finance records, keeping the full drawdown history retrievable.
Export when you need to share
Export a client's prepaid ledger to show them exactly how their credit was spent, or to hand a clean balance history to your accountant. It is free to use.
Related
Related pages
Client account summary sheet
The current-snapshot one-pager per client (total billed, outstanding, terms, contacts). Use it for an at-a-glance read; use the prepaid ledger for the line-by-line drawdown history.
Deposit held records overview
For tracking refundable deposits you hold and their expected return. Distinct from a retainer you draw work against; deposits get returned, prepaid credit gets used up.
Client billing profile records
The static master record per client: legal name, terms, tax ID, remittance details. The reference that sits beside the prepaid ledger you keep for the same client.
Client payment schedule organizer
Organizes a forward staged payment plan per client by milestone. Useful when retainer top-ups follow a schedule you want to anticipate ahead of time.
Client finance dashboard
A broader view across your client finance records. A good home base when you keep prepaid ledgers for several clients at once.
Finance organization library
The full library of finance record and folder guides for Cash Workspace, including the rest of the client records cluster.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from a deposit record?
- A deposit you hold is money you expect to return, so it stays as a held balance until refunded. A prepaid or retainer balance is credit the client expects you to use up by delivering work, so it is drawn down to zero over time. This page is the drawdown ledger; held refundable deposits belong on the deposit held records page.
- How is it different from the client account summary sheet?
- The account summary is a current-snapshot one-pager that tells you a client's overall position right now. The prepaid ledger is the running line-by-line history of every top-up in and amount drawn out, with the balance carried forward. You would keep both for the same client and use each for a different job.
- Can I track prepaid hours instead of money?
- Yes. Pick one unit per ledger, hours or money, and keep every line in that unit. A '40-hour block' record works exactly like a dollar retainer: you add hours on top-up and subtract them on each drawdown, carrying the remaining hours forward.
- Does Cash Workspace calculate the remaining balance automatically?
- No. Cash Workspace organizes the records and lets you attach proof to each line, but it does not sync with your bank, read your documents, or auto-calculate balances. You enter the running balance on each line yourself from the amounts you record.
- What happens when a balance runs out?
- Add a note or low-balance flag as the credit gets thin so you remember to request a top-up before more work is drawn. When it reaches zero, you can either record a new top-up line to continue, or add a closing note and file the record if the engagement is ending.
Organizational records, not accounting software
Cash Workspace helps you organize a per-client prepaid balance as records you maintain yourself. It does not sync with your bank, read or extract figures from your documents, reconcile payments automatically, or calculate balances for you, and it is not accounting or bookkeeping software. The running balance on each line is one you enter and carry forward by hand. This page is organizational guidance for keeping a clear retainer ledger, not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Start a free prepaid balance ledger
Create a free workspace, make one running record per retainer client, and start logging top-ups in and work drawn out so you always know what credit each client has left. Cash Workspace is free to use. Questions? Reach the team at info@helperg.com.