# Client benefit vs referral incentive: two columns | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/guides/the-difference-between-a-client-benefit-and-a-referral-incentive
Last updated: 2026-11-05

A client benefit is what the company itself could receive: compensation fixed in its own signed Dataset Deal Confirmation if its data reaches Closing, with SourceX running the rights check, preparation and delivery. A referral incentive is what SourceX could pay you under its program terms, separately and never deducted from the company's compensation. The two come from different documents, start at different moments and are decided by different people. Describe each in its own column, and never present your reward as something the client gains.

This guide is for fractional CFOs and accounting practice leaders who want a client to hear about SourceX without a single sentence that mixes the two. It is not legal or professional-conduct advice; whether you may be paid at all, and what you must disclose, comes from your own board, society, employer or counsel.

## Why the two columns drift together in conversation

Advisers blur the columns for ordinary reasons. You speak to the client as an ally, so "we" creeps in. You want to reassure, so "it costs you nothing" slips out. You want to be generous, so you offer to share a reward that does not yet exist. Each move makes your incentive sound like the client's benefit, and each makes it harder for the CEO to judge your advice.

Your advisory job sits in the left column: helping the CEO decide whether what the company could receive, and what it would commit to, is worth pursuing. The right column is not an argument for anything. It is a disclosure, and its only job is to be complete and accurate.

## The two-column benefit disclosure guide

Every row asks one question and answers it twice, from two different documents.

| Question | For the company | For you |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | SourceX, as the company's licensing counterparty | SourceX, separately from the company's compensation |
| Which document fixes it | The company's signed Dataset Deal Confirmation, under its Master Supplier Licensing Agreement | SourceX's program terms and your signed Channel Partner Agreement, whose Schedule A prevails where it differs |
| What it is based on | The dataset the Confirmation describes; usually a one-time fee, with no royalties or usage fees | the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap, on the company's first qualifying transaction; the USD 50,000 floor applies once for the company and its whole group, and repeats within 12 months pay 15% |
| What must happen first | The data reaches Closing; data that does not close earns nothing | Acquisition Partner acceptance and payment, SourceX's payment to the company, finance approval and your tax and payment details |
| When | The company invoices after Closing, on the timetable in its own agreement | Due within 60 calendar days of whichever comes later: the Acquisition Partner accepting the complete, validated dataset in writing, or its completed handoff |
| Who decides | The CEO, who signs for the company | SourceX, which credits one partner per company from dated records |
| What it asks of the company | A license exclusive for AI training on the selected data, plus confirmations on rights, lawful collection, no earlier AI-training license and no AI-made data | Nothing |
| What you may promise | Nothing; a partner cannot commit SourceX to prices, licenses or payouts | The published formula and conditions, no amount |
| Where the reader checks | SourceX's how-it-works page and the company's own agreements | The program terms and your signed agreement |

One sentence connects the columns, and it runs one way only. Section 4 of the terms reads: "The referral reward is paid separately by SourceX and is never deducted from the supplier's agreed compensation." SourceX pays the reward out of its own share, so the left column reads the same whether the right column has an entry or not. Say exactly that, and say no more about how SourceX's side works; SourceX does not publish how it prices offers.

The left column also carries obligations, and an honest page shows them. Because the license is exclusive for AI training, the company gives up the option of selling those same records to another AI buyer, and the supplier confirmations on SourceX's how-it-works page are things the company must be able to stand behind. Leaving them out turns a disclosure into a pitch.

## Sentences that slide into the wrong column

| What an adviser says | What it does | What to say instead |
|---|---|---|
| "I can get you a better price." | Claims influence over the company's column | "SourceX agrees terms with you directly; I can't commit SourceX to anything." |
| "It's extra money for the business, and I get a small thank-you." | Merges both columns and shrinks yours | Two sentences: what the company could receive, then what you could be paid and on what basis |
| "Having me involved costs you nothing." | Uses your column to sell theirs | "Your compensation is the same whether or not I'm involved; SourceX pays me separately." |
| "You'll be paid within 60 days." | Borrows your payment rule for the company | "When you're paid is set in your own agreement with SourceX." |
| "I'll pass my reward back to you." | Moves your column into theirs | "SourceX's published terms don't cover that, so I'm promising nothing until SourceX and my adviser have answered." |
| "SourceX has basically approved you." | Fills a row nobody can fill yet | "SourceX decides after its own review." |
| "My cut is tiny next to your payout." | Forecasts both columns | State the formula; quote no amounts |

The fifth row is the one finance advisers reach for most often, usually out of goodwill. The published terms say nothing about a partner sharing, rebating or declining a reward, so SourceX decides how it would treat any of those, and your own rules may forbid them regardless.

