The Discipline Applied

IPS Drift Compliance Check

Know before your client does that a portfolio has drifted past the policy that governs it.

Who feels it · Chief Compliance Officer

A compliance analyst opens each IPS, transcribes target allocations into a spreadsheet, pulls holdings from the portfolio system, and calculates drift per asset class for every account under management.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Reads each IPS document, pulling target allocations, tolerance bands and restrictions into a structured record.
2. Queries the portfolio management system for current holdings and calculates actual allocation per asset class.
3. Compares actual against target and flags any position past the stated drift threshold.
4. Checks for low cash and confirms the IPS carries a valid signature and a review date inside twelve months.
5. Produces a per-advisor exception report with the drift amount and the recommended rebalancing action.

Five steps mapped

Fee Billing Validation

Billing errors caught while they are still a variance, not after the client has read the invoice.

Who feels it · Controller / CFO

A billing analyst cross-references each client’s agreement fee schedule, custodian-reported AUM and the generated invoice, line by line, every quarter.

Industry estimate

Fee errors are estimated to cost advisory firms $50K to $150K a year in clawbacks and attrition.

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts fee schedule terms from advisory agreements: tiered rates, breakpoints, caps, household aggregation.
2. Pulls actual AUM from custodian statements or data feeds for the billing period.
3. Calculates what the fee should be, applying the agreement terms to the actual AUM.
4. Compares the calculated fee against the invoice the billing system produced.
5. Flags every discrepancy with the dollar variance, the root cause and a route to the controller.

Five steps mapped

Vendor Invoice Validation

Every invoice checked against the purchase order and the policy before the payment leaves.

Who feels it · Controller / VP Finance

An AP analyst matches each invoice to its purchase order and receipt, re-checks totals, freight and tax, verifies the approval threshold, and chases sign-offs by email.

Industry estimate

A mid-size firm processes thousands of invoices a quarter, each carrying its own threshold, variance and approval rules.

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts vendor, amounts, line items, tax and payment terms from the incoming invoice.
2. Matches the invoice to its purchase order and goods receipt, line by line.
3. Applies the firm’s thresholds: auto-approve under $5K on an exact match, manager sign-off to $10K, VP Finance above.
4. Routes any variance above 2% from the PO to the controller, with the delta and the likely cause.
5. Queues approved payments and logs every check, threshold and sign-off as it goes.

Five steps mapped

Client Onboarding Form Validation and Routing

Engagements start on the day the advisor submits, not three round-trips later.

Who feels it · Operations Manager / Head of Finance

Finance receives a form with fields missing, emails the advisor for corrections, waits days for a reply, and repeats the cycle two or three times per new engagement.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Presents a form with mandatory fields, conditional logic and validation as the advisor types.
2. Blocks submission until every rule passes, so incomplete forms never leave the advisor’s desk.
3. Routes the completed form to the division leader for a single approve or reject.
4. On reject, returns it to the advisor with specific notes on what needs correcting.
5. On approval, delivers the validated form to finance with every field structured for processing.

Five steps mapped

Expense Policy Audit

The $9,400 dinner gets caught before it is reimbursed, not three months later.

Who feels it · Controller / CFO

A controller reads each report against the policy: per-head caps, spend-class limits, receipt rules, pre-approvals. Most reports are fine. The expensive one looks fine too.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts merchant, amount, attendees, spend class and receipt data from each submitted report.
2. Applies the written policy: per-head caps, per-event limits, class rules, pre-approval requirements.
3. Does the math a pattern match skips: $9,400 across two attendees is $4,700 a head against a $150 cap.
4. Flags the violation with the rule named and the delta shown, and holds the reimbursement.
5. Routes clean reports for payment and exceptions to the controller, logging every check.

Five steps mapped

Wire and ACH Validation

Every transfer checked against standing instructions and approval limits before the money moves.

Who feels it · Operations Manager / Wire Desk

A wire desk analyst pulls the client’s standing instructions, verifies the bank details match, checks the amount against approval thresholds, routes to signers, and documents each step for audit.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts the sending account, receiving bank, beneficiary account, amount and stated purpose.
2. Checks whether a matching standing instruction exists and whether every detail agrees with it.
3. Applies the threshold rules: single signer below the firm limit, dual signer above it.
4. Verifies bank details against known-good records, including routing validation and format checks.
5. Routes to the approvers with a summary of what passed and what needs judgment, logging every step.

Five steps mapped

Policy Bound: Setup and Calendar

Nothing about a bound policy depends on someone remembering to key it in.

Who feels it · Account Manager / Agency Operations

An account manager reads the declaration page, keys carrier, policy number, insured, limits, dates and premium into the book-of-business system, sets a reminder, drafts a welcome note and files the document.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts insured name, carrier, policy number, coverage, limits, deductibles, dates and premium from the declaration page.
2. Creates the policy record in the book-of-business system with every field populated.
3. Sets a renewal reminder ninety days before expiry, assigned to the responsible account manager.
4. Sends a welcome communication to the insured confirming coverage, with the key details summarized.
5. Files the declaration page in the correct client folder under the firm’s naming convention.

Five steps mapped

KYC Collection and Verification

Compliance spends its time reading documents rather than chasing them.

Who feels it · Compliance Officer / AML Analyst

An analyst exports the clients due, sends individual requests, tracks replies in a spreadsheet, sends follow-ups by hand, and reviews each document for validity when it finally arrives.

Industry estimate

A refresh campaign is estimated to need five or more manual follow-ups per client.

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Monitors expiry dates and builds a collection list sixty days before each refresh deadline.
2. Sends requests naming exactly which documents are needed for that entity type.
3. Validates what arrives: identity not expired, address proof inside ninety days, entity papers matching the registered name.
4. Updates the compliance tracker with status, receipt date and validation result per client.
5. Escalates non-responders on schedule: reminder at day seven, notice at fourteen, relationship manager at twenty-one.

Five steps mapped

Claims Intake and Coverage Verification

Coverage confirmed and reserves set before the claim reaches an adjuster, not after.

Who feels it · Claims Manager / TPA Operations

A claims handler reads the first notice of loss, pulls the policy, confirms coverage was in force on the date of loss, checks limits, deductibles and exclusions, and keys the claim in before anyone can be assigned.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Extracts date of loss, cause, parties and damage details from the notice, whatever channel it arrives on.
2. Pulls the policy and confirms it was in force on the date of loss, including lapses and endorsements.
3. Checks the loss against coverage, limits, deductibles and exclusions, as written in the policy.
4. Creates the claim record with reserves set per the firm’s reserving rules, and flags coverage questions.
5. Routes clean claims to assignment and exceptions to a senior adjuster, logging every check.

Five steps mapped

Loan File Completeness and Policy Check

Underwriters underwrite. The file arrives complete, calculated and checked against policy.

Who feels it · Chief Lending Officer / Head of Underwriting

A loan processor checks each file for required documents, recalculates ratios, verifies the file against lending policy, and emails the member or the officer for whatever is missing, file by file.

Industry estimate

The workflow

What the agent does

1. Checks the application file against the required-document list for that loan type.
2. Extracts income, obligations, collateral value and score data from the file’s documents.
3. Recalculates DTI and LTV and checks them against the lending policy’s thresholds.
4. Flags policy exceptions with the rule named, and requests missing items in one pass, not five.
5. Delivers underwriting-ready files with the checks and the trail attached.

Five steps mapped