# How do I make sure the handover goes well?

**Short answer.** Ask for source files, access and running commitments while the relationship is still live, not afterwards. A handover clause costs nothing at the start and weeks after the fact.

Ask for everything while the relationship is still live, not afterwards. That is the whole art: a handover that starts at notice runs cleanly, a handover that starts on the final day does not run at all.

## The checklist

**Files**

- Source files for everything that was made, in editable format and not as pdf.
- Photography and video in original format, with the licence terms attached.
- Fonts and their licences, with the expiry date.
- The brand book and the templates, in their latest version.

**Access**

- Ad accounts, analytics, tag management, marketing automation.
- Domain names, hosting, certificates, administrator rights on your website.
- Social media channels, and the two-factor verification attached to them.

Put those accounts in your company's name and give the agency access, rather than the other way round. If you have not done that yet, this is the moment.

**Commitments**

- Running licences with their end dates, so your successor knows what expires.
- Contracts with suppliers, photographers, voices and models.
- What is still running and what is still to be invoiced.

**Knowledge**

- One two-hour handover conversation between the old and the new agency, with you present. This is the most valuable part and the one most often skipped.
- What was tried over recent years and did not work. Without that your new agency will repeat it.

## What you should have settled at the start

A handover clause in the contract: which files, in what format, within what period, and at whose cost. At the start that clause costs nothing, because nobody has an interest in being difficult yet. See [what to put in an agency contract](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-in-een-bureaucontract).

## The tone decides the result

An agency parted with properly delivers a proper handover, even when the contract requires little. An agency that heard it from someone else does exactly what the contract says and not a line more. See [how to end things with an agency properly](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/een-bureau-opzeggen).

In a guided agency switch this checklist runs from the moment of notice, so the new agency does not start by hunting for files. See [Agency selection & pitches](https://www.ikag.be/en/agency-selection).

See also: [who owns the work when you stop](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/van-wie-is-het-werk).

## Related questions

- [Who owns the work when we stop?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/van-wie-is-het-werk): The maker owns it, unless it was transferred to you in writing. That holds even for work you paid for in full, and it is the most expensive surprise in an agency switch.
- [How do I end things with an agency properly?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/een-bureau-opzeggen): Yourself, in person, before the letter goes out, and with the reason attached. The agency world is small: how you leave decides who shows up for your next pitch.
- [What do I put in a contract with an agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-in-een-bureaucontract): Six things decide everything later: the scope, who works on it, how you order more, who holds the rights, how you terminate, and how handover works. The rest is boilerplate.

---

IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19