Review Client Engagements Before and After

Source: Inside Public Accounting

The following includes excerpts from the article "Before And After Reviews Of Client Engagements; How One Firm Fine-Tuned The Process."

Four years ago, Moody, Famiglietti, & Adronico (Massachusetts) adopted a model originally created at the U.S. Army's National Training Center, modified for business use by Signet Research & Consulting (www.signetconsulting.com). The process incorporates an Action Review Cycle (ARC) for each client.

An ARC consists of two key parts, known as Before Action Reviews (BARs) and After Action Reviews (AARs). Each client has a 'relationship partner' who is ultimately in charge and leads the BAR and the AAR initiatives. The action is a meeting that brings staff from different facets of the firm together to talk about a client and share ideas about how to be effective with that client.

Here is a specific example: During a BAR to prepare for an audit, a team member from the wealth advisory group mentioned that the owners of the business did not like to talk about succession planning. Normally the firm would broach the subject, but once the team knew that information, they took the topic off the table. Bringing up a sensitive topic that a client has already specifically addressed with a member of the firm would likely be irritating and likely cause the client to wonder, "Don't these people talk to each other?"

Good communication allows MFA to manage the client relationship more effectively and add value as a service provider.

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From Inside Public Accounting, May 2009, p. 10, The Platt Consulting Group, www.plattgroupllc.com. Subscription $389 per year; back issues--nonsubscribers $50. 317-733-1920.