Financial Contract Compliance
Independent financial assurance for marketing investment
Marketing organizations invest millions in agency fees, media buying, production and specialist marketing services every year.
Yet the complexity of commercial agreements, local market practices and increasingly sophisticated media trading models makes it difficult to know whether contractual commitments are consistently being met.
Financial Contract Compliance provides independent assurance that agency relationships are operating as intended, commercial terms are being honored and marketing investment is fully accountable.
What we do
1. Media Agency Financial Compliance
We assess compliance with the financial and commercial terms of media agency agreements. Our audits typically review agency remuneration, rebates, AVBs and commercial benefits, media cost reconciliation, programmatic buying transparency, unbilled media, payment terms, financial controls and commercial governance.
2. Creative, Production & Marketing Services Audits
We conduct financial and operational compliance reviews across creative agencies, production partners, PR agencies, influencer agencies and other marketing service providers. Typical areas include scope-of-work compliance, job cost reconciliation, production costs and third-party procurement.
3. Commercial Governance Reviews
We help organizations evaluate whether governance processes effectively support contract compliance across global, regional and local markets. Areas of assessment include financial controls, approval processes, governance frameworks and documentation standards.
Today’s marketing agreements include complex commercial arrangements covering rebates, value banks, staffing commitments, performance incentives, production costs, technology fees, programmatic buying, intellectual property and financial governance.
Without independent review, organizations often have limited visibility into whether these commitments are being consistently applied across agencies and markets.
Financial Contract Compliance helps answer critical questions:
- Have contractual terms been applied correctly?
- Are agency fees accurate?
- Have rebates and commercial benefits been fully returned?
- Are staffing commitments being delivered?
- Are media costs accurate and transparent?
- Are financial controls operating effectively?
- Where are opportunities to recover value?
Prepare: Review commercial agreements, define audit scope and tailor procedures to reflect the contractual terms governing each agency relationship.
Verify: Validate financial information directly against agency source systems using professional audit techniques, supported by standardized methodologies and in-market specialists.
Assess: Evaluate compliance, quantify commercial impact and identify the underlying causes of financial leakage, governance gaps and operational inconsistencies.
Advise: Provide practical recommendations that strengthen commercial governance, improve contractual compliance and support future negotiations with agency partners.
- Independent assurance over agency commercial compliance
- Greater transparency across marketing investment
- Validation of contractual commitments
- Identification of commercial risk and value leakage
- Stronger governance across agency relationships
- Evidence to support commercial discussions and negotiations
- Improved financial accountability
Why mediasense
Our audits are delivered through mediasense Compliance & Assurance Ltd (MCAL), an ICAEW-regulated audit entity, combining the rigour of professional auditing with decades of specialist marketing expertise.
Unlike traditional accounting firms, we understand the commercial realities of agency remuneration, media trading, production economics and marketing operations. Unlike marketing consultancies, our work is performed using professional audit methodologies and robust financial assurance standards.
Our teams include qualified accountants, auditors and former agency finance specialists.
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