Delivering transparency and returns to a leading financial institution

Objectives

The objective was to review, understand, test, and optimise media agency engagement, delivery, and transparency. The results of the audit would also be used as part of the agency selection criteria for the upcoming pitch. The expectation was to gain insights, improve contracts, and optimise processes and agency behaviours.

Our Approach

We set up a dedicated team to conduct a financial audit assessing the Agency’s compliance with its client contract. The audit highlights included:

• Rebates not disclosed nor returned to client.
• Digital media billings overcharged to client
• ‘Inventory media’ sold to client on a non-transparent basis without any disclosure to / approval from client.
• Transparency issues due to Agency not disclosing vendor contracts to client.
• Unbilled media long overdue, not reported or refunded to client.

Business Impact

The compliance audit yielded significant results, with a total investment of $28M audited and findings amounting to $14.1M. Beyond hard financial gains, key insights and outcomes we delivered were:

• Confirmed the financial returns on rebates
• Improved financial transparency of agency investment
• Updated contract terms with clearer clauses and requirements to better protect the client’s interests
• Digital media billings and reconciliation process was deficient and required major improvement