Verity for advertising agencies
Media and production pass through the agency at scale while the agency’s own income is a thin slice. Verity tracks the pass-through, the commitments and the slice separately.
Verity runs the agency. Media planning and buying platforms stay where they are.
Verity / Accounts
LiveBillings
₹22 Cr
Agency income
₹2.4 Cr
Unreconciled media
₹64 L
Production unbilled
₹38 L
Needs attention
Illustrative figures. Verity shows your own accounts in this shape.
How the business runs
An advertising agency handles billings far larger than its income. Media is planned, committed and invoiced through the agency; production is commissioned from third parties and passed through. The agency earns a percentage or a fee on top, which means the entire commercial risk sits in the accuracy of the pass-through rather than in the size of it.
Media reconciliation is the clearest case. What was planned, what actually ran and what the vendor invoiced are three different numbers, and reconciling them is a monthly chore usually done partially. Sixty-four lakh unreconciled is a discrepancy that becomes the agency’s problem by default.
The second is production. Third-party production cost is incurred on the client’s behalf and recovered afterwards. Thirty-eight lakh passed through and unbilled is the agency financing client production out of its own working capital.
The third is scope on production estimates. A campaign that runs over its production estimate without an approved change is a cost the agency absorbs while billing the original figure.
The fourth is pitching, which consumes real senior time and is almost never costed against the business it wins.
Verity separates pass-through from income, reconciles media, recovers production and costs the pitch.
What Verity calls these things
What gets in the way
Advertising agency difficulties come from handling money that is not theirs and earning a slice that depends on handling it accurately.
Plan, delivery and invoice do not match
What was planned, what ran and what was invoiced are three numbers reconciled partially and late.
In Verity Plans, delivery records and invoices are matched per line, so discrepancies are raised as queries rather than absorbed.
Production cost is passed through and not recovered
Third-party production is commissioned on the client’s behalf and billed later, if at all.
In Verity Pass-through cost is recorded against the client and the campaign, with recovery tracked and aged.
Production estimates are exceeded without approval
A shoot or build runs over and the agency absorbs it while billing the original estimate.
In Verity Estimates carry a threshold, and exceeding it raises a change approval before the cost is committed.
Agency income is not separated from billings
A large billings number conceals a thin income number, and profitability is assessed on the wrong one.
In Verity Income and pass-through are separate records, so account profitability is measured on income.
Pitch cost is invisible
Senior time and production cost go into pitches that are never costed against the business won.
In Verity Pitches are work with recorded effort and cost, compared against the accounts they win.
Media commitments are made before client approval
Space is committed to secure a rate and the client approval follows, sometimes not at all.
In Verity Commitments carry their approval state, so exposure before approval is visible.
The complete system
One system separating pass-through from income.
Work
Each is work with a client, budget, commitments, delivery records, cost and state.
Why it matters here The campaign is where media, production and agency income meet.
In practice Two campaigns over production estimate with no approved change.
Workflows
Media commitments, insertion orders, production estimates and change approvals move through defined steps with recorded decisions.
Why it matters here A commitment made before client approval is agency exposure.
In practice Commitments carrying their approval state and exposure.
Suppliers
Vendors carry their orders, delivery records, invoices, rates and balances.
Why it matters here Reconciliation is only possible if the plan, the delivery and the invoice are on one record.
In practice Sixty-four lakh unreconciled across three vendors.
Relationships
Clients carry their campaigns, budgets, income basis, pass-through balances and approvals.
Why it matters here Account profitability is measured on income rather than on billings.
In practice Income against billings by account, which reorders which clients matter.
Control
One permission model and one audit trail, with income and pass-through recorded separately.
Why it matters here Confusing billings with income is the category’s characteristic accounting mistake.
In practice Twenty-two crore of billings against two point four crore of income.
People
Staff are modelled once, with effort recorded against campaigns and pitches.
Why it matters here Agency income pays for people, and pitching consumes them invisibly.
In practice Senior effort on pitches against the accounts they won.
Orders
Client invoices for media, production and fees are recorded against the campaign with ageing.
Why it matters here Pass-through recovery is working capital, and it ages.
In practice Thirty-eight lakh of production passed through and unbilled.
Reports and analytics
Plan against delivery against invoice, income against billings, pass-through recovery, production estimate variance and pitch cost come from the records.
Why it matters here The agency’s risk is in the pass-through and its income is a slice; both need separate visibility.
In practice Income per account after production absorbed.
Verity AI
Verity AI answers from your own campaign, vendor, billing and pitch records, respects permissions, and can create assigned follow-ups.
