Financial Control Audits

The standard audit measures of media billing and invoices carried out by a qualified CPA is useful but only covers a portion of the financial exposure advertisers have in media. In many financial audits, approved invoices agree with payments and few issues are detected. Media is a business with complex pricing structures and industry specific practices that require specialists with years of media experience to uncover critical issues.

TO PROVIDE BEST-PRACTICE GOVERNANCE OF MEDIA BUDGETS, ADVERTISERS NEED TO:

  • Confirm delivery against negotiated media guarantees to determine if ADUs (makegoods) or credits are due
  • Review invoices to ensure costs agree with negotiated rates
  • Compare invoices against “proof of performance” reports, where available
  • Check invoices to identify errors, discrepancies, overpayments, makegoods and credits
  • Proper clearance of discrepancies
  • Reconcile payments made to the agency against payments made to the media
  • Review float or other contractual conditions related to payments