Hiring agencies · Contract and exit
You don’t own your paid acquisition unless you own the signal pipeline. Owning the ad accounts is the start; in B2B, the valuable asset is the conversion and lead-quality data flowing from your forms and CRM back to the platforms, and that is what breaks silently in a handover.
Short answer
A paid media agency contract should give your business ownership of ad accounts, conversion data, integrations and creative; set deliverables you can check; say who approves budget and strategy changes; require reporting on qualified leads; include data-processing terms; and set a notice period and handover list with deadlines and no fees to release your accounts.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Have counsel qualified in your jurisdiction review any contract before you sign it.
Short answer
The client. Create the account in your business’s name with an internal administrator. The agency links its manager account for access. Google says a manager account with ownership doesn’t take data ownership or administrative rights away from the client account, and client account users can always unlink a manager.
Agencies usually work through a manager account linked to yours. A linked manager can also be given “ownership”, which grants full administrative access, but Google states that owners “do not take data ownership or administrative rights away from client accounts”, and that client account users “can always unlink a manager” with ownership (Google Ads Help). Keep at least one administrator from your own company on the account. Access levels are Administrative, Standard, Read only, Email only and Billing (Google Ads Help); only give each person the level their job needs.
Your business portfolio in Meta Business Suite should hold the ad account, Facebook Page, Instagram account and datasets. Meta lets a business give a partner access to assets in its portfolio, or ask a partner to share assets with it (Meta Business Help). Choose the first: assets in your portfolio, the agency added as a partner with access to specific assets.
Campaign Manager has five roles: billing admin, account manager, campaign manager, creative manager and viewer. “The person who creates the ads account is automatically assigned as the billing admin”, and each ad account must have one (LinkedIn Help). If an agency employee created your account, they are the billing admin until someone reassigns it. Create the account yourself, and give the agency campaign manager access.
Your company should own the analytics property, the tag manager container, the domain and DNS, and the landing page builder account, with the agency added as a user. Landing pages hosted on an agency’s own subscription disappear when the subscription does.
Short answer
It can break quietly if the agency owns the server-side set-up, API keys or CRM integration users. List every connection, such as Meta Conversions API, Google offline imports, LinkedIn conversions and CRM webhooks, move credentials into your business’s name, and check events are still accepted without duplicates.
For B2B lead generation this matters more than the ad account itself. The platforms learn which leads are worth finding from the stages you send back: a qualified RFQ, a sales-accepted demo, an opportunity. If that feed stops, bidding falls back to optimising for any form fill, and nobody notices until sales complains about lead quality weeks later.
How stages reach each platform is covered in CRM lead stages for ad platforms and conversion tracking.
Template
Keep one table from day one and check it yourself in each platform every quarter, not only when you are about to leave. The owner of record should always be your business.
| Asset | Agency access | Where to verify | Exit action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads account | Linked manager account; ownership setting noted | Access and security settings in the account | Confirm an internal administrator; unlink the manager account |
| Google offline conversion or enhanced conversions for leads uploads | Named user on the connection | Data Manager connections; upload history | Reconnect under your credentials; check uploads continue |
| Analytics property and tag manager container | User, not owner | Property and container user lists | Remove agency users; keep an internal administrator |
| Meta ad account, Page, Instagram account | Partner access to named assets | Business portfolio settings | Remove the partner |
| Meta datasets and Conversions API | Partner access; integration noted | Events Manager | Move the gateway or server to your account; check for duplicate events |
| LinkedIn ad account | Campaign manager | Manage access in Campaign Manager | Confirm your billing admin; remove agency users |
| LinkedIn Insight Tag, Conversions API, lead gen forms | Campaign manager | Campaign Manager data settings | Reconnect integrations under your users |
| CRM stages, integration users, API keys, webhooks | Limited user | CRM admin settings | Rotate keys; deactivate agency users |
| Customer lists and audiences | Use only | Audience managers; consent records | Confirm deletion of any copies the agency holds |
| Domains, DNS, landing page builder | User | Registrar and builder account owner | Change passwords; remove users |
| Creative source files and documentation | Delivered monthly | Your shared drive | Final export: naming conventions, change log, test results |
Checklist
The wording below is a starting point for a conversation with your counsel, not contract language to sign as it stands.
| Clause | What it should say | Starting language |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Accounts, datasets, integrations and audiences are created under and remain the client’s | “All advertising, analytics and tracking accounts, and all integrations that send data to them, shall be created in Client’s name and remain Client’s property. Agency receives user access only.” |
| Creative and IP | Deliverables, including source files, transfer on payment | “Creative materials, including editable source files, become Client’s property on payment for the period in which they were produced.” |
| Deliverables | Checkable items, not “ongoing optimisation” | “A monthly qualified-lead report by campaign, reconciled to lead status in Client’s CRM or lead sheet.” |
| Approvals and spend authority | Who can change budgets and strategy, and by how much | “Agency may not increase total monthly spend or change conversion goals without Client’s written approval.” |
| Reporting | Cadence, content and a change log | “A weekly change log stating each change, its reason and changes considered but not made.” |
| Data processing | Instructions, security, breach help, deletion or return at exit | “Agency processes personal data only on Client’s documented instructions and deletes or returns it at the end of the engagement.” |
| Tools and sub-processors | Any software the agency connects to your accounts | “Agency will list every third-party tool granted access to Client accounts and remove that access at exit.” |
| Termination and notice | Notice period for convenience and for cause | “Either party may terminate on [X] days’ written notice.” |
| Handover | A list, a deadline and no release fees | “Within [N] business days of notice, Agency delivers the handover list at no additional charge.” |
| Change freeze | No structural changes during notice unless something is broken | “During the notice period, Agency will not change conversion actions, optimisation events or bid strategies without Client’s approval.” |
Fee structures, including set-up and exit fees, are compared in marketing agency pricing. What to report on each month is in the agency performance guide.
