# Partner changes employers: who owns the referral? | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/guides/a-partner-changes-employers-who-owns-the-active-referral
Last updated: 2026-11-04

An open referral belongs to whoever is the Partner in the signed SourceX Channel Partner Agreement and recorded the introduction, and that party can be you as an individual or the firm you worked for. Changing employers does not move it. If you signed in your own name, it goes with you; if your employer signed and you introduced through its account, it stays with the employer. Assignment needs SourceX's written consent, accrued rights survive the end of an agreement, and what you owe an employer is a separate contract.

Most of the confusion comes from a business card. A partner introduces a company while working at one firm, leaves, and three people now believe the referral is theirs: the partner, the old firm and sometimes the new one. The program's documents answer the question with records, not with who made the phone call.

## Two contracts decide this, and SourceX is party to only one

The Channel Partner Agreement fills in the Partner as "an individual, or entity type and jurisdiction", and each signatory represents that it has authority to bind the party it names. That one field decides whose referral it is in SourceX's records. The other contract is your employment agreement, partnership agreement or firm policy, which may require approval for outside compensation, claim it for the firm or forbid it. SourceX's terms do not decide that second question, and the program's home page tells licensed professionals to check their own rules on referral fees.

| Question | Decided by | Where you find the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Which party holds attribution and any reward | The signed Channel Partner Agreement and the dated introduction record | Signature page and audit certificate; the portal |
| Whether that party is first for the company | SourceX's terms: first valid introduction, verified application within 90 days, duplicates reviewed | SourceX's attribution decision |
| Whether you must share or surrender a reward to an employer | Your employment or partnership terms | HR, compliance or your partnership agreement |
| Whether a referral can move from one party to another | Section 7.6 of the agreement: written consent | A written request to SourceX |

## Rebuild the timeline before anyone claims the referral

Put six dated events on one line, from your records and the portal, before you talk to either employer.

1. **The agreement was signed.** Which party, which signatory, which version, which date.
2. **The account was opened.** Whose name and email registered, and whose personal link it issues; every partner gets a personal link and can also submit introductions from the dashboard.
3. **The introduction was recorded.** The agreement requires each record to identify the company, its domain, the Partner, the opportunity, the introduction method and timestamps, in writing: a portal submission, a tracked application, an email or an acknowledged log.
4. **You left.** Your last day, and any notice you gave.
5. **The company applied.** Credit goes to the first valid introduction of a new company when that company submits a verified application within 90 days of the recorded introduction.
6. **Anything after that.** A second submission by anyone, a termination notice, a change of notice email.

Events 1 and 3 do most of the work. Event 4 matters less than people expect, because nothing in the terms or the agreement turns on who employed you on the day you made the call.

## The account-and-agreement ownership review

Five records, read in this order. Each one settles something and leaves something else open.

| # | Record | Question it answers | What it settles | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signed Channel Partner Agreement | Is the Partner you as an individual, or a firm? | Which party holds attribution and reward rights | What you owe any employer |
| 2 | Partner account and personal link | Whose account submitted, whose link the company used | Which party's introduction record exists | Credit on its own: a link click alone does not decide it |
| 3 | Introduction record | Company, domain, method and timestamps | Whether the introduction was recorded during that party's agreement, and when | Whether the company was new to SourceX, which SourceX checks |
| 4 | Payment and tax details | Who is paid | Whose name the payment goes to; for a U.S. partner, the Form W-9 carries the payee's name and taxpayer number | Whether that matches record 1: fix any mismatch before payment |
| 5 | Employment agreement or firm policy | Does the employer approve, claim or forbid outside compensation? | What the individual owes the employer | Nothing about SourceX's credit decision |

Read records 1 and 4 together. The IRS describes Form W-9 as the way a person who files an information return obtains the payee's correct name and taxpayer identification number, generally a Social Security number for an individual. If the agreement names a firm and the payment details name you, or the other way round, the file contradicts itself; that is the mismatch to resolve with SourceX first.

Then apply the grid. It assumes the introduction is valid and first; SourceX's own records decide that part.

| Who signed the agreement | Introduction recorded before you left | Introduction recorded after you left |
|---|---|---|
| You, in your own name | Stays with you; your employment terms say whether you share it | Yours if valid and first, subject to your new employer's rules |
| Your former employer | Stays with the firm; moving it to you needs SourceX's written consent | The firm has no claim unless it recorded an earlier valid introduction of that company |
| Unclear: your name on the account, the firm on the agreement | Send for review before anyone resubmits | Send for review |

## Four departures and the clause that governs each (Illustrative)

Fictional partners, firms and dates; no outcome of a real review is implied.

