By Mindy Williams

Billing is the lifeblood of every agency. No agency can make money if it doesn't bill. And it can't make a profit unless it bills accurately.

     But in the ad business, billings are based on costs. So in your agency, billing can only be as good as your job costing. Without a timely, accurate job costing process, you've got chaos -- missing costs, underbilled expenses, late billing, and disputed payments.

     And that can get expensive.

     Good job costing means that everything your shop does for its jobs is billed to your clients. It means the right jobs are billed to the right clients. And it means you're being paid for the great work you do.

     Tracking job costs is the only way AEs know what's been spent on client work. And it's the only way billing people know what to charge your clients. Without good cost accounting, your shop loses money every time a job cost isn't billed to a client. And year after year unbilled costs add up to big bucks.

     Poor job costing certainly affect the shop's bottom line, since any cost that's unbilled means the company earned less. But if also affects AEs, who'll never know if they're estimating accurately. This makes job costing one of the most critical jobs in the agency

Job costing is a team effort

     Everyone plays a part in keeping job costing accurate, whether they know it or not. Be sure every staff member knows the critical importance of daily time keeping and expense reporting. They need to appreciate that client billing depends of tracking these costs, and that late or missing costs affect the shop's reputation with their clients -- and ultimately its profitability and their own job security.

No surprises

     Attention to the bottom line keeps jobs on-time and on-budget, which keeps clients satisfied and profitable. Every client appreciates accurate and timely billing that has no surprises--which is only possible with reliable, consistent, and timely job costing.

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