Reconcile rollover before you price the extra hours.

Identify the allowance for this period

Start with the included hours. Add only the carry-in that's still eligible under the agreement. Check its expiry and any cap. A balance on last month's sheet isn't automatically an entitlement this month.

Use the contract's period dates. If the period starts mid-month, don't copy a calendar-month total into it without checking each entry.

The other three unused hours from the previous period do not carry in under this example's assumed rule. These figures illustrate the arithmetic; they don't prescribe a contract policy.

Decide what happens to the excess

Three hours above the allowance do not automatically mean three payable hours. The agreement may require written approval, set an overage rate, allow borrowing or stop work at the cap. Check the actual rule.

If an approved overage rate were $150 per hour, three chargeable hours would add $450 before any applicable adjustments or tax. Keep the approval and calculation with the period so the client can understand the amount.

Check which hours belong

Review time-entry dates, project assignments and billable status. A duplicated meeting can turn an apparently exhausted retainer back into a healthy one as soon as it's corrected.

Be explicit about whether carried hours are consumed before newly included hours. That ordering can affect expiry and the next period's balance. Don't assume two tools use the same convention simply because their current totals match.

Close without losing the explanation

Keep a record of included hours, eligible carry-in, consumed time and the treatment of any excess. Link the approved amount to the invoice you send from your accounting system.

When someone finds a late entry after close, review it through the period's correction process. Quietly adding it to a spreadsheet after the invoice has gone out breaks the connection between what the client received and the work record.

Test the boundary cases before migration

In Billable8, set up a representative retainer and review its period rules before moving all clients across. Include an ordinary period, an overage and unused hours that reach an expiry or cap.

Match your actual agreement and verify the result. If a required contractual rule isn't represented by the available configuration, ask about it before relying on the software for that retainer.