From Chaos to Clean Close: TKO Political’s Accounting Reset

Background

TKO Political is a political media and strategy firm that helps campaigns win through multi-channel advertising and media execution. Their operating rhythm follows political cycles: activity spikes in even years and peaks further in presidential election years, which makes clean, timely reporting and cash visibility critical during ramp periods.

Their work also includes high-volume “pass-through” activity (client funds coming in and being disbursed to vendors for media buys), which creates real pressure on systems, categorization, approvals, and clean financial statements.

Opportunity

TKO Political needed to move from ad hoc bookkeeping to an operating-ready finance function before the next high-volume cycle.

Two issues created compounding risk:

1. Prior-year and prior-period distortion
   They needed bank and balance sheet reconciliations going back to 2022 and confirmation that partner equity aligned to the 2022 tax return. At the same time, there were large prior-period balances sitting in Bill.com-related accounts that required investigation and correction.
2. Operational bottlenecks inside Bill.com and the GL
   They had 1,000+ emails/invoices in the Bill.com inbox and inconsistent processing, which created duplicates and delayed visibility. The chart of accounts also needed updating to remove inactive accounts and align to a scalable template.

TKO Political’s goals were clear:

• Restore trust in historical numbers (especially 2022–2023)
• Eliminate duplicates and “phantom” balances
• Implement a month-end close procedure
• Produce a dependable financial package, including more detailed reporting views (e.g., client- and campaign-level P&Ls where needed)

Solution

Quadrant implemented a structured clean-up + rebuild approach focused on controls, accuracy, and repeatability.

1) Bill.com controls and approvals (stop the bleed)

We created approval policies and grouped them in Bill.com to streamline intake and approvals. This ensured new bills followed a consistent workflow and prevented further process drift while clean-up was underway.

2) Inbox triage and documentation workflow

To bring order to the backlog, we recorded items from the Bill.com inbox into an Excel tracker for the TKO Political team to review and confirm what still needed to be processed. This created a single source of truth for backlog disposition and reduced the risk of double-entry.

3) Duplicate detection and prior-period correction

We conducted a detailed review across Bill.com Money Out, Accounts Payable, and Media Buy accounts to identify errors and duplicates. Where required, we created journal entries and adjustments to resolve misstatements and bring balances back to reality.

4) Reconciliations and close readiness

After posting prior-period adjustments, we reconciled all 2023 accounts to ensure the books were current and the balance sheet was accurate. In parallel, we established a month-end close procedure and repeatable steps for financial package preparation.

Results

Quadrant’s clean-up and controls work translated into tangible financial and operational outcomes:

Material financial correction

• Over $2M in expenses were reduced by identifying and removing duplicate records, significantly streamlining the financial statements.

A reconciled foundation

• All balance sheet accounts were reconciled, removing uncertainty and enabling reliable reporting moving forward.

Operating cadence unlocked

• New processes were established for timely monthly closes and consistent financial package preparation, shifting reporting from reactive to repeatable.

Impact

With the foundation rebuilt, TKO Political moved from “numbers we don’t trust” to “numbers we can run the business on.”

This upgrade enabled:

• Cleaner decision-making heading into election-cycle ramp periods
• Reduced noise from duplicates and backlog-driven rework
• Stronger internal accountability via Bill.com approvals and documented workflows
• A clear path to more granular reporting (client/campaign/partner views) without breaking the general ledger

Quadrant Advantage

Controls-first implementation

We don’t just “clean up” books. We install the approval flows, review loops, and close steps that keep books clean.

Deep workflow + system expertise

From Bill.com inbox triage to clearing account logic and reconciliations, we bridge operational process with accounting accuracy.

Close-ready reporting (not just bookkeeping)

Our goal is consistent closes and a financial package leadership can actually use especially critical for cyclical, high-volume firms like TKO Political.