If a client asked you today to scope a bigger retainer, could you say by this afternoon whether it pays?
Agencies that can answer take the work at the right fee and let go of the retainer everyone else is quietly funding. Agencies that can’t find out at year end, when the year has already gone. Ardein runs the finance function so the numbers sit in front of you monthly.
Three things you’d know before the next retainer
Know which retainer carries its own cost, and which doesn’t
Time and fee sit against each client every month, so the loss-maker shows up in weeks rather than years.
Sign off the next hire with the payback in front of you
Committed retainer income and cash are current, so you can see what a salary needs to earn back.
Bill everything you delivered, in the month you delivered it
Work in progress is reconciled at month end, so delivered work reaches an invoice instead of a folder.
The decisions agency owners make blind, and what each one costs later
Every one of these came from an owner making a call without the number that would have changed it.
- Contract
“We kept that retainer for three years because it felt like our anchor client. It turned out we were servicing it at a loss.”
Three years of senior time went into a fee that never covered it. Nobody had put staff cost against client revenue month by month, so the shortfall only appeared in the annual accounts.
- Price
“We put the day rate up across every client at once, and lost the two accounts that were actually profitable.”
The price rise went out flat because no one knew which clients had room in them. With margin by client, the increase goes where the work is underpriced and stays away from where it isn’t.
- Hire
“We hired a second account manager off the back of a busy quarter. Half that quarter was work we’d delivered and never invoiced.”
A salary was committed against revenue that had never been billed, so cash tightened two months later. Unbilled delivery is the easiest number in an agency to lose and the most expensive to find late.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
On the same date each month you see fee income, staff cost and margin by client, alongside cash and debtors. The retainer that stopped paying its way is visible the month it turns, not the year after. Work delivered but not invoiced is picked up at month end and billed. When a client asks for more scope, or a designer asks for a raise, the decision takes an afternoon.
Why the year-end accountant can’t answer the retainer question in time
This is not a criticism of the work. It is a different job, done on a different clock.
A year-end accountant
Files accurate accounts and a corporation tax return, usually months after the year has closed.
Reports the agency as one number, so a loss-making retainer disappears inside a profitable year.
Sees unbilled delivery only if someone tells them about it, because delivery records sit outside the books.
Answers pricing and hiring questions from last year’s figures, which is the best available data.
Ardein as your finance function
Delivers management information on an agreed date each month, while the quarter can still be changed.
Splits fee income and staff cost by client, so the retainer that turned is named.
Reconciles what was delivered against what was invoiced, every month, as part of the routine.
Answers the hire, the price rise and the scope question the same day, from live numbers.
Eight questions about your agency you should be able to answer this week
Answer each one yes or no. The nos are where the money is going.
- 01
Do you know which retainer made the most money last month, after staff cost?
No means pricing conversations are being had on instinct.
- 02
Do you know how much work you delivered last month and have not yet invoiced?
No means cash you have already earned is sitting outside the ledger.
- 03
Could you say today what a new senior hire has to bill to pay for itself?
No means the hire is a hope rather than a calculation.
- 04
Do you know which clients would still be profitable after a ten per cent fee rise?
No means the increase goes out flat and lands on the wrong accounts.
- 05
Do you know whether project work or retainer work carries your margin?
No means new business is being chased in whichever direction the phone rings.
- 06
Do you know today how much your clients owe you and how old it is?
No means payroll is being funded on optimism at the end of the month.
- 07
Do you know what next quarter’s corporation tax and VAT will take out of cash?
No means the tax bill competes with a hire you have already made.
- 08
Do your numbers arrive on the same date every month?
No means decisions wait for the figures instead of the figures serving the decisions.
Ask your accountant these three questions about your agency this week. If the answers take longer than a few days, or come back as an estimate, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you which retainers made money last month, after the staff time that went into them?
- 02Could they tell you how much work you delivered last month that has not yet been invoiced?
- 03Could they tell you what a new senior hire needs to bill before it pays for itself?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What one reconciliation turned up in an owner-managed business
Work supplied and never invoiced is the failure mode agencies share with every business that delivers before it bills.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”UK SME owner
What changes by day ninety, and what you can decide then
Ninety days from the start, the finance function runs to a timetable you can plan around.
You find out what the records actually say
We agree scope, complete the checks and collect the records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we handle the handover.
Every client has a number against it
Books complete, banks reconciled, debtors and creditors that make sense, and fee income mapped to the clients it came from.
Delivered work reaches an invoice in the same month
Billing, supplier bills, credit control and payroll run to a routine, with the checks that stop work being delivered and forgotten.
The scope, hire and price decisions take an afternoon
Monthly management information arrives on the agreed date: margin by client, cash, debtors and what the next commitment costs you.
What arrives each month, and what you do with it
The reporting is built so an agency owner can act on it the week it lands.
Fee income and staff cost by client
See which retainers and projects carry their own cost, so renewal and pricing conversations start from a number.
Delivered work reconciled to invoices raised
Month end checks what went out of the door against what went on an invoice, so nothing is supplied and forgotten.
Cash, debtors and upcoming tax in one view
Know what is coming in, what is owed to you and what is due out, before you commit to a hire or a studio move.
Who this doesn’t work for, and why we say so early
We do not take on cash businesses, so an agency that bills outside the books is not a fit.
We do not take construction work that depends on CIS, which rules out some build and fit-out studios.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, from falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
It does not work when an owner cannot explain their own agency or say what they actually need from finance.
Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so the review is where we both find out whether this fits.
What agency owners ask before they start
Is the review a sales call?
It is a working session on your finance function, with five priorities and an indicative monthly structure at the end. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead.
We already have an accountant. What would change?
Most agencies have someone filing the accounts and nobody producing monthly numbers. The change is knowing which retainers pay, what is unbilled, and what cash looks like, in time to act.
What happens with our current accountant?
We handle it. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, managed by Ardein at no separate charge.
What are we committing to?
A monthly fee scoped to the work, agreed only after we have seen the records and understood how the agency runs. Nothing is quoted before that.
Our retainers move around a lot. Is monthly reporting worth it?
That is the case for it. When income shifts month to month, an annual view tells you nothing about which quarter carried the year.
Make the next retainer decision with the number already in front of you
Start with the review. You will leave knowing which clients carry your margin, what is sitting unbilled, and what the next hire has to earn.