Short answer
Usually, when it handles leads’ personal data on your behalf. The Act lets a Data Fiduciary use a Data Processor only under a valid contract, and your business stays responsible for compliance. The contract should cover instructions, security, breach help, and deleting data when the purpose ends. Confirm the position with counsel.
Consent for collecting and uploading lead data is covered in lead generation compliance.
A transition is disruptive. Unless trust has broken down, raise specific concerns in writing first, and ask whether the problem is fixable or structural.
| Reason for leaving | Usually | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Vague reporting, rare contact | Fixable | Reset cadence, KPI and report format for one cycle |
| Cheap leads sales rejects | Often fixable | Check whether the agency ever received lead status |
| No B2B or channel capability | Structural | Plan the exit |
| Accounts or integrations held in the agency’s name | Structural | Reclaim ownership before giving notice |
Short answer
Verify you own every account and integration before giving notice. Export change history, search terms, audiences and conversion set-up notes. Add the new team at the right access level and let them audit before changing anything. Avoid changing conversion actions or bid strategies mid-handover, then remove the old agency’s access.
Keep campaigns running and structure frozen. Pausing everything creates a gap in pipeline. Changing bid strategies or conversion goals mid-handover can restart learning: Google says a new strategy or setting change can take “up to around 50 conversion events or 3 conversion cycles” to calibrate (Google Ads Help). Change only what is broken until the new team has audited.
“Hi [name], under section [X] of our agreement, this is our [X]-day notice to end the engagement, effective [date]. Before that date, please confirm: (1) our company holds administrator or billing admin access on the Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn accounts; (2) every Conversions API, offline conversion and CRM integration is connected under our credentials, with a written list; (3) delivery of all creative source files and campaign documentation; (4) exports of change history, audiences, search terms and negative keywords; (5) no changes to conversion goals or bid strategies during notice without our approval; (6) deletion of any copies of our lead data once handover is complete. Happy to agree timing that works for both sides.”
Keep it factual and tied to the contract. A calm, specific list gets a faster handover than a frustrated one.
In practice
A UAE industrial supplier decides to move from its agency to an in-house team. The Ownership Register shows two problems before notice is given.
The agency created the ad account, so its employee became billing admin automatically. The supplier’s marketing manager is added as account manager, and billing admin is reassigned to the supplier’s finance lead before notice.
Qualified-enquiry events reach Meta from a server the agency pays for. The supplier sets up the same connection in its own account, checks in Events Manager that events arrive once, not twice, then asks the agency to switch its copy off.
On Google Ads, the supplier confirms two internal administrators and unlinks the agency’s manager account in week 4. The cost of skipping these steps isn’t a number on an invoice: it is weeks of Meta and LinkedIn optimising on an incomplete signal, and a billing dispute on an account the supplier thought it owned.
Let the reason you are leaving decide the next model. Capability gaps point to a different agency; context and cadence problems may point to an in-house team; cost pressure may point to a hybrid. In-house vs agency compares the options, and questions to ask before hiring an agency helps you choose well the second time.
Software can be part of the next step. Zephra works inside your own Google, Meta and LinkedIn accounts, which you connect with OAuth and can revoke; permissions are read, write and edit. Low-risk changes can run automatically; everything else follows your permissions or waits for approval, within spend boundaries and learning-phase protection, and every change is recorded in an audit log. See security and how it works.
Questions, answered
Check who holds administrator or billing admin rights in each platform. On Google Ads, a client account user can unlink a manager account. If nobody in your company has access, contact the platform’s support with proof of business ownership, and involve counsel if the contract gives you ownership.
There is no official standard. Agree a notice period that gives enough time for the four-week handover, and make sure the handover obligations apply however the contract ends.
Whoever the contract says. Specify that editable source files, not only exported images and videos, transfer to you on payment.
It shouldn’t. Customer lists contain personal data collected for your purposes. The contract should require deletion or return of any copies at exit.
Usually not. Keep proven campaigns running, freeze structural changes, and let the incoming team audit before changing anything.
Usually, where the agency handles leads’ personal data on your behalf. It can be a section of the main contract or a separate agreement; ask counsel which your jurisdiction expects.
Planning a switch?
The free ad account assessment reviews wasted spend, campaign structure, performance constraints and measurement gaps. It takes 10–15 minutes, needs no CRM and makes no campaign changes, and access is revocable.
