Deposits due, client invoice unpaid
You win a large event for a new client. The venue wants a deposit on contract and a larger payment some months before the event. The hotel block needs a deposit. The production company wants a percentage up front to secure the date. Your contract with the client has stage payments too, but their procurement team needs a purchase order before they can pay, and the purchase order takes weeks.
Your finance manager pays the supplier deposits because the dates cannot be lost. The client's first stage payment is still in their approval queue. Multiply that by several events planned at once and your bank balance is carrying the clients' events for them.
Why the agency ends up as the bank
Nobody designed a cash flow gap. It appears because supplier terms and client terms are negotiated separately and tracked in different places.
- Supplier payment schedules sit in contracts and calendar reminders.
- Client stage payments are invoiced when someone remembers, not when the schedule says.
- Client purchase order and supplier setup processes take time that nobody plans for.
- Nobody sees the combined position across all live events.
- Change requests add supplier costs without adding a matching client stage.
What funding clients' events costs you
At best, it ties up cash you need for salaries and other events. At worst, a client who cancels or delays leaves you holding non-refundable deposits while you try to recover them under your contract. It also limits growth: an agency that funds its events can only take on as many as its bank balance allows.
The accounts team feels it every month, juggling which supplier to pay first and chasing clients who are, by their own standards, not late at all.
There is a softer cost in the client relationship. Account managers who know the agency is out of pocket start to feel awkward raising the invoice, and finance ends up chasing a client the account manager would rather keep sweet. A clear schedule agreed at the start avoids that tension later.
A payment schedule for both sides of every event
- When a supplier is confirmed, their payment schedule (deposit, stage payments, balance, dates, amounts) is entered from the contract.
- The client's stage payments are entered from your contract with them, including any purchase order or supplier setup steps they require.
- The event view shows money out and money in by date, and the gap between them.
- Client invoices are prompted before each stage is due, with the time their approval process needs built in, and created in your accounts package, such as Xero or QuickBooks.
- If a supplier deposit is due before the matching client stage has been paid, the account manager and finance see a warning in advance, so they can chase or discuss timing.
- Change requests that add supplier costs prompt a matching client stage or charge.
- A company-wide view shows the combined position across all live events, week by week.
| Date | Money out | Money in | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract signed | Venue deposit | Client first stage invoiced | Gap until client pays |
| Months before | Venue stage, production deposit | Client second stage | Covered if paid on time |
| Weeks before | Supplier balances | Client pre-event stage | Watch |
| After event | Final supplier invoices | Client final invoice | Closes with reconciliation |
How you set your client payment terms is a decision for you and your advisers. The schedule makes your terms and your suppliers' terms visible side by side.
Planning cash as well as events
When a new event is won, the account director sees the payment profile before signing supplier contracts, and can ask the client for an earlier first stage or a purchase order sooner. Client invoices go out on time because the system prompts them. Finance starts each week with a view of what is due in and out across all events, and the few gaps are known well in advance.
It also helps with the awkward cases. When a client postpones, the schedule shows which supplier payments have already been made, which are refundable under their terms as you recorded them, and which client stages were due, so the conversation with the client starts from the facts rather than from a scramble through contracts.
Is your agency funding its clients' events?
- You regularly pay supplier deposits before the client has paid you.
- Client stage invoices go out late.
- Purchase order delays are not planned for.
- Nobody sees cash in and out across all live events.
- Change requests add costs without a matching client payment.