Trigger
Review project signaled ready
1
Internal Review
Lead Accountant + Controller
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from Staff Accountant to Lead Accountant. Transferred: the reconciled close with refreshed reports. Acceptance criteria: the first review task checked in Financial Cents. Adjusting entries post, the lead runs the initial review against the month-end template and lead review doc, and the controller runs final review. Ends with financials both reviewers are willing to put in front of the client.
PROCESS 1.1
Initial Review Process
Post the month's adjusting entries in QuickBooks Online.
End state
Adjusting entries posted
The lead works the month-end template's step-by-step review tasks, including embedded walkthrough videos for complex items like adjusting entries. The lead verifies each bank account's reconciliation detail report and fills out the lead review Google Doc as they go with notes and questions for the final reviewer. The doc is linked in Financial Cents and lives in the client's shared drive. Under load the per-account reconciliation checks get skipped, making this a named AI quality target.
Trigger
Adjusting entries posted
End state
Initial review complete with issues resolved or noted
Work the firm's internal notes checklist tailored to the client: reconciliation status, aging uncleared items, receivables over 90 days, undeposited funds clearing, inventory ties, and trend checks.
Trigger
Initial review complete
End state
Internal review notes filed on the client
PROCESS 1.2
Final Review Process
Controller-level review and approval of the month's package.
Trigger
Lead review and internal notes complete
End state
Financials approved for client delivery
Route final-review findings back to the lead for correction and re-review. Inferred: the routing mechanism is undocumented.
Trigger
Final review finds issues
End state
Exceptions resolved and re-reviewed
2
Client Narrative
Lead Accountant
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from Controller to Lead Accountant. Transferred: approved financials. Acceptance criteria: final review complete with no open exceptions. The client-facing summary is generated with the firm's standing AI prompt and checked before delivery. Ends with a client-ready narrative alongside the report package.
PROCESS 2.1
External Notes Process
The firm's external-notes prompt uses the P&L, balance sheet, and budget report when available and delivers the output as a docx, per the external-notes prompt spec in Jennifer's 2026-07-08 template folder. It fills the client template with portal availability, profit or loss for the month, cash position as the total of all bank accounts rather than total current assets, and YTD current-year vs prior-year comparisons, with dollars rounded to the nearest thousand dollars and percentages to one decimal. It computes gross profit margin as (revenue - COGS) / revenue, names the biggest driver for expenditure changes, and shows budget as dollars and percent used. Missing financial data is marked "[Not provided in financials]" or "[Data not available]" and is never estimated. The fixed advisory follow-up questions are appended verbatim to seed advisory discussion points.
Trigger
Financials approved for delivery
End state
Draft external notes generated
The external-notes prompt spec mandates a pre-delivery review, per Jennifer's 2026-07-08 template folder. Confirm no values were estimated, all placeholders were resolved or explicitly marked, rounding is consistent, the advisory questions are appended verbatim, and any line that could be misread or create liability for the firm is flagged before delivery.
Trigger
Draft notes generated
End state
Narrative verified accurate
3
Delivery and Client Touch
Lead Accountant + Controller
This phase begins when the verified package is ready for delivery; carried forward: approved financials plus the verified narrative; entry criteria: package complete for the month. Reports upload to the client portal and the Drive archive, the delivery goes out through the portal, and advisory-tier clients get their advisory call scheduled. The welcome packet states the client-facing goal is financial statements to the client by the 20th of the month, enabled by timely client responses. For advisory-tier clients, the advisory call is a Functional handoff from the lead accounting function into the advisory function (see the client-lifecycle map, Advisory Services phase). This phase ends the workflow when the client has the month's package and any tier-entitled call is on the calendar.
PROCESS 3.1
Report Delivery Process
The Drive folder is the firm's historical catalog of finalized reports.
