.avif)
Oliver Schrott Kommunikation, or OSK for short, is a PR and communications agency headquartered in Cologne with additional locations in Berlin, Stuttgart, Friedrichshafen, Beijing, and New York. The agency operates extensively on a project basis: travel, events, and international assignments are often directly allocated to specific client projects.
This very project logic made expense reporting cumbersome before Circula. Expenses were processed as accounts payable through the project management software, while receipts were stored in the DMS and additionally in physical paper folders. Each expenditure had to be correctly assigned to a job number, separated by billable and non-billable projects. Incorrect or missing information led to queries from accounting and complicated monthly preparation.
Since July 2021, OSK has been using Circula as a central platform for expenses and credit cards. Job numbers and cost centers are imported daily via SFTP from the project management software, and the input form was customized to OSK's mandatory fields.
The result: over 30,000 processed receipts, €19.5 million total volume exported, under 2 days from submission to export, 80–99% Same-Month Processing Rate and 100% activation of invited employees.
Reconciliation
At OSK, a large portion of expenses is directly tied to client projects: travel, international assignments, events, or project-related expenditures. For accounting, it wasn't just important that a receipt was submitted. Crucially, each expense had to be correctly assigned to a job number and the right project type.
Before Circula, this process involved multiple channels. Expense reporting was handled as accounts payable via the project management software, while receipts were archived partly digitally in the DMS and partly physically in paper folders. As a result, project information, receipts, and accounting data had to be regularly reconciled manually.
Additional mandatory fields increased complexity. Depending on the category, employees had to add start and destination locations, flight data, or other details. Without a standardized input logic, incomplete information and queries arose. Especially during month-end closing, this often led to a lack of timely transparency regarding ongoing expenditures and project-related costs.
OSK therefore didn't need a standard expense solution, but rather a system that fit its project-driven agency structure: with job number logic, flexible mandatory fields, credit card integration, and automatic cost center reconciliation.
The Solution: Daily Cost Center Import and Guided Entry
OSK went live with Circula in July 2021. During setup, the input mask was adapted to the agency's requirements: mandatory fields were configured, renamed, and expanded to include specific fields such as flight data. This ensures that relevant information is collected in a structured way directly upon submission.
The most important technical component is the daily cost center import from the project management software. Current job numbers and cost centers are automatically imported into Circula via an SFTP interface. This allows employees to select the appropriate job number from an up-to-date list instead of manually entering project data.
With Circula Credit Cards, card expenditures also flow into the same workflow. Expenses and credit card transactions are no longer viewed separately but are submitted, reviewed, and exported centrally.
“Circula provides us with full transparency over employee expenses at all times and enables precise and efficient control of our costs.” Misak Halici, Finance Team Lead
The Results: Fast Export, High Adoption, and Project-Specific Transparency
Since going live, over 30,000 receipts have been processed via Circula. The total exported volume is approximately €19.5 million. What's particularly impressive is not just the volume, but the speed: On average, less than 2 days.
1. Under 2 Days to Export
The same-month processing rate consistently ranges between 80 and 99%. This means that a very high proportion of receipts are finally processed within the month of submission. For accounting, this makes monthly preparation significantly more predictable and reduces late follow-up work.
2. Job Numbers Are Automatically Kept Up-to-Date
Thanks to daily imports from the project management software, employees have access to current job numbers and cost centers directly in Circula. This reduces misallocations and ensures that project-related expenses are recorded more accurately upon initial submission.
3. 55.2% of receipts are processed via credit cards
Well over half of all receipts are now handled through integrated credit cards. This brings together expenses and card transactions into a single process, instead of having to be reconciled separately.
4. 100% Activation
All invited employees have activated their Circula account. This is strong evidence of acceptance for an agency-wide process change, especially since the solution is used daily by distributed teams across multiple locations.
“Circula significantly accelerates the recording and processing of costs in the ERP system, allowing them to be promptly recharged to clients. At the same time, the early review of cost centers and other relevant information has noticeably reduced the error and correction rate. This leads to more efficient processes and less manual effort in accounting.” Misak Halici, Finance Team Lead
Conclusion
With Circula, OSK has aligned its expense process with the requirements of a project-driven agency. Crucial was not only digital receipt capture, but also the combination of job number logic, daily cost center import, flexible mandatory fields, and credit card integration.
Since July 2021, over 30,000 receipts with a volume of approximately €19.5 million processed. The median time is less than 2 days from submission to export, the same-month processing rate is 80 to 99%, and the activation rate is 100%.
For OSK, Circula is more than just an expense tool. It's a project-based expense process that combines agency reality, accounting, and client project logic in one system.
“We would recommend other agencies and project-based companies to at least test modern solutions like Circula as part of a pilot project. Many companies underestimate how flexibly such systems can adapt to existing processes and individual requirements.” Misak Halici, Finance Team Lead
