Erlösverluste durch unvollständige Abrechnung von Retainern und Auslagen

Definition

The Australian Government Charging Framework requires that charging arrangements, including what is being charged and how prices are determined, are documented and aligned with efficient costs of providing services.[1][2] For government relations firms on monthly or quarterly retainers with scope for additional billable work and reimbursable travel or campaign expenses, manual processes often fail to align delivered effort and incurred costs with what is actually invoiced. Errors include forgetting to invoice indexation or agreed fee uplifts, missing ad‑hoc billable tasks that fall outside the base retainer, and not passing through all eligible disbursements. Because many charges must be justified with clear documentation to government clients under cost recovery principles, missing or mismatched records are often simply written off rather than rebilled, leading to permanent revenue leakage. Logic‑based estimation: industry surveys of professional services frequently report 1–5% of billable time never being invoiced due to poor capture and process gaps; applying a conservative 1–3% leakage to a firm with AUD 3m in annual government‑related retainers and expenses suggests AUD 30k–90k of foregone revenue each year. For large multi‑office practices with AUD 10m+ in Australian government work, unbilled services and expenses can reasonably exceed AUD 100k–300k annually.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Government relations firms in Australia 🇦🇺 leave 1–3% of billable retainer revenue and recoverable expenses uncharged each year due to spreadsheet-based tracking. Automation of time capture, expense coding, and contract-linked invoicing can recapture AUD 20k–150k per firm annually.

Affected Stakeholders

Managing Partner / Practice Lead (Government Relations), Engagement / Account Managers, Billing and Revenue Assurance Teams, Project Managers overseeing campaigns for government clients

Related Business Risks