# The Milestone-to-Cash Handoff Check

A blank worksheet for one recurring milestone in a service your firm already sells. Follow the evidence from accepted work into invoice readiness, issue and collection. Use anonymised case IDs. **An invoice is not collected cash; faster processing is not a financial result by itself.**

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## 1. Choose one milestone type
Start from the signed commercial condition and the actual acceptance receipt. Delivery acceptance, invoice issue and collection are separate states with different decision owners.
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### Milestone record
| Field | Your entry |
| --- | --- |
| Existing paid service / milestone type | _________________________________________________ |
| Trigger and signed contract condition | _________________________________________________ |
| Acceptance evidence and authorised approver | _________________________________________________ |
| Delivery owner / finance owner | _________________________________________________ |
| Receiving accounting or ledger record | _________________________________________________ |
| What is excluded from this check? | _________________________________________________ |
### Case boundary
One anonymised case ID: __________. Agreement version: __________. Period: __________.
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## 2. Check the handoff record
For each requirement, mark **present, missing, disputed or not applicable**. Keep version and receiving-system proof with the item. Do not infer that finance acted merely because delivery sent a pack.
### Case ID: __________ | milestone date: __________
| Required item / condition | Source and version | Status P/M/D/N | Sender → receiver / receipt |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Signed milestone/payment term | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Deliverable issue version | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Acceptance receipt / approver | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Agreed fee or time evidence | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Tax, entity and invoice fields | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Client PO or billing reference, if required | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Invoice-ready confirmation | __________ | _____ | __________ |
| Invoice ID and issued date | __________ | _____ | __________ |
### What is not yet ready?
The next owner needs __________. The missing or disputed item returns to __________ by __________.
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## 3. Draw the return routes
A blocked milestone returns to the owner who can resolve that exact issue. Finance or an authorised partner retains invoice, collection, dispute and write-off decisions. A candidate Commercial Analyst exception summary has a finance-scoped identity and corpus; it never inherits sales access by default.
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### Named owner and receipt for each route
| Exception | Resolver / decision owner | Pause rule and resolution receipt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Missing acceptance evidence | __________ | __________ |
| Scope or fee disagreement | __________ | __________ |
| Invoice field mismatch / duplicate | __________ | __________ |
| Client dispute or partial payment | __________ | __________ |
| Collection action or write-off | __________ | __________ |
### First blocked case to walk
Case ID: __________. Where it paused: __________. Who can restart it: __________.
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## 4. Measure the handoff without assuming revenue
Use one defined period and a consistent case mix. Record elapsed days from acceptance to invoice-ready separately from active staff time. Reconcile every invoice with an acceptance receipt and collection or dispute state.
### Period: __________ | eligible milestone count: _____ | case mix: __________
| Case ID | Accepted date → invoice-ready date | Corrections / active h | Invoice ID → collection/dispute state |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
| __________ | __________ → __________ | _____ / _____ h | __________ |
### Reconciliation
Eligible _____; invoice-ready _____; invoiced _____; collected _____; disputed _____; authorised write-off _____. Explain any gap before drawing a conclusion.
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## 5. Compare the improvement routes
A clearer contract/acceptance method may beat software. Compare method repair, handoff record, incumbent configuration, deterministic matching and a bounded exception summary against the same ordinary and failure cases.
### Repeated issue: _________________________________________________
| Route | Evidence it could help | Permission / approval boundary | Test / fallback owner |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Clarify acceptance criteria | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| Improve delivery → finance record | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| Configure existing accounting/CRM | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| Deterministic matching | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| Bounded exception summary | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| Keep current method / defer | __________ | __________ | __________ |
### Test the hard cases
Include unaccepted milestone, changed terms, duplicate retry, dispute and partial payment. Record source, tool path, human decision and receiving result for each.
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## 6. Make the next decision
A change is justified only when ownership, rights, quality and a measurable problem align. Do not price faster invoicing as cash acceleration without a finance-approved method and actual collection evidence.
### Decision record
| Item | Your entry |
| --- | --- |
| Next record or owner to verify | __________________________________________ |
| Measurement window and case mix | __________________________________________ |
| Current strongest blocker | __________________________________________ |
| Least burdensome route worth testing | __________________________________________ |
| Condition that would stop a change | __________________________________________ |
| Named delivery, finance and commercial owners | __________________________________________ |
### Take this to a conversation
If accepted work regularly stalls between delivery and finance, **request a Workflow Fit Call** at https://www.buildnbloom.io/contact#new-work. A founder reviews the request before offering a time. If there is fit, the paid System Blueprint is quoted separately; a simpler process or system correction may still be the answer.

### Where this sits in the service
This check follows an accepted milestone to collected cash (C3). It depends on the delivery acceptance receipt and the agreed scope and terms; those are separate evidence handoffs.