Ask a CA firm why it lost a mandate, and the answer is usually fees. Ask the CFO who made the decision, and the answer is often different. In our conversations with finance leaders, price comes up early, but it is rarely what tips the choice. What tips it is confidence: in the partner, in the team that will actually do the work, and in the firm's grasp of the business.
Most CFOs will not say this to the firm directly. They say it to people on their side of the table. Here is what we hear most often.
They are buying a partner, not a firm
CFOs choose the person they will call at eleven at night before a board meeting. The firm's size and history matter, but mainly as reassurance that the partner has support behind them. A strong partner at a mid-sized firm will often beat a large firm that sends a stranger to the pitch.
That has a direct consequence for how a firm presents itself. Partner profiles, partner writing and partner visibility do more work than any firm brochure.
They test understanding in the first meeting
- Do you know our sector? Not in general, but the specific issues: a manufacturer's input tax credit, a startup's ESOP accounting, a listed company's related party questions.
- Have you read our numbers? A partner who has looked at the last annual report before the meeting stands out immediately.
- Can you explain it simply? CFOs have to take your advice to promoters and boards. The advisor who helps them do that wins.
They check you quietly
Before the shortlist, most CFOs ask two or three peers for names. After the shortlist, they look the partners up. What they find online, the website, LinkedIn, recent writing, tells them whether the firm is current. A firm that has published nothing in a year looks less engaged than one that wrote a clear note on the last Budget.
They remember how you left
Firms that lose gracefully, send a short thank you, and stay in touch with useful information are often invited back. Firms that go silent rarely are. The next mandate is frequently decided by how the last one was lost.
What to do with this
- Ask five clients, through someone independent, why they chose you. Then ask two who did not.
- Make partner profiles complete and current, with sector experience in plain language.
- Prepare for every pitch by reading the client's numbers.
- Publish short, useful notes that show how your partners think.
- Follow up every lost pitch with courtesy, and keep the relationship.
All of this sits comfortably within ICAI's Code of Ethics. None of it is advertising. It is simply what it looks like to be the firm a CFO feels confident choosing.