Sarah Chen, CEO of Metric Agency, expected the audit to surface process gaps. She didn't expect the audit to pay for itself within the first week.
Here's what we found, what we built, and what changed.
The Context
Metric Agency — 12 people, $2.4M revenue, growing 30% year-over-year. They knew operations were messy but churn was low and clients were happy. Until they weren't.
The trigger: A vendor raised their rate 18% in January. Sarah asked how much they spent with that vendor last year. No one could answer the question within a week.
What We Found
Vendor Chaos (Week 1)
15 active vendors. 3 nobody knew about.
The team had vendors in:
- A shared corporate card (Ramp) — $8,200/month in subscriptions
- Bill.com — 8 vendors, some with expired W-9s
- Direct ACH — 4 vendors with no contracts, no documentation
- One contractor paid via PayPal with no paper trail
The $47K discovery:
- Vendor A billed at rate for 8 months after contract expired (rate should have been renegotiated)
- Vendor B overcharged by 15% on every invoice for 6 months (no one compared invoice to contract)
- Vendor C had been paid for 3 months after services stopped (no offboarding process)
- Two duplicate payments for the same service (shared card, no tracking)
AP/AR Gaps (Week 2)
AP:
- Average payment latency: 47 days (some at 90+ days)
- Two vendors put on hold for late payments
- Founder approved every invoice personally → on vacation last quarter
AR:
- $38K in receivables over 60 days old
- No escalation process
- One client hadn't been invoiced in 3 months (forgot to send the SOW approval)
Contract Blind Spots (Week 3)
- 2 of 5 client MSAs had auto-renew clauses nobody noticed
- 1 vendor contract expired 2 months prior (they kept billing)
- No contract tracker — contracts lived in Sarah's email, sales rep's Google Drive, and ops' desktop downloads
Process Bottlenecks (Week 4)
- Founder signed off on every hire, invoice, client proposal, and deliverable
- No onboarding docs — new hires took 3 weeks to become productive
- Tools: 14 different subscriptions, nobody knew what they all cost
What We Built
1. Vendor Master (Notion)
One database with every vendor:
- Name, rate, contract dates, payment terms, access owner, status
Immediate fix: Cancelled 3 unused subscriptions ($4,200/month recovered).
2. AP Approval Matrix
- Under $500: Auto-approve (pre-approved vendors)
- $500–$5,000: Ops lead (Sarah after hours)
- Over $5,000: Sarah sign-off
Result: Invoice processing time dropped from 7 days to 1 day.
3. AR Collection Cadence
- Day 1–15: Automated reminder
- Day 16–30: PM personal note
- Day 31+: Sarah call
Result: Over-60-day AR reduced by 68% in 60 days.
4. Contract Tracker
Notion database with:
- Contract name, type, counterparty, status, dates, owner, file
- Two views: "Expiring in 90 Days" and "By Owner"
- 90/30/7 cadence with Slack notifications
Immediate action: Negotiated 2 auto-renew contracts before renewal date (saved $8,400/year).
5. Offboarding Checklist
Step-by-step process for ending vendor relationships:
- Final invoice checklist
- Access revocation
- Data deletion confirmation
- Exit interview
Applied to: 2 vendors who were already past their end date but still billing.
6. Access & Tool Inventory
One sheet documenting every tool, cost, owner, and team access. Cut: 6 tools nobody was actually using ($1,800/month).
The Results
| Metric | Before | After | Change | |--------|--------|-------|--------| | Vendor overpayments | $47K/year | $0 (recurring check) | $47K recovered | | Unused subscriptions | $4,200/mo | $0 | $50K/year | | Invoice processing time | 7 days | 1 day | -86% | | Over-60-day AR | $38K | $12K | -68% | | Contract renewal surprises | 3/year | 0 | 100% | | Founder sign-off load | 80% | 15% | -81% |
Total cash recovered in 90 days: $42,000 Annualized savings: $97,000 Audit cost: $2,500
ROI: 39x in year one.
What Sarah Said
"I was skeptical about the time commitment. Turned out to be 6 hours over 4 weeks, mostly async. The walkthrough call was the most actionable meeting I've had all year — we walked out with a priority list and owners for each item. Paid for itself in the first week."
The Playbook
The systems we built for Metric Agency are the same ones we use with every client:
- Vendor master — Know what you spend, who you're spending it with, and why
- Approval matrix — The right person approves, not the same person
- Collection cadence — Own the timeline, don't hope for the best
- Contract tracker — See expiration dates, don't fear Friday 4:47pm
- Offboarding checklist — End cleanly or continue bleeding
Every one of these takes 2-4 hours to set up. None require new software. All require one person who owns the system.
Is This Your Agency?
Check:
- Can you name your top 3 vendors by spend? Can you verify the rate is current?
- How many subscriptions do you pay for? How many actively do you use?
- When was the last invoice paid late? What did it cost?
- How many contracts expire in the next 90 days? Who owns each one?
- How many hours per week does the founder spend on approvals?
If you can't answer any of these cleanly, you have the same gaps Metric Agency had before the audit.
Want the same clarity for your agency? Book a discovery call — 30 minutes, no pitch deck, just a conversation about what's actually going on.