A project involving financial and legal advisers needs a clear division of work and a method for reconciling assumptions. Hiring capable firms separately does not ensure their outputs fit together. Onboarding should establish the decision the business is preparing to make, the evidence each adviser needs and the person responsible for coordinating the engagement.
A project involving financial and legal advisers needs a clear division of work and a method for reconciling assumptions. Hiring capable firms separately does not ensure their outputs fit together. Onboarding should establish the decision the business is preparing to make, the evidence each adviser needs and the person responsible for coordinating the engagement.
Describe the project in factual terms, including the entities, locations, expected timetable and known constraints. Ask each adviser to state its scope, exclusions and required inputs. Distinguish analysis, legal advice, implementation and coordination rather than assuming one engagement includes all four.
Identify the business owner who will make decisions. An adviser can prepare recommendations within its remit, but should not be allowed to become the unacknowledged decision-maker simply because the organisation has not assigned one.
List the points where one workstream relies on another. A financial model may use assumptions about a contract, while legal drafting may depend on the commercial structure being assessed. Name the person who confirms each assumption and the route for resolving inconsistency.
For example, one adviser may model a payment schedule that differs from the draft agreement another adviser is reviewing. Without an explicit reconciliation step, both outputs can appear complete while supporting different transactions.
Create a controlled document list with version ownership and access appropriate to each party's role. Ask legal counsel to determine any confidentiality, privilege or disclosure arrangements relevant to the matter; do not assume those protections arise automatically from placing documents in a shared folder.
Set the meeting rhythm around decisions and dependencies, not only progress reporting. Require material changes in facts or assumptions to be communicated to affected advisers before they finalise their work.
Agree the form of each deliverable, the review owner and the questions it must answer. Identify unresolved matters and the limits of reliance in the engagement terms, with appropriate professional review. A final report should not be accepted merely because it is lengthy or professionally presented.
Retain the scope map, assumption register, contacts and first set of agreed inputs. The onboarding outcome should let the business see who is responsible for each part of the project and how the separate professional outputs will support one coherent decision.
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