It is written for fractional CFOs, outsourced controllers and accounting practice leaders who would rather introduce a client for nothing, or who may have no choice. Whether you may accept pay at all is checked line by line in the applicable-rules guide for accountants; if your firm audits the company, start with the audit engagement separation map. An investor who wants to help unpaid has a separate page. Nothing here is legal or professional-conduct advice; those answers come from your own board, society or counsel.
Why a finance professional might want no reward, and what going unpaid leaves open
The reasons usually come from the role or the license, not from modesty.
- An attest relationship. A firm that audits, reviews or compiles for the company faces independence and fee rules of its own.
- A state rule about referrals. California's Board of Accountancy, for one, says on its enforcement FAQ that "a licensee still is prohibited from accepting any fee or commission solely for referral of a client to a third party." Other boards write their own rules, and some may differ.
- An employer or firm policy. Many firms decide centrally who may receive outside pay, and some require the firm itself to be the partner; employer consent covers how to ask.
- A seat inside the company. A fractional CFO may act for the company in ways that make any personal payment on its transactions look wrong.
- The client relationship. Some advisers simply want the client to know they gain nothing.
Going unpaid settles less than it seems. It does not decide whether your rules allow the introduction itself; some rules may reach that as well. It does not make information from your work for the client usable; what you know because of the engagement stays there. And it does not decide how SourceX treats you, which is the next section.
What SourceX's terms settle, and the question they leave to SourceX
Four parts of the published terms apply to every partner, paid or not:
- Section 1. Whoever submits an introduction holds an approved partner account and signs the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement first. Wanting no reward does not skip that step.
- Section 2. Only one partner is credited per company, decided from dated records.
- Section 4. "The referral reward is paid separately by SourceX and is never deducted from the supplier's agreed compensation." Declining adds nothing to the client's payout; the client receives the same amount with or without you.
- Section 5. Payment needs the partner's payment and tax details, and it must be lawful.
No section addresses a partner who declines a reward, asks for it to go elsewhere or wants it never accrued. The terms are silent, so SourceX decides how an unpaid introduction is handled. This page describes no waiver, form or redirect, because SourceX has published none. Nor can you promise the CEO anything on SourceX's behalf: the sample partner agreement says a partner "may not commit SourceX to prices, licenses, payouts or other obligations" (section 7.1). The only thing you can tell the CEO about money is what SourceX tells you in writing.
The unpaid client introduction template
Four parts, used in order. Part B goes out before the CEO hears a word; Part C waits for SourceX's reply.
Part A: your rules record. Kept in your own file and never sent to anyone.
| Field | What goes in | Who supplies the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Your roles with this company | Every service you or your firm provide, with the periods covered | Your engagement letters |
| Licenses and memberships | Each board that licenses you and each body you belong to | You |
| The rule-maker's answer | A dated written answer on whether you may introduce this company, and whether that changes if you are unpaid | Your board, society or counsel |
| Firm or employer approval | A dated approval, if you work inside a firm or for an employer | Managing partner or compliance |
| Client contract | What your engagement letter says about third parties and confidential information | Counsel |
Part B: the question to SourceX. No company name is needed. Send it in writing; the sample partner agreement lists hello@sourcex.si as SourceX's notice address.
Subject: An introduction without a referral reward
I am a [fractional CFO / CPA in public practice / outsourced controller] and may introduce [a company / companies] I work with to SourceX. Because of [my professional rules / my firm's policy / my role with the client], I do not want to receive a referral reward for any introduction I make. Your published terms do not cover this. How will SourceX handle an introduction from me on that basis, and is there anything I need to do before submitting? I will not submit anything until I have your answer in writing.
Part C: the message to the CEO. Sent only after SourceX replies in writing, and only if the reply fits your rules.
[First name], a short note outside our usual work. SourceX licenses business records that companies created themselves, for AI training and evaluation. You would decide whether to talk to them; SourceX decides whether anything fits after its own review, and nothing is promised. On money: [SourceX's written answer about any reward for me, quoted in its own words]. Either way, SourceX's published terms say a referral reward is paid separately and never deducted from what a company receives, so your company would be paid the same. I won't pass on anything I know from my work for you, I won't negotiate for either side and I don't need any files. If you'd like an introduction, reply and I will make it; if not, that is the end of it.
