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The Day Your Accruals Learned to Drive Themselves

Author Image Vince Dong article
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    If you’ve ever closed the books at an ad agency, you know the month-end drill.

    I still run into agencies that invoice media to clients in one month and account for the related vendor costs in another. It’s chaotic. It’s manual. And yes, it still happens.

    The good news?
    There is a system that eliminates the guesswork, automatically matching media billings to their corresponding vendor costs.

     

    The Detective Work of Month-End

    Without automation, controllers become part detective, part referee, and part data-entry clerk. Sound familiar?

    • Chasing media buyers for spreadsheets

    • Squinting at Google Ads or Meta dashboards

    • Waiting for vendor invoices that never seem to arrive

    • Posting journal entries that are technically correct... but mostly educated guesses

     

    Accrued Media Liability: Everyone’s Frenemy

    You know the story:

    • The media has definitely run.

    • The client has definitely been promised a bill.

    • But the vendor invoice? Nowhere in sight.

    So you post the entries manually:

    • Debit Media Expense

    • Credit Accrued Liability

    • Mirror with AR and Media Revenue

    It’s correct... but it’s also slow, messy, and stress-inducing.

     

    What If the Books Closed Themselves?

    Now imagine a system that connects to your media platforms and iOS.

    Every night, it quietly calculates:

    • How much media has run

    • What’s already invoiced

    • What still needs to be accrued

    When month-end rolls around, the journal entries are already waiting in your accounting system.

    Your job? Just review and approve.

     

    Your New Role: From Typist to Strategist

    Before automation: You hunt data and build accruals by hand.
    After automation: Accruals arrive at your desk — clean, documented, and ready to post.

    Now you can spend your energy where it matters:

    • Should we bill the client for this overage, or absorb it?

    • This invoice came in light — do we adjust the accrual?

    You’re no longer the typist. You’re the decision-maker.

     

    Why It Matters

    • Accuracy: Data flows directly from media platforms — no guesswork

    • Speed: Cut days off your month-end close

    • Transparency: Clean audit trail from impression to invoice

    • Peace of mind: Controllers get their evenings back

      Yes, there is software that does this!


    A Quick Example

    April Google Ads campaign, IO = $100,000
    By April 30, $85,000 has run. No invoice yet.

    The system automatically posts:

    Dr Media Expense 85,000
    Cr Accrued Liability 85,000
    Dr Accounts Receivable 85,000
    Cr Media Revenue 85,000

     

    Invoice arrives in May → clears the accrual.
    Client payment arrives → clears the receivable.
    Done.

     

    The Bottom Line

    Controllers didn’t choose this career to chase spreadsheets.

    They chose it to safeguard profitability and keep the business grounded.
    Automation doesn’t replace the controller — it restores their time, focus, and judgment.

    If you’ve ever wished your accruals could run on autopilot, that day is here.
    The only question is: Will your agency be ready to hand over the keys?

    If you would like to learn more, please don't hesitate to contact me.


    Sincerely,

    Vince Dong, CPA

    Additional Operational Excellence Resources