How to manage client retainers and send one-off invoices in Kato

Unbilled hours kill boutique agency margins. The problem is rarely bad work. It is fragmented context. A developer spends three hours fixing an emergency Vercel deployment. A strategist drafts a campaign proposal over the weekend. Because time tracking lives in one software app and client invoicing lives in another, those extra hours vanish into administrative gaps.

Kato addresses this leakage by bringing client records, tasks, retainers, and billing into one workspace. On the Pro plan, retainer management and time tracking connect directly to individual client accounts. When work falls outside a scope agreement, you can draft and send a one-off invoice without jumping across browser tabs. Here is how to set up agency retainer management and one-off client invoicing inside your workspace.

1. Link financial integrations and set up client records

Start by connecting your core financial and scheduling tools. If your firm uses Stripe, QuickBooks, or Calendly, link them under your workspace integrations. Kato connects these platforms directly into your client accounts so payment data and meeting history stay organized.

Next, establish detailed client records. Each record should contain vital account metadata, including primary contacts, owner, stage, and health score. When team members open a company record, they see past emails, Vercel or GitHub links, meeting notes, and active tasks in one place. Centralizing this context ensures everyone working on an account understands the active contract boundaries before logging billable hours.

2. Configure retainer time tracking on the Pro plan

Effective retainer time tracking requires visibility into remaining hours long before month-end reconciliation. Kato offers dedicated retainer management and time tracking functionality on its Pro plan.

To configure a retainer, open the target client record and navigate to retainer settings. Define the contract terms, including the monthly client allowance and billing cycle. Once established, direct your delivery team to log hours against specific tasks and client meetings.

Because tasks carry owners, due dates, priority tags, and linked client records, time logged against work automatically updates the retainer balance. You can track scope burn rates in real time rather than discovering overages after the work is delivered.

You can also use the assistant, Ask Kato, to audit retainers. Query the assistant with natural questions like:

• "How many retainer hours remain on the account this month?"
• "Which tasks consumed the most hours last week?"

Ask Kato pulls answers from workspace context, showing you the exact data behind its response so you can adjust team workload before hours overflow.

3. Issue one-off client invoicing for extra scope

Retainers cover recurring scope. Out-of-scope requests require immediate, clear billing. Jumping between separate accounting dashboards to draft a tiny invoice creates friction, leading teams to forgive small out-of-scope charges. Those forgiven charges compound over time.

Kato removes this friction by allowing users to compose and email one-off invoices directly within the platform. When a client requests extra work:

1. Navigate to the relevant client record.
2. Select the invoice composer to generate a new billing document.
3. Add line items, task references, and agreed costs.
4. Review the preview and email the invoice straight to the primary contact listed on the client profile.

Sending invoices directly from the client workspace keeps communication history attached to the account record. If you integrate Stripe or QuickBooks, transaction records flow cleanly back into your financial ecosystem.

4. Manage retainers and billing on mobile

Client issues do not wait until you sit down at your desk. Kato offers an app for iOS, giving agency leaders full visibility into retainer metrics and client communications on the go.

If a client approves an additional scope request while you are away from your desk, you can check active retainers, review task statuses, or query Ask Kato from your phone. You keep agency operations aligned and protect your profit margins from anywhere.