This template belongs to the time write-off review guide. Use it after a first conversation, once you know the firm reviews challenged time and keeps some record of the outcome.
The blank template
Copy it as plain text. Every field has a short answer; leave a field as "unknown" rather than guessing.
Referral brief: time write-off review records
- Firm: sector, full-time headcount at peak (contractors excluded), country
- Business task: what the review decides, and how often it runs
- Record classes: which of entries with narratives, pre-bill edits, adjustment lines, reason codes, credit notes and reviewer comments exist
- Systems: time tracker, ERP or project accounting, billing, email; note any retired tool kept for audit
- Years held: first and last year for each record class
- Volume: the firm's estimate of reviewed entries or adjustments per month
- Records owner: who knows the records (name and role)
- Authorized contact: who can agree to explore a licensing discussion
- Constraints known: client terms, staff privacy, merged practices
- Deadline, if any: a documented read-only or license end date
- Open question: the one thing the firm could not answer
How to fill each field without touching a record
| Field | Ask | Who usually answers | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm headcount | Full-time staff at peak, excluding contractors | Managing partner or HR | Counting subcontracted engineers |
| Business task | What decisions does pre-bill review make? | Practice operations head | Describing billing in general |
| Record classes | Do adjustments keep the original line? | Billing manager | Assuming reasons are stored |
| Systems | Which tools, and since when? | ERP administrator | Forgetting the retired tracker |
| Years held | First full year of reviewable history | Controller | Quoting the firm's founding year |
| Volume | Adjustments per month from an existing report | Controller | Opening files to count |
| Records owner | Who runs or sees the reviews? | Practice operations head | Naming an administrator |
| Authorized contact | Who could agree to explore this? | CEO | Naming the sponsor instead |
The record classes row decides how much the brief is worth. In Microsoft's project accounting, for example, an adjustment marks the original Adjusted and posts a reversal plus a new line, and an invoiced entry needs a corrective credit before it can be recalled. A firm whose system works like that holds linked records; a firm that edits entries in place may hold only net hours. Ask, do not assume.
A completed brief (Illustrative)
Fictional firm, fictional figures. Not a real firm, introduction or deal.
Referral brief: time write-off review records
- Firm: engineering and environmental consultancy, about 180 full-time staff at peak, United States
- Business task: monthly pre-bill review of challenged time, deciding whether hours are billed, moved to the project that benefited, or written off
- Record classes: entries with narratives; pre-bill edits since 2021; adjustment lines with reversal and replacement; reason codes since 2021; credit notes; reviewer comments in email
- Systems: standalone time tracker (2016 to today), ERP project accounting (2019 to today), billing module in the ERP, email
- Years held: entries and invoices from 2016; adjustments with reversals from 2019; reason codes from 2021
- Volume: the firm estimates 300 to 400 reviewed entries a month
- Records owner: practice operations head
- Authorized contact: CEO, with the CFO consulted
- Constraints known: some public-sector engagement letters restrict reuse of project information; risk partner to review
- Deadline: the standalone time tracker is being retired and becomes read-only at the end of next fiscal year, per the vendor contract
- Open question: before 2021, write-off reasons were typed into the pre-bill comment field, which the current export may not include
Notice what the example leaves out: no client names, no project names, no hourly rates, no screenshots. The open question is specific and answerable by the firm, which is exactly what SourceX needs to plan its first call.
Checks before you send it
- ☐Headcount is full-time at peak and excludes contractors.
- ☐Every figure is the firm's estimate, labelled as such.
- ☐Records owner and authorized contact are different people, or the brief says why they are the same.
- ☐No entry, narrative, invoice or client name appears anywhere.
- ☐The deadline, if given, comes from a contract or project plan, not a guess.
- ☐The firm knows you are sending it and agrees to be contacted.
The who can say yes decision tree helps fill the authorized contact field, and the system map helps with record classes and systems. The client opportunity brief generator lays out similar fields for any workflow, and the warm introduction brief covers the covering note to an owner. A fractional CFO may already hold most of these answers. If you work at an accounting firm, check your referral fee policy first.
Who qualifies, and what the brief cannot settle
The introduced firm needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license the records, and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English.
Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions. The first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application, and one partner is credited per company. The brief does not settle whether client terms allow licensing, what must be de-identified, whether buyers want these records, or what the firm would be offered; SourceX works those out with the firm. Other sectors are on the industries hub.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
When the brief is complete and the firm has agreed to be contacted, register as a partner, confirm the firm against who qualifies, and read the program terms before you submit it.