7/25/2012
For as long as I can remember, the media has always complained about how long it takes agencies to pay – 90 – 120 days, usually. Once the schedule has aired, at the end of each broadcast or calendar month, the media will send out an invoice to the agency. The agency must check, in detail, to make sure all of the spots ordered ran in the right times and on the right days. Obviously, this does take some time. Then, the agency must pass those invoices on to their Accounting Department for payment. This, too, takes time. To shorten the process, agencies should ask the media to deliver all invoices to them by the 7th of the month following airing. This is fast turnaround time. If the buyers receive the invoices like this, in a timely manner, the onus is on them, the buyers, to see that reconciliation/posting occurs quickly, and Accounting processes the invoices within 30 days. That’s more like it!