Keep client advertising spend clear from day one

Agree which business owns the advertising account and associated assets. A client should understand what access it retains during the engagement and what it will retain when the work ends. Record this in the engagement documentation rather than relying on an informal understanding.

List the assets needed to deliver the work: advertising accounts, analytics properties, tagging tools, landing pages and reporting destinations. Identify the responsible owner and contact for each.

• Platform and account identifier.
• Client contact responsible for the account.
• Dependencies such as analytics, tags and landing pages.

Use the platform's own account-access controls. Give people the access needed for their role and review it when responsibilities change. Avoid sharing a single person's login between the client and the consultant.

Google Ads allows account access to be granted, changed and removed. Its official instructions are a useful starting point for that platform; other platforms have their own controls and terminology.

Further reading: Google Ads: manage account access

Write down whether the platform bills the client directly or whether another agreed arrangement applies. Separately document the consultancy or management fee. A client should be able to see which amounts pay for advertising and which pay for services.

Confirm who will retrieve invoices and investigate an unexpected charge. If the billing contact is different from the campaign approver, include both in the account register without storing card numbers or credentials there.

• Who pays the platform, and in which currency?
• Who checks and retains the platform invoices?
• Who resolves a failed payment or billing discrepancy?

Document the scope of the agreed budget: the platform, period, currency and any exclusions. Do not assume a figure includes taxes, consultancy fees or spending on other channels unless that has been agreed.

Set a clear approval route for changes. Decide what the consultant may adjust within the agreed amount and what requires a further decision. Record material changes so the next report can explain both the spending and the decision behind it.

• The approved amount and period.
• The person who may approve an increase.
• Where approvals and significant changes are recorded.
• What to do if spending differs materially from the plan.

Keep the account register current throughout the engagement. At handover, review access, billing contacts, active campaigns and reporting dependencies with the client. Identify which automations or reports depend on a departing person's access.

Confirm the intended campaign state and responsibilities before removing access. Do not assume that ending an engagement means campaigns should be paused, deleted or transferred. Make those decisions explicit and retain the records both sides need.