Part D: the file note. Completed after the CEO answers.
| Entry | What you record |
|---|---|
| The CEO's answer | Date, and the answer in the CEO's own words |
| SourceX's reply | Attached, with its date |
| What you submitted | The company's name and the CEO's agreement, nothing more |
| Anything SourceX later offers or pays | Recorded exactly, and handled as SourceX's written reply said |
Four things never appear in any part: an estimate of what the company could be paid, a description of its records, anything learned through your work for it, and a promise about SourceX that goes beyond SourceX's own written words.
Role and jurisdiction checks behind Part A
Part A's third row is where most of the work sits. Who you must ask depends on your position toward the client and on who licenses you.
| Your position | Why pay, or the introduction itself, may be restricted | Who answers |
|---|---|---|
| Your firm audits, reviews or compiles for the company | Attest relationships carry their own independence and fee rules | Your firm's ethics function, then your board or counsel |
| You prepare its taxes or run its books from public practice | Commission and referral-fee rules can still reach you, as California's shows | Your board or counsel |
| You serve as its fractional CFO, perhaps as an officer | You may owe the company duties of your own; the CEO still decides | Your counsel |
| You are employed by a firm or a company | Outside-activity and conflict policies | Your employer's compliance team |
| You hold no accounting license | Your contracts and the client's own policies can still limit outside pay | Your counsel |
Each row is a question, not an answer. If you hold licenses in more than one state or country, each one is asked separately, and the answer for one client never transfers to another.
When SourceX's reply does not suit you
Nothing obliges you to submit. If SourceX's written reply would not fit your rules or your wishes, stop at Part B. The CEO can still find SourceX's public pages and decide whether the company applies on its own, and whether you may even mention that SourceX exists is a question your Part A answers already cover. A client-first business case for the unpaid path weighs whether that mention is worth making at all.
Two changes send you back to the start. If your work for the client changes, for example a new review or compilation engagement, rerun Part A before anything else. If you register later for other clients, the reply you received still governs only what you asked about; ask again for anything new.
If your rules allow pay and you would rather take it, the paid route in the applicable-rules guide applies instead, with every disclosure your rules require made before the CEO agrees.
A filled template, with the one blank it must keep (Illustrative)
Illustrative. An invented adviser and company; no rule's content is described.
A fractional CFO, licensed as a CPA in one state, oversees the monthly close and board reporting for a 210-person regional distributor. Her firm does no attest work for it.
- Part A. Roles: fractional CFO since 2023, no other services. One license, one society. Her counsel's dated written answer is filed. Her firm's managing partner approves in writing an unpaid introduction. Her engagement letter limits use of client information to the engagement, so Part C says nothing about the company's records.
- Part B. Sent on 3 November with no company named.
- Part C. Drafted the same day, with the money line left as "[SourceX's written answer, quoted]". It stays unsent. When SourceX's reply arrives, she copies its words into that line unchanged, rereads the message against Part A and sends it.
- Part D. The CEO replies that she would like an introduction. The adviser, who has signed the partner agreement, submits the company's name and the CEO's agreement, and files the note with SourceX's reply attached.
This page does not invent SourceX's reply. In the template, as in practice, the money line stays blank until a real answer exists.
Limits of the unpaid path
- Unpaid can still sound like a recommendation. "I'm not even being paid" can make a mention carry more weight than intended. Keep to the facts: an option exists, the CEO decides, SourceX decides fit.
- Rules may reach further than pay. Some may restrict the introduction itself, or what an adviser may say about a third party to a client.
- SourceX's reply is not a rule for others. It answers your question for your circumstances; a colleague asks separately.
- Fit is untouched. SourceX's screening page treats client-owned material, and introductions made without the decision maker's knowledge, as usually not a fit, unpaid or not.
- No published figures. Nothing has been published on how often finance professionals introduce companies unpaid or how such introductions end. A practice can log, per client, whether Part B was sent, what SourceX replied and what the CEO decided.
Next step
Refer a company. No cap on rewards. Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
Whether you take a reward or not, register as a partner only after Part A is complete and, for the unpaid path, after SourceX's written reply; check the company's public facts against who qualifies and read the program terms for what they settle. Related workflows for finance advisers are in the guides library.