Free · 80 pages · 2026 edition
The Operator's Playbook
Eighty pages on running paid media finance ops — pacing, reconciliation, FX, treasury, AI governance. Written for the finance lead who already owns the number. Field-tested by 40+ teams. Free.
Nine chapters · 80 pages
Table of contents
Setting the operating cadence
How the weekly pacing call, monthly close and quarterly board pack stack into one rhythm — without three sets of numbers.
Pacing without spreadsheets
Why MAPE matters more than YoY. Probabilistic landing zones (P10/P50/P90), confidence bands and how to brief the team on uncertainty without losing them.
Reconciliation in four days, not fourteen
The 3-way match across platforms, treasury and GL. Common breaks, how to triage them, and how to retire the journal-entry backlog by Friday.
FX corridors and the cost of doing nothing
What platform-native FX actually costs you on USD billing. Building a corridor, measuring leakage weekly, and when to hedge vs. when to absorb.
Treasury for marketing spend
Purpose-coded accounts, ring-fenced client funds, idle balance laddering. Why operating cash should hold 1.0–1.5 weeks — not three.
Guardrails, not approvals
Replacing approval queues with policy-as-code. Throttle thresholds, anomaly windows, dual-approval ceilings — and how to keep humans for what they're actually good at.
AI governance in a money-moving stack
Model cards, decision logs, EU AI Act alignment. How to explain a pacing decision to a controller — and to an auditor.
Disputes, refunds and recovery
The recovery line nobody runs. Templates for platform credits, win-rate benchmarks, and how to make recoveries a forecastable number.
Board-ready in 30 minutes
The four charts that survive the boardroom. What to cut, what to keep, and how to brief the audit committee without re-translating the data.
From teams running it today
“We retired three internal spreadsheets in week one of using the playbook.”
VP Finance · DTC brand, €18M paid media
“The pacing brief in chapter two is now our standard for new analysts.”
Head of Performance · Agency, 40 clients
“Chapter eight paid for itself — €82k of platform credits we'd left on the table.”
Finance Director · Marketplace, €60M GMV
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