In the daily management of an advertising agency, each project is unique and often complex, with diverse contributors and elements. But how well does your advertising agency track the financial health of every campaign in real time? Here’s how adopting a streamlined, unified system can clarify results across each project phase, helping you maintain oversight with minimal effort.

Why Projects Need Comprehensive Financial Oversight

• In-house Production: Monitoring time spent, client approvals, and delivery timelines.
• External Purchases: Managing purchase orders, third-party oversight, and seamless invoicing that mirrors vendor bills.
• Media Buying and Selling

Grouping these elements into projects provides a clearer view of profitability and simplifies billing by combining all charges into a single invoice

There are two primary ways to track financial outcomes:

Through Accounting Integration:

This is the most precise method, automatically consolidating all transactions linked to the project for real-time, accurate reporting. When transactions are consistently posted and aligned with the chart of accounts, project profitability is transparent and easy to access.

Through External Systems or Spreadsheets:

These may seem convenient but can lead to duplicated entries, missed expenses, and discrepancies in exchange rates. Relying on spreadsheets is labor-intensive, prone to error, and often lacks real-time insights, ultimately costing your agency time and money.

Revenue Recognition: Timing Matters

There are two key approaches for recognizing project revenue, each with its impact on financial reporting:

Revenue at Invoice Issuance:

This simpler approach records revenue when an invoice is issued, regardless of service completion. While straightforward, it may misrepresent results by not accounting for work completed but not billed (or billed but not completed).

Revenue at Service Delivery:

By recording revenue at the time of service delivery, financial results are more accurate and reflect the true balance for each project. Although this requires more precise tracking, it provides an accurate snapshot of project finances at any time.
Achieving Real-Time Financial Clarity with ERP Integration

With an ERP system like Solop, every transaction connects directly to a project, contract, and client. This integration means that with a single click, you gain instant access to the financial status of any project, including detailed income and expense accounts. At any point, you can see the real-time balance and make informed decisions to keep each campaign on track.