Campaign Audits
Part of Programmatic agency and trading-desk operations
Reconciling media delivery with a trading desk invoice
Match buying records, cost definitions, fees, credits and tax treatment when checking a trading desk invoice.
Match the invoice period and buying IDs to a delivery export. Bridge the agreed cost components to the amount charged. A difference between an impression-based media estimate and an invoice is not automatically an agency fee; the records may use different costs, dates or adjustments.
Gather the records
Use the approved commercial terms, an itemised trading desk invoice and a dated platform delivery report. Record campaign, insertion-order and line-item IDs where applicable, service dates, currency, reporting time zone and extraction time. Preserve the original files.
The agreement should establish whether media, data, platform, verification and agency service are charged separately or through a combined client price. The invoice should identify charges, credits, adjustments and applicable tax. The report must identify its cost metric; “spend” alone is not a definition.
Build the bridge
| Step | Check |
|---|---|
| Match scope | Do the records cover the same advertiser, buying IDs and service dates? |
| Match units | Are impressions or other billed units tied to the intended records? |
| Match cost basis | Is the report showing media cost, platform billable cost or a configured client price? |
| Add charges | Which authorised charges sit outside that base, and which are already included? |
| Apply adjustments | Are credits and refunds separate and assigned to the right period? |
| Explain the balance | Is the remainder timing, rounding, currency, tax, a missing row or an open charge? |
Do not add a fee twice because it appears in both a platform cost field and a separate schedule. Equally, do not insert a balancing amount without identifying its source and contractual basis.
Use platform figures for their stated purpose
In Display & Video 360, cost and revenue fields are platform reporting measures. Check the metric definition and configured revenue model before using either in an invoice reconciliation; use platform reporting as a check on platform charges, not as validation of every line of a trading desk invoice.
If totals differ, check omitted IDs, a fee already inside the selected cost metric, a later credit or a report extracted before processing completed. Record each explanation and its supporting row.
Where a separate ad server supplies delivery counts, align periods, time zones and filters before comparing impressions. Confirm that the compared reports use compatible definitions and billing units; do not assume identical counts. Do not silently change the agreed billing unit to force a match.
Close each charge as matched, explained variance or open query. Send open queries with the affected IDs, period, metric and exact amount. A balanced calculation is complete only when its components also agree with the authorised terms.
