Published: 17 September 2026

TL;DR: A buyer running agent-negotiated deals should have three audit rights: deal record access, decision log access, and delivery comparison capability. Deal record access means the ability to retrieve the DealSheet for any deal independently of the counterparty. Decision log access means the ability to see what the agent evaluated and decided, with the mandate parameters it applied. Delivery comparison means the ability to check what was delivered against what the DealSheet specified. When evaluating a marketplace, ask explicitly whether these three rights are provided or whether they depend on the marketplace choosing to share information.

Audit rights are not a compliance formality. They are the mechanism through which a buying organisation can answer the question that governance requires answering: did our agent operate correctly on our behalf? Without audit rights, that question can only be answered by trust. With audit rights, it can be answered by evidence.

Three specific audit rights define adequate buyer governance over agent-negotiated deals. Each addresses a different part of the operational record.

Audit Right One: Deal Record Access

The most fundamental audit right is the ability to retrieve the DealSheet for any deal the agent agreed. This retrieval should be independent of the counterparty: the buyer should be able to access the DealSheet without asking the publisher, without asking the marketplace to run a query on their behalf, and without waiting for a scheduled report.

What to check in the DealSheet: - Agreed CPM against the mandate ceiling for the relevant content category - Inventory parameters against the mandate's approved category list - Deal size against the mandate's approval threshold - Timestamp of agreement against the campaign period

The bilateral nature of the DealSheet is what makes independent retrieval possible. Because both parties hold the same record, the buyer's copy does not depend on the publisher's cooperation. If the marketplace holds the DealSheet in shared state with both-party access, the buyer can retrieve it regardless of whether the publisher is available or cooperative.

What to ask the marketplace: Can I retrieve every DealSheet for a defined date range, in a format I can audit myself, without requiring any action from the counterparty or from the marketplace's support team?

Audit Right Two: Decision Log Access

The DealSheet tells you what the agent agreed. The decision log tells you how the agent made its decisions: which proposals it received, how it evaluated them against the mandate parameters, what it accepted, what it declined, and why.

Decision log access matters for a specific reason. A buyer whose agent agreed deals within the mandate parameters but cannot explain why it declined certain proposals has incomplete governance. The deal outcomes may be correct, but the decision process is opaque. A regulator, an internal audit function, or a client reviewing the campaign may ask not just what deals were agreed, but why certain deals were not pursued. The decision log is the answer to that question.

What to check in the decision log: - Were declined proposals declined because they fell outside mandate parameters, with the specific parameter cited? - Were accepted proposals accepted against a specific mandate parameter, not a general judgement? - Were escalations to human review triggered by the approval thresholds defined in the mandate?

What to ask the marketplace: Can I access the full decision log for a campaign period, showing every proposal the agent evaluated and the mandate parameter it applied to each decision?

Audit Right Three: Delivery Comparison

After a campaign, the buyer needs to verify that what was delivered matches what the DealSheet specified. This is not a novel requirement. It is the standard post-campaign reconciliation that programmatic buyers perform. What changes in agent-negotiated deals is the reference point.

In conventional programmatic, delivery reconciliation compares the buyer's DSP delivery data against the publisher's SSP delivery data. Discrepancies between the two are the subject of reconciliation. In agent-negotiated deals, the reference point is the DealSheet: the agreed terms that both parties hold.

What to check in delivery comparison: - Did the impressions delivered match the volume specified in the DealSheet? - Was the inventory delivered against the content categories specified in the DealSheet? - Did the completion rate meet the minimum specified in the mandate and agreed in the DealSheet?

What to ask the marketplace: Can I retrieve delivery data for agent-negotiated deals in a format that maps to the DealSheet fields, so I can compare agreed terms against delivered terms without manual data joining?

What to Check When Evaluating a Marketplace

The three audit rights above should be explicitly provided by any marketplace handling agent-negotiated deals. When evaluating a marketplace, ask these specific questions:

Can I retrieve DealSheets independently, without counterparty cooperation? Can I access the agent's decision log showing mandate parameter application? Can I retrieve delivery data that maps to DealSheet fields?

If the answer to any of these questions is "the marketplace provides this on request" or "this information is available through our reporting portal," ask a follow-up: is the data available in a format I can export and audit independently, or does it exist only within your reporting interface?

Audit rights that exist only within a marketplace's reporting interface are not independent audit rights. They are the marketplace's view of the data, presented in the marketplace's format. Genuine audit rights give the buyer access to the underlying records in an exportable format.

Why This Matters Beyond Compliance

A buyer who exercises these three audit rights after every campaign develops a practical understanding of how their mandate is performing. The DealSheet retrieval shows whether CPM outcomes are consistent with mandate parameters. The decision log shows whether the agent is applying the mandate as intended. The delivery comparison shows whether agreed terms are being fulfilled.

Over time, this data informs mandate refinement. CPM ceilings that are consistently well below the agreed price indicate the mandate has headroom. Decision logs showing frequent escalations indicate the approval thresholds may need adjustment. Delivery comparisons showing consistent fulfilment of DealSheet terms indicate the sell-side agents the buyer is working with are reliable counterparties.

Audit rights are not just a governance requirement. They are the input to continuous mandate improvement.