Trigger
Package verified
End state
Reports in the portal and the Drive archive
External handoff: the client receives the month's package and narrative through the Financial Cents portal. The client-facing welcome packet states the Controller delivers the financials to the client by the 20th of each month, while the workshop map has the Lead Accountant sending the package through the portal. Both positions stand; working state remains Lead sends, with the operator to confirm at the review session.
Trigger
Reports uploaded
End state
Client notified with the full month package
PROCESS 3.2
Advisory Call Process
Advisory tier only: send the Google Calendar appointment scheduler link for a call window from the 25th to the 10th.
Trigger
Package delivered to an advisory-tier client
End state
Client has the scheduling link
Prepare KPIs and topics tailored to the client for the monthly advisory call.
Trigger
Call booked
End state
Agenda ready
Hold the monthly video call to discuss KPIs and client-tailored topics layered on the delivered financials.
Trigger
Advisory call agenda ready
End state
Monthly call held and outcomes captured
Per the template: if the client books no call three months running, reach out directly.
Trigger
Three months with no call booked
End state
Client contacted and cadence reset or adjusted
WORKFLOW MAP REVIEW
Notes & Assumptions
Sources and confidence
- Built from the Financial Cents "**Monthly Client - Review" template (9 tasks; Lead Accountant, Controller, and Staff Accountant roles). TGF Holdings shows monthly review instances since March.
- Activity 1.2.2 remains draft connective tissue; Activity 2.1.2 is active because Jennifer's external-notes prompt spec mandates the pre-delivery check.
- The 2026-07-07 workshop grounded this map in the month-end template's review tasks, the lead review doc, and the final-reviewer chain. The boundary between the close map (staff work) and this map (lead and final review) held.
- The whole map is marked DRAFT pending the follow-up review session (~2026-07-14).
Structure notes
- Three phases, below the four-phase guideline; the workflow is one month-cycle deliverable with three natural stages. Kept natural rather than padded.
- The quote and handoff examples confirm the tier ladder as Basic, Full Service, Premium, and CFO Partner. The "Platinum" label in the review template and the cleanup assessment's "Tier 1 (Simple)" vocabulary still need reconciling.
- Fractional CFO services are a separate workflow with a separate quote and 2 to 3 meetings a month, not this map.
- The lead review Google Doc was folded into 1.1.2 as SOP-level detail rather than a separate activity; revisit if a separate reviewer ever owns the doc.
- 2.1.2 is deliberately separate from 2.1.1: the generator is an AI and the verifier is human, a distinct assignment under the quality-first framing (triple-check early).
Assumptions to verify
- The controller is assumed to review every client's financials monthly. Smaller tiers may skip controller review entirely.
- Client responses to the delivered package (questions, corrections) have no documented return path into the books.
- Function split applied (2026-07-07 workshop): staff accounting, lead accounting, controller accounting, CFO, and advisory are mapped as distinct functions, so handoffs between them are typed Functional. The full split was confirmed by the operator on 2026-07-08 (staff accounting and lead accounting are their own functions); the earlier decision-record wording that kept staff/lead role-level is superseded.
FOR THE MAPPING SESSION
All open questions (5)
Phase 1: Internal Review
Jump to phase ↑- Q2
Does every client get controller final review each month, or do lower tiers skip it?
- Q3
When the controller finds issues in final review, how do they route back to the lead and staff?
Phase 3: Delivery and Client Touch
Jump to phase ↑- Q4
What happens when a client replies to the delivered financials with questions or corrections?
Who owns that thread?
- Q5
Advisory follow-up discussion points are generated with the external notes (per the external-notes prompt); where do advisory-call outputs and follow-ups get captured and tracked after the call?
Workflow-wide
- Q1
Tier ladder confirmed from the July 2026 quote and handoff examples: Basic -> Full Service -> Premium -> CFO Partner. Where does the "Platinum" label in the review template fit (legacy name or live tier), and is the cleanup assessment's "Tier 1 (Simple)" vocabulary a separate cleanup-complexity scale?