Hiring guide
What should a paid finance diagnostic actually deliver?
By CFO Index · Published
A paid finance diagnostic should leave you better able to choose the next piece of work, including work the diagnostic provider will not perform. A presentation saying you need better reporting is not enough. Agree how findings will be supported and what your team will receive before the engagement starts.
Define the question and the inspection boundary
Choose a specific uncertainty: why the margin report cannot be reconciled, whether cash inputs are usable or what prevents a reliable forecast. List entities, periods, systems and people included. Record what is excluded, such as correcting historical records or reviewing tax treatment. ICAEW's guidance for its firms emphasises adequate expertise and clear engagement terms, including agreement when scope changes. The checklist here is CFO Index's buying framework, not an ICAEW certification or a universal professional standard.
Require findings that distinguish evidence from inference
Each finding should show the source examined, what was observed, why it affects the named decision and what remains unknown. Separate confirmed errors from possible causes and management comments. If the provider checks a sample, identify how it was selected and avoid implying that every record was reviewed. Missing access is a limitation to document, not evidence that an unchecked system is sound or defective. A diagnostic is not an audit or assurance engagement merely because it reviews financial information.
Agree five outputs you can inspect
Use these acceptance questions in the scope and final review. The provider may combine outputs in one working document; the point is usable evidence, not a minimum number of files.
| Output | Acceptance question |
|---|---|
| Coverage record | Can we see the periods, sources and samples actually examined? |
| Findings register | Can we trace each material finding to evidence and distinguish uncertainty? |
| Decision implications | Which current decisions are affected, and which conclusions remain unsafe? |
| Prioritised work packages | Does each proposed fix have an owner, dependency and completion test? |
| Handover and limitations | Can our team use the findings without accepting another engagement? |
What a useful finding looks like
Hypothetical example: a diagnostic examines twenty supplier invoices associated with one reporting period. Four lack project codes in the export used for the margin report. A defensible finding states the sample, links the four records and explains that their costs cannot be assigned reliably in that report. It does not claim that 20% of all invoices are wrong. The next work package could ask the accounting owner to inspect the full relevant population, resolve coding and reconcile project totals to the ledger. Its completion test is a supported reconciliation, not 'dashboard improved'.
Make recommendations possible to decline or sequence
For each proposed action, state what can be done now, what depends on another repair and what happens if it waits. Distinguish an urgent reporting limitation from a convenient automation idea. Include internal delivery or another specialist where appropriate, rather than assuming every finding requires the provider's retainer. Cost or effort estimates should identify their basis and uncertainty. Do not attach an invented ROI to a data cleanup merely to make the next proposal easier to sell.
Run a challenge-and-handover meeting
Ask an internal owner to trace one finding to its source and explain the proposed acceptance test. Let relevant managers challenge factual errors and record unresolved disagreements. Confirm the working files your company may retain, their approved storage and any restrictions on reuse. If a promised source could not be examined, agree whether the scope is complete with a limitation or requires additional work. Do not silently turn missing evidence into an extra project.
Separate accepting the diagnostic from buying the solution
Close the diagnostic against its agreed outputs, then make a separate decision about implementation. A useful outcome may be accounting capacity, a smaller reporting project, a specialist opinion or no immediate CFO retainer. Compare future proposals using the same findings and permission-appropriate data. The diagnostic has done its job when management can explain the problem, the evidence and the next decision without relying on the author's sales presentation.