Big engagements rarely get paid in one go. Progress (retainer) billing lets you invoice a parent job — an estimate, a sales order, or a retainer total — in tranches, either by percentage or a flat amount, with a running tally of what's billed and what's left. And the template gallery lets you pick how each invoice PDF looks, without losing the fields you already put on your documents.
Bill a job in tranches
- From Invoices → New, open the Progress / retainer billing panel and turn it on.
- Choose what you're billing against — an estimate, a sales order, or a retainer — and pick the parent document. You'll immediately see its total, how much has already been billed, and how much remains.
- Enter the tranche by percentage (say 25% of the job) or by amount. Percentage tranches are worked out to the paisa and the final one bills the exact remainder — never a rounding rupee more.
- Tap Apply as a single line to drop the tranche onto the invoice, then save and send as usual.
You can never over-bill a job
This is the hard guarantee: the cumulative amount billed against a parent can never exceed the parent's total, to the paisa. If a tranche would cross that line, Finocket blocks it and tells you exactly how much is left to bill. The same check runs whether you bill from the app or through the API — so a job billed in ten pieces still adds up to exactly the total, no more.
Open the parent document any time to see its Progress billing statement: every tranche invoice, the percentage each represented, how much is billed, and what's remaining.
Choose an invoice template
Every invoice can use one of three PDF layouts:
- Classic — the familiar Finocket layout with GST columns and a UPI QR.
- Modern — an accent-banded header with a striped item table.
- Compact — a tight, single-accent layout for short invoices.
Pick a template per invoice from the Invoice template card on the form, or set a workspace default from Settings → Invoice defaults. Every template honours the custom fields you've flagged to show on the PDF, so nothing you rely on disappears when you switch looks. Leave the choice untouched and your invoices render exactly as they do today.