Why it matters here The valuable questions are about reconciliation gaps and unrecovered cost.
In practice "What media is unreconciled between plan and invoice?" returns sixty-four lakh by vendor.
Records
Media plans, production estimates, client approvals and change records attach to the campaign.
Why it matters here A disputed cost is settled by the approved estimate.
In practice The approved production estimate on the campaign, referenced at billing.
Communication
Approvals, briefs and change instructions attach to the campaign they concern.
Why it matters here An approval given verbally before a commitment is the agency’s only protection.
In practice A commitment approval recorded before the insertion order is placed.
Locations
Units roll into the agency with campaigns, income and reporting following the same structure.
Why it matters here Media and creative practices have very different income structures.
In practice Income and pass-through by practice.
Work in motion
These already happen. Recorded, the pass-through stops becoming the agency’s risk.
Committing before approval is common and should at least be a visible exposure.
Three numbers that should match and usually do not, reconciled per line rather than in total.
Exceeding an estimate without an approval is the agency absorbing someone else’s production.
Pass-through unrecovered is the agency lending its clients money at no interest.
Pitching is the largest uncosted activity in most agencies.
Verity AI
Verity AI reads the same campaign, vendor, billing and pitch records the agency creates as it works. It answers across accounts, respects permissions, and can turn an answer into queries and recovery.
Verity / Ask
Verity AI only returns what the person asking has permission to see.
Without chasing
Each runs from the agency’s own records at the point the condition is met.
When
A vendor invoice is received
When
Third-party cost is committed
When
Production cost approaches the estimate
When
A commitment is made before approval
When
A pitch concludes
What you can understand
Income separated from billings, and pass-through tracked.
Verity records the agency’s commercial and delivery data. Media planning and buying platforms continue as they are.
One system, different ways of seeing it
Everyone works from the same records.
Managing director
What is our income and where is it leaking?
Income against billings, pass-through recovery, absorbed production, pitch cost against wins.
Account lead
Is my account reconciled and recovered?
Media reconciliation, production estimates and changes, billing and recovery ageing.
Media
Does the invoice match the plan?
Plan against delivery against invoice, vendor queries, commitments and approvals.
Finance
What are we funding?
Pass-through committed and recovered, ageing by client, commitments before approval.
Where it is used
Plan, delivery and invoice matched per line, so discrepancies become vendor queries rather than the agency’s absorbed cost.
Third-party cost recorded against client and campaign with recovery aged, so the agency stops funding client production.
Change approval raised before an estimate is exceeded rather than absorbed and billed at the original figure.
Account profitability measured on income rather than on the much larger number that passes through.
Media committed before client approval recorded as exposure rather than assumed to be safe.
Effort and third-party cost recorded per pitch against the income won, costing the agency’s largest uncosted activity.
Plain-language questions across reconciliation, recovery and income, with queries raised in the same step.
Getting there
Media planning and buying platforms and your accounting continue and are mapped during implementation. Clients, live campaigns, commitments, vendors and outstanding recovery are brought across.
Implementation runs about four weeks: discovery and mapping, configuration, migration, then an ongoing operations partnership.
Questions
Verity AI answers questions from your own campaign, vendor, billing and pitch records: what media is unreconciled between plan and invoice, how much production is passed through and unbilled, which campaigns exceeded their estimate without approval, what income looks like against billings. Each answer can become a query or a recovery task.
Because the agency handles far more money than it earns. Assessing an account on billings makes a large media client look important when its income contribution may be small, and it hides where the agency is absorbing cost.
What was planned, what actually ran and what the vendor invoiced are matched per line rather than in total, so a discrepancy is a vendor query raised in time rather than a difference the agency absorbs by default.
Third-party production is commissioned on the client’s behalf and recovered afterwards. Unrecovered pass-through is the agency lending its clients working capital at no interest, and it ages quietly.
Estimates carry a threshold, and approaching it raises a change approval before the additional cost is committed — rather than absorbing an overrun while billing the original figure.
Pitches are work with recorded effort and third-party cost, compared against the income actually won. It is usually the largest uncosted activity in an agency and consumes the most senior time.
No. Planning and buying platforms continue and are mapped during implementation. Verity holds commitments, reconciliation, pass-through, income and the commercial reporting.
About four weeks: discovery and mapping of income bases and reconciliation practice, configuration, migration of clients, campaigns and vendors, then an ongoing operations partnership.
It becomes yours by default. Tell us how plan, delivery and invoice are matched today.