The Agency Accountability Checklist is a 15-point monthly review an Indian business owner can run on any marketing agency in under an hour, covering work evidence, account ownership, report honesty, money and results.
Most owners pay an agency retainer every month and receive a report every month, yet have no fixed way of checking the one against the other. The review meeting runs on whatever the agency chooses to present. This checklist reverses that: the same fifteen checks, in the same order, every month, whoever is presenting. Print it, keep it with the invoice file, and mark it on a fixed date each month; the day the report lands works well.
Each item takes two to five minutes and needs nothing beyond access to your own accounts and your own enquiry book. No technical background is required. If you can read a bank statement, you can run this review. There is no form on this page and nothing is asked of you: print it, or send it to yourself on WhatsApp, and start using it this month.
How to use it
Score each item 2 for a yes you can show evidence for, 1 for not sure, and 0 for no. Thirty points are available each month. Read your total as a leaning, not a verdict:
| Monthly score | Leaning | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 24 to 30, no zero in Parts 2 or 3 | Keep leaning | The work is probably real. Keep the relationship and keep running the review. |
| 15 to 23 | Fix leaning | Something real is happening but parts are misdirected or opaque. Raise the low-scoring items at the next review. |
| Below 15, or any zero on items 4 to 8 | Replace risk | Ownership and reporting-honesty failures outrank everything else. Verify the facts independently before you renew. |
A self-score is directional, and a few items need someone reading the account itself. The full scoring rubric, with what each band means and what to do next, is on the 15-point self-check page.
Part 1. Work evidence
Is anyone actually working in the account this month?
- 1. The Google Ads change history shows meaningful human work this month.Open Change history, set the range to the last 30 days. Search term reviews, negative keywords, new ads and bid strategy work count. Budget nudges alone do not.
- 2. The search terms report was reviewed and negative keywords were added within the last 90 days.Irrelevant queries with spend against them are rupees leaking every month. Check the negative keyword lists for recent additions.
- 3. At least one new ad, creative or audience test ran this quarter.An account with no tests is on autopilot. Ask what was tested and what the result was.
Part 2. Ownership
Do you still own your own accounts?
- 4. You know your Google Ads account ID and hold admin access under your own email.Confirm both are still true this month, not just once at signup.
- 5. Your Meta Page, pixel and ad account sit in a Business Manager your business controls.Not the agency's Business Manager with you added as a user. Yours.
- 6. GA4 and Google Tag Manager admin, plus the domain and hosting, are in your name.Ownership rarely changes month to month, which is exactly why a monthly tick stops it drifting quietly.
Part 3. Report honesty
Does this month's report survive contact with the raw data?
- 7. This month's report numbers match the raw platform numbers when you open the platform yourself.Pick one number, the lead count works best, and find it in Google Ads, Meta or GA4 with your own login.
- 8. Conversions are counted once, with no duplicate conversion goals.The same enquiry counted under two goals doubles the report. Check the conversion goals screen.
- 9. The report states cost per enquiry in rupees.Reach and impressions are context. Cost per enquiry in INR is the number that pays salaries.
- 10. The report includes at least one miss, failure or "this did not work" this month or recently.A report that has never carried bad news is a brochure, not a report.
Part 4. Money
Does this month's money add up?
- 11. You can state, without looking it up, how this month's payment splits between agency fee and ad spend.If you cannot, the invoice is doing less than its job.
- 12. You understand the fee model and this month's invoice shows it clearly.Flat retainer, percentage of spend or hybrid: whichever it is, the invoice should say so, with GST shown where the agency is registered.
Part 5. Results
Are this month's results real?
- 13. This month's leads answer the phone, come from cities you serve, and some become customers.Ring three of them yourself if you have any doubt.
- 14. Your own enquiry book moved in the same direction as the report this month.Calls, walk-ins and WhatsApp enquiries should trend with the report's curve, not against it.
- 15. Every question you asked this month got a plain-language answer, not a presentation.You should never need a translator for your own money.
The four frameworks behind this checklist
- The Keep-Fix-Replace test: the three-verdict method for judging an agency on evidence.
- The Three Access Rule: what must sit in your own name on every marketing platform.
- The 30-Minute Owner's Check: the self-audit you can run inside your own Google Ads account.
- The Agency Accountability Checklist: this page, the monthly review that ties the other three together.
Prepared by Apex Influence, apexinfluence.in/marketing-agency-audit