How work becomes cash, in the order it actually happens
ORIGIN has one central financial problem, and it is cashflow. The root cause is not pricing and not sales. It is a chain: a delay slips a milestone, the slip delays client feedback, and with no feedback the invoice is never issued. Everyone here sits somewhere on that chain.
Source: Register tab 4 row 22
Three clocks, and you must be able to tell them apart
People here talk about three different numbers and often use one word for all three. Learn the difference and you will read every report correctly.
| The clock | What it means | When it starts |
|---|---|---|
| Booked | What the client has signed | On signature |
| Revenue | What has been invoiced, net of credit notes | On delivery and invoicing |
| Collected | What has actually been paid | When the money lands in the bank |
Source: Open item 122, Marwan Arban ruling of 8 September 2026; register tab 4 row 30
The cycle target is measured on booked. Collected is the cash and reporting lens, not the achievement basis. The two were never meant to match, so never treat a gap between them as an error.
Source: Register tab 4 row 30, ruled final by Marwan Arban on 8 August 2026
TO CONFIRM
The revenue definition above is a candidate row, not a promoted register fact. It is recorded on Marwan Arban words and is not yet in the financial setup tab. Expect the wording to be tightened.
Source: Open item 122, status candidate
Step one, a deliverable becomes accepted
Nothing downstream happens until a deliverable is accepted. Two things make that happen.
- The client approves it. That is the normal route.
- The client says nothing. Silence reads as approved after five business days from delivery, so a milestone never stalls on an unanswered email.
Source: Register tab 17 row 7
Two rounds of revision are included per cycle. A third is not a favour, it is a change request, and it is quoted. Your Team Lead is empowered to say so.
Source: Register tab 17 row 6; tab 10 row 14
TO CONFIRM
The whole service level and acceptance tab is marked draft, every figure marked to revise pending Marwan Arban. The five day gate is marked to confirm as the house standard, and the clause itself is recorded as building. Working standard only: check it before it reaches a client.
Source: Register tab 17 rows 2 to 7; tab 7 row 11; Open item 7
Step two, what acceptance permits
Acceptance permits one thing: an invoice. It does not permit the next phase or a payment.
The chain has a fixed shape. The Team Lead reports the milestone acceptance. The Head of OS approves it. Only then can Finance issue the invoice. Finance cannot issue without that approval, and while the post is vacant, Marwan Arban holds the gate.
Source: Register tab 10 row 7
An automation carries a milestone to an invoice and routes it to the Head of OS for a one tap approval. It never issues by itself. If you hear the system invoiced something automatically, that is a defect.
Source: Register tab 4 row 23; tab 10 row 7
What counts as a signed start
An engagement starts properly in one of two ways, and both need signatures from both sides.
- A proposal plus an MSA on the ORIGIN template, signed by both parties.
- A purchase order on the client own template, signed by both parties, which identifies the ORIGIN proposal by title, version or date, carries the scope, and is acknowledged by ORIGIN in writing.
Source: Open item 120, Marwan Arban ruling of 6 September 2026
Where the printed terms on a purchase order disagree with the proposal, the order of precedence clause decides which one wins. Do not resolve that yourself in an email.
Source: Open item 120
TO CONFIRM
A candidate row with two questions still open, and the purchase order limb is a Chief of Staff default Marwan Arban may reverse. Recorded reach is from 6 September 2026 forward, with running engagements joining at their next renewal.
Source: Open item 120, status candidate
Step three, payment
Standard payment terms are five days from invoice. Reality varies, which is why collection is a named job. Retainers and transformation programmes bill quarterly in advance, service work bills against milestones, and the split is a commercial term that lives in the register.
Source: Register tab 7 row 5
Money leaves ORIGIN on two payment runs a month, on the fifth and the twenty fifth. The monthly cash plan hangs off those runs and holds the planned business development, expansion, campaign and travel spend. An unplanned payment above a set threshold is Marwan Arban decision.
Source: Open item 123, Marwan Arban word of 8 September 2026
Two tax lines appear on every price table. VAT is 15 percent in KSA, always stated as an explicit exclusion above the total rather than folded into it. Withholding tax is always excluded explicitly too.
Source: Register tab 4 rows 5 and 6
TO CONFIRM
The payment runs rule and its thresholds are candidate rows on Marwan Arban words of 8 and 9 September 2026, not yet promoted into the financial setup tab.
Source: Open items 123 and 130, status candidate
Credit notes
A credit note reduces revenue already invoiced, which makes it one of the few documents that can move a reported number after the fact.
- The Finance Manager owns the process and proposes each credit note with its reason, its evidence and its cash impact.
- Every credit note needs Marwan Arban yes, taken in the Sunday decision block.
- The one exception is a correction of an invoicing error below a small set threshold, which the Finance Manager clears alone.
Source: Open item 124, Marwan Arban word of 8 September 2026
TO CONFIRM
The credit note process is a candidate row. It carries Marwan Arban agreement in his own words and is not yet promoted into the financial setup tab.
Source: Open item 124, status candidate
Who chases a late payment
Collection sits with Finance to run and the Head of OS to approve, which means Marwan Arban while the post is vacant. It is not the Growth Team job, and it is not left to whoever spoke to the client last.
Source: Register tab 10 row 7
The bands are simple. Inside its term an invoice is green, past its term red, with an optional amber for the five days before. One client currently represents a large share of invoices issued, so a single late payer moves the whole company position.
Source: Register tab 10 row 4; tab 4 row 25
Why a delayed sign off is a cash problem
Take one thing from this section. A milestone waiting on client feedback is not a project inconvenience. It is money that cannot be invoiced, in a company whose central problem is cashflow. A week of silence is a week of revenue that does not exist.
Source: Register tab 4 row 22
Three fixes are in flight: a cashflow tracker, the milestone to invoice automation, and the acceptance clause with its auto accept gate. Your part is smaller and more important. Deliver, confirm acceptance in writing, and tell your Team Lead the day it slips.
Source: Register tab 4 row 23
ONE RULE ABOUT NUMBERS
This section names rules, never prices. Margin targets, floors, multipliers, pass through and overage rates live in the register and change by ruling. Never quote one from memory.
Source: Register tab 4 rows 9, 11, 12 and 13