By way of a welcome to Compliance On Call and to introduce you to this blog, I have adapted the text of an email that I sent to some IPs last year.
Less than a month ago I wrote to you about the latest expansion of Compliance On Call. That leaflet campaign has been very successful and there are only a few visit slots left in May and June. As Gareth and I travel around the country on visits we are staying over for an extra day to give local IPs a chance to talk to us in their offices. We have found that trying to telephone IPs to arrange visits is very difficult, as most of you are busy in meetings or work unusual hours and it often takes several attempts to contact each IP. As a result, although we will continue to work through the IPs on our database, many of you may not be contacted for over a year, unless you jump the queue by contacting us first.
With this in mind, I summarise below the issues that have arisen in conversations with the IP’s who have been in touch so far. To date, nearly every IP I have spoken to has indicated that he will use Compliance On Call, so the answers must cover most concerns, but if you have a different matter to raise, please feel free to call me.
Q How much do you charge?
A Compliance On Call’s rates are based on £225 plus VAT an hour, discounted to £1,500 plus VAT for each 7.5 hour day.
Q What does that cover?
A Compliance On Call charges only for the time spent on the actual visit. No charges will be incurred for planning the visit. No ‘disbursements’ will pump up the agreed rate. No charges will be incurred for the summary report produced post-visit. Possibly most importantly, as you update systems and documents to address matters found on the visit, telephone and email support will be available, also without charge.
Q So does this mean the visits will all have to be long?
A The visits will be planned to suit you. The initial planning letter will recommend the matters to be covered and propose a visit, or series of visits to achieve what your practice needs. Compliance On Call is committed to long term client relationships, so we’d rather do a one or two day ‘taster’ visit now and show what we can do in the time than try to cover everything in one go just to get your money into our cash flow! Because we are careful not to overload a practice and allow time for you to address issues on one visit before we raise a new raft of deficiencies to address, our experience to date is that IPs are likely to call us back for another visit before the time we recommend in our report.
Q If you want to get me to invite you back, isn’t there a risk that you’ll avoid raising contentious issues?
A You may not have met Bill and Gareth!! To give you advice that has any value, Compliance On Call must confront your existing practices and present a robust case for whatever improvement is needed to reach the regulators’ required standards. The regulators do not employ shrinking violets, so Compliance On Call will present the truth, however unpalatable. We just soften the blow by suggesting a solution as well.
Q I only wanted some new checklists, do you sell them?
A No. The review checklists used on your visit are yours to keep at no extra charge. They are not write-protected and you are actively encouraged to use them to improve your own internal reviews. Compliance On Call cannot produce case administration checklists because there is a risk to the confidentiality of other clients, in that matters included in such a list might well draw on checklists seen elsewhere. Secondly, most IP’s are able to use their contacts to ‘borrow’ something suitable. Thirdly, and probably the first ‘unpalatable truth’ (see answer above this), you need a checklist that is appropriate to your practice. You may start with, say, IPS Turnkey’s checklist, but you then need to adapt it to meet the knowledge and skills of your staff and your existing work processes. The only way to do that is for you or a member of your staff to put in the necessary graft.
Q Bill Burch is a former ACCA monitor. Can you help those licensed by other regulatory bodies?
A While working for ACCA, Bill carried out monitoring visits on behalf of ACCA, The Law Society and NARA/RICS. In addition, Gareth used to head up the Insolvency Practitioners Compliance Unit at the Insolvency Service, so he has experience of regulating the regulators. Compliance On Call has developed, and is constantly revising, packages to suit all IP’s no matter whom their regulator may be. Even the needs of firms with IP’s regulated by several different regulators can be met. In addition, as we expand, Compliance On Call will recruit compliance specialists with knowledge of other regulators, to ensure that the current thinking of the main regulators is incorporated into any service offered.
Q How do I find out more?
A Contact Bill or Gareth, either by phone or by email. If you have found this weblog, you also know someone who has the email and phone numbers, which are not published here because of the open nature of web logs. We will need some basic details to be able to plan the visit and will then issue you with a planning/booking letter including an estimate of the visit(s) duration and cost, together with a full copy of the Compliance On Call terms of engagement.
Q Does that mean I have to use Compliance On Call?
A Until you confirm acceptance of the planned visit and the terms of engagement you are not committed to anything and what’s more, even if the plan suggests a series of visits over more than a year, you only accept the first visit. If you don’t like what you get, you can switch to another provider, or just cover the requirements internally without penalty.
Compliance On Call has some availability in May and June and we may be able to fit in visits between scheduled re-visits to IPs we helped last year who are due for their next review in July. With only two of us to plan, execute and report on each visit, our capacity is finite and we would encourage you to get in touch as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
