# Account audit — Real estate

The account audit with the checks an agency needs: whether campaigns for sold or withdrawn properties are still spending, whether every campaign can be reported back to the vendor who funded it, how quickly enquiries are answered, and how much of the account is the office's own presence.

Everything else is the general audit, unchanged. One row per finding, evidence attached, honest severity, one action, one owner, one date.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Work area by area rather than campaign by campaign, so the same check is applied everywhere.
3. Write what was found separately from what should be done.
4. Attach evidence to every finding, with the date range you looked at.
5. Keep severity honest: if everything is critical, nothing is.
6. Agree owners and dates with the people who will do the work, not in their absence.
7. Close findings as accepted where somebody has decided to live with them.

## The columns

**Area** (Text). Which part of the account this belongs to: live listings, vendor reconciliation, enquiry handling, office presence, audiences, creative, access. The first two are where an agency's audit almost always finds something.

**Check performed** (Text). What was looked at, as an action somebody could repeat monthly: spending campaigns joined to the current listing register, campaigns matched to vendor agreements, enquiry timestamps compared with first responses.

**What was found** (Text). The observation with no recommendation in it: these campaigns are spending against sold properties, this campaign matches no agreement, first responses average this long. A vendor-facing finding needs to be undisputed before it is acted on.

**Evidence** (Text). Where it can be seen: the spend export, the listing register, the vendor agreements, the enquiry and response timestamps. In this category the evidence frequently has to be shown to somebody outside the office.

**Severity** (Text). Spending wrongly now, distorting decisions, or untidy. A campaign spending on a sold property is the first and is common; office and vendor money mixed in one report is the second; a stale campaign name is the third.

**Impact** (Text). What it is costing, in vendor money and in enquiries. Spend against finished listings can be totalled exactly, which makes it the most persuasive row in an agency audit; response-time findings usually cannot, and should say so.

**Recommendation** (Text). One action a person can start on Monday: end these campaigns, add an end step to the listing workflow, start recording first-response times. Not improve the campaign process.

**Effort** (Text). Minutes, a day, or a project. Ending a campaign is minutes; adding a step to how the office closes a listing is a process change that involves the agents, and it belongs in a meeting rather than on a due date.

**Owner** (Text). The person who will do it, by name. In an agency this is usually the marketing coordinator, but anything touching how listings are closed or how enquiries are answered needs the office principal to own it.

**Due** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). When the fix is expected. Spend against a sold listing is dated for today, because every day it continues is a vendor's money; a process change can carry a date a fortnight out.

**Status** (Text). Open, done, or accepted. Accepted covers the findings an office has weighed and chosen to live with, such as a portal integration nobody will rebuild this year, and closing them keeps the monthly audit short.

**Reviewed on** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day this finding was checked. An agency account turns over faster than any other, so a month-old finding may describe campaigns that have since ended and listings that have since sold.

**Notes** (Text). What the next auditor needs: which campaigns are vendor funded and which are the office's own, the corridor a campaign was aimed at, the listing that was relisted under a new reference.

## The account audit

| Area | Check performed | What was found | Evidence | Severity | Impact | Recommendation | Effort | Owner | Due | Status | Reviewed on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- Every finding separates what was found from what should be done.
- Campaigns spending against sold or withdrawn listings have been listed.
- Every campaign can be traced to a listing reference and a funding source.
- Enquiry response times have been measured, not assumed.
- Office presence spend has been separated from vendor-funded spend.
- Every row has an owner by name and a due date.
- Findings somebody has decided to live with are closed as accepted.