How to Choose a Compliance
Consultant
Every financial services business occasionally needs outside help. Even well-
run giants such as RBS, Lloyds, Aviva, Barclaycard, and many other firms
deliberately choose to bring in compliance consultants on a regular basis.
Lee Werrell
CEI Compliance Limited
April 2011
How to Choose a Compliance Consultant
(Acknowledgements to Alan Weiss, www.summitconsulting.com)
Every financial services business occasionally needs outside help. Even well-run giants such as RBS,
Lloyds, Aviva, Barclaycard, and many other firms deliberately choose to bring in compliance
consultants on a regular basis.
For smaller businesses, an outside consultant can offer the following advantages:
Objective advice, not geared toward political advancement or promotion
Frame of reference and best practices from other clients
Models and methodology to gain results more quickly than internal trial and error
Permanent transfer of skills to internal people
The problem, however, is that those external consultancies can create as many problems as they
solve. (One definition of a consultant: someone who comes to fix a problem and remains to become
a part of it.) These include:
Threatening employees by the
mere presence of an "outsider"
Reliance on "off-the-shelf"
fixed methods which don't fit
the current client very well
Lack of sensitivity to the client's
business, culture, and
environment (a financial
adviser practice is not run the
same way as an accountancy
practice)
Solutions that worked for large
organisations cannot always be
simply scaled down
"Ideal" solutions not really practical for the client's business and have limited or no real
value
I've been in consulting since 2000 and, to my astonishment, I find currently that about 50% of those
calling themselves "consultants" don't really know what they're doing, but what is worse is that
almost 90% of those buying consulting services don't know how to tell the difference!
To remedy that, here is a primer on how to hire the best possible consultant for your needs:
Referrals:, Ask business colleagues you trust for names of people they have used for similar needs,
and find out specifically what the results were. (Don't ask the consultant for references, because
they will be hand-selected, wonderful, and meaningless.)
Credentials: Has the consultant ever worked in an adviser capacity? Have they ever held down a
conventional job? What are their academic compliance qualifications? How many similar IFAs or
other organisations have been clients? Every consultant has to start somewhere, but I'd strongly
advise that their start not be with you! (They should start in a larger consulting firm, and should also
have "real world" experience.)
Chemistry: Meet with the prospective consultant several times before hiring. Ask yourself if you see
the other person as a peer and a potential partner. If you don't respect them, or see them as merely
a vendor or subordinate, don't hire them. You don't need another employee; you need a business
partner for a particular issue.
Demeanour: The individual should look professional and act accordingly. (Don't worry if you get
their voice mail because good consultants should be busy. The key is, do they get back to you
promptly?) Their language should be clear and articulate. At meals, they should know which
silverware to use and not spill their soup on your lap.
Proposal: The consultant should provide you with a proposal that is based on achieving clear
business outcomes, and not on merely delivering technology or methodology. In other words,
running focus groups or delivering training programs is simply a task; improving sales results or
enhancing customer satisfaction is a business outcome. Achieving the former and not the latter is
worthless.
Fees: The consultant should provide a fixed fee for the project. Hourly rates are not as effective,
because there is a "meter running" as long as the consultant is working, and there is a built in
conflict of interest, since the longer the project takes, the more the consultant is paid. Insist on a
fixed fee or at least a cap on the hours.
A good consultant frames an issue quickly but doesn't suggest solutions too quickly, because he or
she realises that they don't know what they don't know until they begin to gather more data. A good
consultant will not promise the moon
and the stars, and will never base as
approach on tests or instruments that
are purchased for a few pounds from
other companies. (You get what you pay
for.)
A good consultant is someone you'll hate
to see go when the project ends on time,
and who you'll want to invite back at the
first appropriate new challenge.
Every business reaches a point where an
outside opinion or a breath of fresh air is
required. But just because someone lives over 100 miles from home and carrying a briefcase doesn't
mean he is a consultant. Use the criteria above and, most importantly, use your judgment: Is this
someone you would trust with your wallet?
Lee Werrell holds Chartered Members status with the CISI, is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales &
Marketing Management and a member of the Association of Compliance Consultant, the Business
Continuity Institute and holds the Certificate in Personal Financial Planning (Cert PFS). CEI
Compliance works on an alternative basis by collaboration and does not charge per hour, day or
week. Call CEI on 0800 689 9 689 to make your first appointment.
For help call:
Lee Werrell – FInstSMM Chartered MCSI Cert PFS
Managing Director
CEI Compliance Limited
lw@cei-compliance-limited.co.uk
Web: www.cei-compliance-limted.co.uk
www.skilledpersonsreports.co.uk
www.complianceconsultant.org
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