Sage partner referral program: introducing CFO-led clients to SourceX

What can a Sage or Sage Intacct partner earn by introducing a client to SourceX?

A Sage partner can introduce a client's CFO to SourceX, and if the client licenses its operational records to an AI developer and the deal is paid, the partner earns a share of SourceX's collected fee. You make the introduction only. Qualification, inventory, buyer review, contracting and delivery are handled by SourceX and the company.

Many Sage Intacct and Sage 300 clients are finance-led. The CFO or controller often owns the ledger, so the person you already email every month may be a natural first conversation, provided they are, or can bring in, an authorized sponsor.

Why does the CFO matter here?

Because licensing needs an authorized sponsor (owner, CEO, CFO or authorized representative), and a CFO is one of those named roles with direct visibility into finance records. In a Sage engagement you see the approval trails, vendor files, contract attachments and period-close workpapers that show how decisions were made and what happened next. That is the kind of record AI developers want when training agents on real back-office work.

Which Sage clients fit?

Professional services, distribution, construction, and software or IT services clients tend to screen well. A client mainly holding third-party or consumer data is a poor fit; read who qualifies before you raise it.

The CFO-records test

Run these before you say anything.

• Sponsor: do you have a direct line to the CFO, owner or CEO?
• Depth: has the client kept at least several years of documented operations, including archived ledgers?
• Breadth: can you name several systems beyond the ledger that produce records?
• Ownership: are the records the client's own, not a customer's or an outsourced client's?
• Appetite: would the CFO consider an exclusive license for AI training for an agreed term, in return for a one-time payment?

When in the Sage calendar does it come up?

Illustrative scenario: a professional services firm on Intacct

Illustrative and fictional: a consulting firm with a few hundred staff has run Sage Intacct for several years after an older Sage 100 install. Project accounting, timesheets, proposals and client email all sit in different tools.

The CFO mentions during a close review that the legacy Sage 100 server is the last item on the decommission list. You ask whether anyone has looked at what the older project and billing history could be worth to a licensee. She asks for an introduction, applies through your link, and decides on scope herself. You see none of the records.

What happens after you introduce the CFO

Your part ends with the introduction: a conversation with the CFO plus your referral link, which opens sourcex.si/apply with your partner code attached, or the referral form. From there SourceX qualifies the company, the company completes a data inventory, and price and terms are agreed before buyers review. Your reward is paid only after SourceX receives payment.

You see none of the client's records, and redaction requirements are agreed with the company before any work starts.

What accounting-adjacent partners must check first

Many Sage partners are CPA firms or have CPAs on staff. Professional rules can restrict commissions and referral fees. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct has a commissions and referral fees rule (ET 1.520) and a contingent fees rule (ET 1.510). Broadly, the restrictions bite hardest where the firm performs attest services for the client, and permitted referral fees must be disclosed. State boards of accountancy can be stricter, so rules vary by state. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.

Practical steps, whatever your status:

1. Ask whether you perform audit, review or other attest work for the client, now or in the period covered.
2. Read your state board's rule and your firm's independence policy.
3. Decide with compliance whether to disclose the referral relationship in writing to the client.
4. Document the decision before you make the introduction.

How rewards work

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 cumulative per referred company. The reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from what the company receives. Rewards are not guaranteed. The signed agreement and the program terms govern the details.

What to say

When not to raise it

• The client falls below 50+ full-time employees at peak.
• You perform attest work and your firm has not cleared a referral arrangement.
• The data is mostly someone else's, or the archives are gone.
• The CFO is not an authorized sponsor and cannot bring in the owner.

Where do other ERP and CRM partners fit?

If your practice spans platforms, referral opportunities for ERP consultants is the general page, with platform notes for NetSuite, Dynamics and Salesforce partners. Technology advisors and managed service providers approach the same clients from other angles, and customer referral program vs partner program explains how a partner arrangement differs from a client incentive.

Next step

Shortlist the Sage clients that pass the test with the network opportunity finder, clear the fee and disclosure question, then register as a partner.