Why Terms on Paper Don't Enforce Themselves A payment term is a legal reference point, not an automatic mechanism. Guidance on Net 30 enforcement notes that terms must appear on both the signed service agreement and the invoice itself to be fully enforceable, since the contract establishes the obligation and the invoice makes the specific...
Why Agency Billing Is Uniquely Prone to Slipping The scale of the problem is larger than most agency owners assume. Ignition's 2025 Agency Pricing and Cash Flow Report, based on a survey of 273 agency leaders across creative, digital, branding, PR, and social media services, found that 97 percent of agencies regularly deal with late...
The 3-Stage Reminder Sequence Across the invoicing and collections guidance published by Harvest, FieldPulse, and Emagia's AR automation research, the same basic sequence recurs with only minor timing variation: a courtesy reminder before the due date, a due date notice, and a series of escalating reminders afterward, typically at 7, 14, 30, and 60 days...
How Each Model Works A retainer is a recurring agreement where a client pays a fixed fee for ongoing access to a consultant's time or expertise, billed on a set cycle regardless of exactly how many hours are used in a given period. According to Oracle NetSuite's guide to consulting retainers, retainers establish an ongoing...
Benchmark Ranges by Firm Size National benchmarking data gives a useful reference point before narrowing to firm size specifically. Atradius's 2025 North America Payment Practices Barometer found business to business payment terms across sectors averaging in the 43 to 45 day range, with roughly 42 to 44 percent of invoices overdue at any given time...
What Counts as a Healthy DSO for a Consulting Firm Days sales outstanding, or DSO, measures the average number of days it takes a firm to collect payment after work is billed. It is calculated by dividing accounts receivable by total credit sales, then multiplying by the number of days in the period. Nationally, the...