How we work
The engagement model, in full.
What you can expect from us, what we will need from you, and how the commercial arrangement works. Written down because most disappointment in professional services comes from assumptions nobody stated.
What you can expect
Six commitments, stated rather than implied.
Most disappointment in professional services comes from assumptions nobody wrote down. These are ours, written down.
- A named individual, accountable throughout
- Not a team inbox. One person who scoped the work and stays on it.
- A fee basis agreed before we start
- Fixed where the scope can be fixed, and a clear basis for anything outside it. No invoice that arrives as a surprise.
- A response commitment
- A stated turnaround for enquiries and for work in progress, agreed at the outset. If something will take longer, you hear that rather than nothing.
- Reporting dates you can plan around
- Agreed at the outset and held to. If we are going to miss one, we tell you before the date, not after it.
- Documentation you keep
- Process notes, models and working papers are yours. Nothing is structured to make leaving us difficult.
- The difficult conversation, early
- If we think the answer you want is not the answer that will hold, you get our view while it is still useful.
Approach
How an engagement actually runs.
The same four stages whether the work is a single question or a multi-year finance function.
Scope in writing
What is being decided, who decides it, what we will deliver and what it will cost. Ambiguity here is where engagements go wrong.
Work with the people who hold the detail
Findings come from the people doing the work, not from a document review at arm's length.
Review before it leaves
Nothing goes to a client, a regulator or a lender without a second qualified reviewer who did not prepare it.
Close with a decision
Every engagement ends in something actionable — a filing made, a position documented, a recommendation with an owner and a date.
Commercials
How fees work
Recurring work — bookkeeping, payroll, compliance filings, outsourced finance — is quoted as a fixed monthly or annual fee against a defined scope.
Project work is quoted as a fixed fee where the scope can be defined, and on a rate basis where it genuinely cannot. Where it cannot, we say so and agree a cap.
Anything outside the agreed scope is quoted before it is started, not billed afterwards.
Specific fees depend on scope and are confirmed in writing before work begins.
Governance & quality
What stands behind the opinion.
Assurance work is only worth what the process behind it is worth. Ours is documented and reviewable.
- Independent second review
- Every deliverable is reviewed by a qualified person who did not prepare it, before it is issued.
- Conflict and independence checks
- Run before an engagement is accepted, and again where a client's circumstances change materially.
- Documented working papers
- Every conclusion is supported by a file that a reviewer who was not present can follow.
- Client acceptance standards
- We assess whether we can do the work properly before accepting it. Some engagements we decline.
About
More about the firm
Next step
Ask what an engagement would look like.
Bring the problem and we will tell you the shape, the stages and the basis for the fee before you commit to anything.
Not ready for a meeting? Ask one specific question instead.
What follows
- A person in the relevant practice reads it, not a routing queue.
- One reply that already contains a view, not a request to book a call.
- A written scope and fee basis, or a straight answer that there is no work to do.
- Sunday – Thursday, 9:00 – 18:00 GST