**A. Signed in her own name.** An operations consultant signed the agreement personally and used her own email. She recorded an introduction of a 260-person logistics company on 2 September 2026, left her consultancy on 30 September, and the company applied on 20 October, day 48 of the window. The referral is hers under the attribution rule in section 2 of the terms. If her consultancy's policy claims outside fees, that is settled between the two of them.

**B. The firm signed.** A 25-person advisory firm is the Partner. An associate introduced a manufacturer through the firm's account on 14 August 2026, left on 15 September, and the manufacturer applied on 28 September. The referral stays with the firm. On 1 October the associate submitted the same company from a new personal account; under section 3 of the terms, a company with an earlier valid introduction is not credited to a later partner, so the second submission earns nothing and only adds a record to explain. Moving the firm's referral to her would be an assignment under section 7.6 of the agreement, which needs SourceX's written consent and must not defeat existing attribution or payment rights.

**C. Left first, introduced later.** A director left a firm that is a Partner on 31 July 2026 and joined a new employer that also has an agreement. On 12 September she introduced, through the new employer's account, a CEO she had met years earlier; her old firm had never recorded that company. Credit can go to the new employer's account if that introduction is the first valid one and the company is new to SourceX. The old firm's six-month Protection Period covers only contacts it recorded during its term, and it recorded none here. What she may use from her old job is governed by her own duties to that employer, not by SourceX's terms.

**D. Ended his agreement on leaving.** A fractional CFO who signed personally joined a firm that forbids outside compensation, so he gave 30 days' written notice on 1 October 2026 and the agreement ended on 31 October. A company he introduced in June agreed a license in September. Termination does not cancel accrued rights, and a repeat license or renewal agreed during the Term or the six-month Protection Period, here to 30 April 2027, stays eligible; a new transaction first agreed after that needs written agreement. Whether he may accept a payment under his new firm's policy is his question to answer with that firm.

## A departing partner's last two weeks

- Find the signature page and write down which party it names.
- List your open introductions by company name and date only, never with client records or system details.
- If your notice email sits on your employer's domain, update it by written notice; the agreement treats email notice as effective only on acknowledged receipt.
- Check that your payment and tax details match the named party.
- If your employer claims a share, agree it in writing with the employer, and leave SourceX's record alone.
- Do not resubmit anything. A dashboard edit or an unanswered message does not amend the agreement, and a duplicate submission only lengthens a review.

## The smallest evidence file that settles an ownership question

Email hello@sourcex.si, the address the terms and Schedule A give for disputes, with five items:

1. The party named in your signed agreement, with its version and signature date.
2. The email and personal link on the account that submitted the introduction.
3. The company's name and domain, and the introduction's date and method.
4. Your departure date, and the date of any termination notice.
5. The single clause of any employer agreement that bears on the referral, quoted, not the whole contract.

Leave out client records, screenshots of the company's systems and anything about other partners; partners never receive access to other partners' records, and a review does not need them. For two competing partners rather than one partner and an employer, see [what happens if two partners introduce the same company](/questions/what-happens-if-two-partners-introduce-the-same-company) and the evidence checks in [when two partners refer the same company](/guides/when-two-partners-refer-the-same-company); the separate clocks for credit and contact protection are drawn in [referral attribution vs contact protection](/guides/referral-attribution-vs-contact-protection).

## Where this review stops

- **Employment claims.** SourceX's documents never decide what an employee owes an employer, and laws on that differ by jurisdiction.
- **Signed variations.** A signed Schedule A or an expressly agreed addendum can change the terms that apply to a particular partner.
- **Firm deals.** When the firm itself merges or is sold, the notice exception in section 7.6 applies instead; [accounting firm M&A in 2026](/guides/accounting-firm-m-and-a-2026) covers that case, and [partner programs for fractional CFO firms](/for/partner-program-for-fractional-cfo-firms) covers choosing between a firm account and personal accounts before anyone leaves.
- **No published data.** How often employer changes reach review has not been published.

## 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.

Decide whether you or your firm will be the named party before the first introduction, not after a resignation: [register as a partner](/register) on the structure your employer approves, check each company against [who qualifies](/who-qualifies), and read sections 2, 3 and 10 of the [program terms](/terms); more attribution cases are in [guides](/guides).

## Sources

- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms
- https://sourcex.si/documents/partner/SourceX_Channel_Partner_Agreement_Sample.pdf
- https://refer.sourcex.si/how-it-works
- https://refer.sourcex.si/
- https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw9