Excerpt: ”And on extending that metaphor, the contract ends up becoming like the marriage certificate. So you stand up there and you make vows to each other. You sign the marriage certificate and then you file it away and forget about it for the next 20 years until divorce comes around. It doesn’t quite take 20 years with agencies and clients these days, but I think that’s quite a strong metaphor.”

Is the client-agency relationship just another business arrangement, or does it somehow have a special status more akin to marriage, perhaps? Is the contract just another commercial document or is it more in the nature of a pre-nup? In a podcast dialogue scintillating with humour and sharp insights, Financial Progression’s founder-director Adrian Jenkins engages in a fireside chat with Darren Woolley, CEO of TrinityP3, a global marketing management consulting company, and chairman of the board of the Australian Marketing Institute.

… There’s obviously, particularly here in the UK — going back to the days of Monty Python — there’s a view of your accountant as a man in a brown suit with a kipper tie… who’s dreadfully dull and gets up and is on the 6:33 from Surbiton every morning (laughter) into London. But, you know, times change.

In this 37-minute podcast, Adrian and Darren explore some of the key themes emerging from their years in marketing, media and creative agency contract compliance auditing. Along the way they touch upon:

  • What Financial Progression’s unique role as Chartered Accountants brings to the world of agency contract compliance audits
  • The difference between benchmarking and auditing in the marketing context
  • The various types of marketing audit
    • Marketing contract compliance audits
    • Marketing contract implementation audits
    • Marketing agency exit audits
    • Always-on audits of marketing and media agencies
  • The perception of auditor as a supporter of client-agency relationships as opposed to merely spotting alleged misdeeds
  • ‘Big Four Only’ audit clauses, Sarbanes-Oxley, IP and asset transfers

Dig in to the auditor-y fun and insights by clicking the big green button at the top of the page! Or click below to read the podcast transcript as a PDF.

Download PDF transcript