Retention setup

Retention is a billing tool used by General Contractors (GC) to ensure that their Sub-Contractors finish the work they have billed for and is typically used in commercial or government projects. When a subcontractor invoices the GC for work completed, the GC will contractually withhold a percentage of the invoice. At the conclusion of the job and once everything has been completed to the General Contractor’s liking, the retained amount is requested on a final retention invoice.

iPoint can automatically reflect these retention adjustments on individual invoices. Then, once the job is complete, iPoint can generate a final invoice to request payment of the retained amount.

This page provides details on how to set up iPoint to calculate retention.

Setup Retention

1. Make sure there is an asset account in QuickBooks for retention. This account is usually an “Other Current Asset” account.
2. Verify that the account has been synced to iPoint in Settings > QuickBooks > Chart of Accounts. If not, sync the account.
3. Create an item in the items module. You might call it something like “Retention.”
   1. Make the Inventory Type: Other Charge
   2. Make sure the item is non-taxable
   3. Use the Income Account dropdown on the item
   4. Select Other… from the bottom of the list
   5. In the window that opens type the name of the retention account exactly as it appears in QuickBooks (from step 2 above)
4. To enable retainage in iPoint go to Settings > Module Settings > Proposals > Accounting tab. Check the Enable Retainage Tracking checkbox. This setting will activate the retainage option in Sales Orders.
5. Set the retainage item below the checkbox as the item that you will use to track the retainage (from step 3)

*For instructions on using retention on a particular job, go to the Sales Order > Billing > Retention part of this manual.

Reporting Retention

The retainage is reported on the Sales Order Summary report located on the Sales Order > Reports (tab) > Financial Summary (button)