--- title: "Agency collections: connecting project milestones to invoices" canonical: https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/agency-project-milestones-invoice-collections/ lang: en alternate: https://www.billabex.com/fr/blog/agence-jalons-projet-factures-relance.md alternates: fr: https://www.billabex.com/fr/blog/agence-jalons-projet-factures-relance.md en: https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/agency-project-milestones-invoice-collections.md es: https://www.billabex.com/es/blog/agencia-hitos-del-proyecto-facturas-a-reclamar.md updated: 2026-11-07 index: https://www.billabex.com/llms.txt --- # Agency collections: connecting project milestones to invoices The design team has delivered the mock-ups, the customer has approved the creative direction, and the interim invoice is still open. Accounts payable nevertheless asks for evidence of receipt. The project manager forwards a long email conversation while the salesperson says everything was accepted. What is missing is often a clear connection between three different things: the work ordered, the work delivered and the amount that should now be paid. An agency can follow up confidently when every invoice points to an identifiable contractual milestone. That connection should not depend on an approximate project completion percentage. It should establish the agreed billing trigger, evidence that it happened and the information the customer needs to process payment. The method below concerns French agencies selling to businesses. It does not replace the contract or extend French payment rules to every European transaction. ## Start with the agreement rather than the progress board A task marked complete by the production team is not necessarily ready to invoice. A campaign may be produced but awaiting legal review. A website may be available for testing without having been accepted. A deposit may be payable before any delivery takes place. The collections record needs the events defined in the agreement, using language that both parties can recognise. The AACC professional guide to financial relationships in digital communication separates approved specifications, delivery and acceptance records. Published in October 2014, it is useful as an industry document about organising work. It is not a statement of current law or a contract that automatically applies to your customer. Its practical contribution is the distinction between deliverables and the evidence used to accept them. [AACC, pages 17 to 20](https://www.aacc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Com-fin-digitale_relation-agence-annonceur-1.pdf). Review the quote and any amendments before setting up the follow-up workflow. For each financial event, record what triggers it, who can confirm it and where that confirmation is retained. If the wording is unclear, the project lead and commercial owner need to resolve the uncertainty. An automated reminder should not confidently claim that everything is payable while the agency itself is unsure about the milestone. ## Work through the amounts separately Consider an **illustrative example**, unrelated to any Billabex customer. An agency sells a project for EUR 24,000 excluding VAT. The agreement allocates 30% to the order, 40% to approval of the mock-ups and 30% to final delivery. Those amounts are EUR 7,200, EUR 9,600 and EUR 7,200 respectively. This is a teaching assumption, not a recommended allocation for every agency contract. The deposit has been received. The customer has accepted the mock-ups and the corresponding invoice has been issued, but its due date has not arrived. Final development remains in progress. The contractual amount still to be collected is EUR 16,800 excluding VAT: an open invoice for EUR 9,600 and work still to be invoiced for EUR 7,200. Nothing is overdue at this point. Labelling the full EUR 16,800 as overdue would create a premature request for the final milestone and obscure the actual interim invoice date. | Event | Illustrative amount excluding VAT | Position | Next action | | ----------------- | --------------------------------: | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | Order | EUR 7,200 | Deposit received | Preserve the payment allocation | | Mock-ups accepted | EUR 9,600 | Invoice issued, not yet due | Confirm the receipt route | | Final delivery | EUR 7,200 | Milestone not completed | Project follow-up, without a payment reminder | When requesting payment, use the actual invoice totals, including applicable VAT, and the payments allocated to them. Do not reconstruct the accounting balance by multiplying contract value by a progress percentage. The article on [using a deposit in a business transaction](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/understanding-the-deposit-a-key-tool-for-business-security/) explains that initial financial commitment in more detail. ## Retain a few references and assign their ownership A useful record has one line per financial milestone, connected to the relevant documents. Include the project identifier, customer legal entity, agreement reference, deliverable description, acceptance evidence, invoice number, due date and outstanding balance. Record both the person who confirms delivery and the person who processes payment. They frequently have different responsibilities and different information needs. The invoice must retain its own identity. The French Ministry of the Economy identifies requirements including a unique invoice number, the service date and a precise description of the services. An internal label such as “Alpha project, phase two” may mean little to an accounts payable employee who never attended the creative meetings. [Mandatory invoice information](https://www.economie.gouv.fr/entreprises/gerer-son-entreprise-au-quotidien/gerer-sa-comptabilite-et-ses-demarches/mentions-obligatoires-dune-facture-tout-savoir). Ownership matters as much as the list of fields. The project manager explains acceptance; finance checks the amount; the commercial owner handles a proposed scope change. Without those responsibilities, a shared tool merely collects contradictory statements in one place. A missing document should generate an assigned action and an expected response date, not another vague status called “in progress”. ## Keep acceptance and payment terms distinct Acceptance records and payment terms answer separate questions. The former documents an event in the agreement. The latter determines when an amount owed must be paid. Their relationship depends on the contract and applicable rules. A customer's internal approval procedure is not, by itself, an explanation for postponing payment indefinitely. For the general French business-to-business case, the DGCCRF states that a default period of **30 days** applies after receipt of goods or performance of the requested service when no payment period has been agreed. Agreed maximum periods and exceptions have their own conditions. This number is a general legal rule, not an agency payment benchmark or a clause to copy into every situation without checking the agreement. [DGCCRF guidance on payment periods](https://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf/les-fiches-pratiques/delais-de-paiement-les-regles-connaitre). If acceptance is blocked, ask which specific reservation remains unresolved and who owns that decision. If delivery has been accepted but finance needs a project code, provide that code and request confirmation that processing can continue. These are different problems. Sending reminders more frequently does not supply an absent acceptance decision or an absent accounting reference. ## Write something accounts payable can act on The recipient should be able to locate the invoice without reconstructing the entire project. A focused message can identify the quote, accepted milestone, relevant evidence and verified balance, then ask for one thing: confirmation of processing, a missing document requirement or a payment date. Make it clear why this particular person is being contacted and what would resolve the issue. Sending every creative file and discussion is rarely useful. An authorised link to the relevant record, together with the necessary evidence, makes the request easier to process and avoids unnecessary circulation of project information. Check that the recipient can access the link and that it will remain valid long enough. An inaccessible document should not be interpreted as a customer's refusal to cooperate. When a customer requests more time, do not silently replace the project's original terms. Obtain approval for the arrangement, retain the original due dates and record the newly agreed dates. The guide to [payment schedules](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/payment-schedule/) helps distinguish a documented agreement from a payment that has actually arrived in the bank account. ## Test the record before delegating reminders Choose three different real projects: one with a received deposit, one with partial acceptance and one with a disputed final balance. Ask someone who did not work on them to identify the amount payable and the next action using only the record. If they need to call the project manager to understand the invoice, a reference or explanation is still missing. Also verify that a deposit cannot reduce the outstanding amount twice, a cancelled invoice cannot remain active, and an amended quote does not erase its predecessor. These are information quality tests, not promises that payment delays will automatically fall. The guide to [client reminder software](https://www.billabex.com/en/blog/client-reminder-software/) describes other points to examine before delegating execution. The creative team can continue using its production tools while finance receives an understandable file for every request. To bring invoices and the surrounding conversation together, explore the [Billabex customer view](https://www.billabex.com/en/product/customer-view-360/). Acceptance of deliverables and commercial concessions remain decisions for the people authorised to make them.