## Whether column B has an entry is for your rules to decide

The right column only exists if your rules allow it. Those rules follow your role, the services you or your firm perform for the client, and where you are licensed.

- **California licensees.** The Accountancy Act's commission section requires disclosures under its regulations, at a minimum, to "(1) Be in writing and be clear and conspicuous" and to "(2) Be signed by the recipient of the product or service"; in our paraphrase of a further item, they must also identify the source of the payment and its relationship to the person paid. The Board's enforcement FAQ adds that "a licensee still is prohibited from accepting any fee or commission solely for referral of a client to a third party." What that means for a reward like SourceX's is your counsel's question, and the answer may leave column B empty.
- **CPAs elsewhere.** Commission and referral-fee rules differ by state and by service. [The applicable-rules checklist](/guides/before-an-accountant-accepts-a-referral-reward-check-the-applicable-rules) walks through them.
- **Audit or review clients.** Independence comes before any column. Start with [the engagement separation map](/guides/how-to-keep-a-data-introduction-separate-from-an-audit-engagement).
- **Employed advisers.** Your employer's written approval belongs in the file before column B is written.

Once your adviser has answered, [the reviewed client disclosure](/guides/the-client-disclosure-a-finance-advisor-should-review-before-referring) turns the right column into the wording the client signs or keeps.

## When column B is empty, column A stays exactly where it was

If your rules leave no room for a reward, or you would rather take none, column B reads "Nothing" only when that is settled. Either the company applies on its own with no partner named, or SourceX has told you in writing how it treats an introduction from someone who wants no reward. Until one of those is true, column B reads "Not yet settled", never "waived". [The unpaid introduction path](/guides/the-unpaid-introduction-path-for-a-finance-professional) sets out the order.

The left column is identical in every case. That is the practical meaning of section 4 for a client: your choice about the right column changes nothing on theirs.

## A filled two-column page for one client (Illustrative)

Illustrative, with a generic company. A fractional CFO advises a 260-person dental practice management group, owner-run, CEO-led. Her own adviser has answered on the reward, and she has signed the Channel Partner Agreement. Amounts are written as symbols because none exists yet.

| For the company | For me |
|---|---|
| SourceX would set the dataset and compensation in the group's own Dataset Deal Confirmation, signed by the CEO | SourceX may pay me a reward under its program terms and my signed agreement |
| If SourceX pays the group P under that Confirmation, P is the group's compensation, with nothing deducted for me | If SourceX has paid the group P on its first qualifying transaction, my reward is the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of P, with the USD 50,000 floor counted once across the group's companies |
| Nothing is paid unless the data reaches Closing | Nothing is payable until the conditions in section 5 of the terms are met |
| The group would grant a license exclusive for AI training on the selected data and give SourceX's listed confirmations | Nothing is asked of the group on my account |
| Questions go to SourceX and the group's own counsel | Questions about me go to me, and about my rules to my adviser |

She sends this page before the first call, not after it, and tells the CEO to keep it. The CEO's questions in the meeting are all about the left column, which is where they belong.

## Where a two-column page can still mislead

- **Indicative is not fixed.** SourceX's how-it-works page says pricing stays indicative until the Confirmation is signed. Any figure in the left column before then is a guess.
- **Your column can shrink.** If a cancellation, refund or chargeback lawfully reduces the company's Actual Supplier Payout, the reward is reduced proportionately, and a refund alone that leaves the payout untouched changes nothing.
- **Groups count as one company.** A parent and its subsidiaries are one company for the once-per-company USD 50,000 floor and the 12-month Repeat Window, which matters when several entities license.
- **Duplicates.** If SourceX already knew the company, no partner is credited and column B is empty however the page reads.
- **Non-money benefits.** Describe SourceX's services only as its published pages do; adding security or de-identification promises of your own fills the left column with claims SourceX has not made.
- **No data.** Nobody has published how clients read side-by-side disclosures, or whether they change decisions.

The scenario worksheet in [describing referral economics without forecasting](/guides/how-to-describe-referral-economics-without-treating-them-as-forecast-revenue) keeps column B out of your practice plan as well as out of the client conversation, and the [rewards page](/rewards) restates the default formula.

## 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.

With both columns written, your adviser's answer on file and a CEO who wants the conversation, [register](/register), match the company against [who qualifies](/who-qualifies) and keep the [program terms](/terms) open while you check column B row by row; related finance-advisor workflows are in the [guides hub](/guides).

## Sources

- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms
- https://sourcex.si/how-it-works
- https://sourcex.si/documents/partner/SourceX_Channel_Partner_Agreement_Sample.pdf
- https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/about/acct_act.pdf
- https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/consumers/enforcement-faqs.shtml