Chapter 04
Team view: Same system, three jobs, on an ordinary Monday.
The accountant sees what is complete, what is missing and who has already had two chases. The system sends the routine follow-ups. Relationship calls come back with the history attached.
Illustrative
An example firm built from firms like yours, for demonstration only. Not a client. We model the inputs and the queue examples, then derive every total from the assumptions shown. A real audit measures each workflow in your operation.
- Profile
- Accounting firm
- Revenue
- €6M
- People
- 40
- Offices
- 2
What they see
Accountant
Does the work
Picks up clients whose papers are complete, instead of opening five files to find one that is ready. The chasing stops being their job.
- 10
- Average client files entering the chase cycle each week
- 17
- Average document-chasing hours carried each week
- 4
- Exception queues
Manager
Runs the season
Sees every client on one board: waiting, ready, in review, submitted. Knows at the start of peak season where capacity will fail.
Partner
Carries the risk
Deadlines at risk, clients who have not responded, and where the review capacity goes. Nothing surfaces for the first time in the last week.
What still needs a person
The system does not decide these. It gathers everything the decision needs, then waits.
-
Still missing after three asks
needs you todayThirty-one clients have had three chases each. This is now a relationship question, not an admin one.
31 clients
-
Deadline inside ten days
needs you todayThe papers are complete and nobody owns the file. It needs a name against it today.
9 days to deadline
-
Questions needing an opinion
this weekTwelve clients have asked something that requires a professional answer, not a template.
12 open queries
-
New-client acceptance needs sign-off
needs you todayIdentity and beneficial-owner checks are complete. The risk assessment and partner acceptance still need approval before work starts.
2 reviews
This does not remove anyone
The hours the system could take on are the retyping, the chasing and the looking-up. Your team keeps the part of the job that needed a person: the judgment, the exceptions and the customers. If a build would take somebody's job instead of the dull half of it, we say so before it starts.