2 reasons to outsource your compliance

In 2011, Marc Berube bought another practice, and suddenly the 18-year MDRT member from Laval, Quebec, Canada, had twice as many advisors to manage. He needed help overseeing compliance work, so he put an advisor on staff in charge of those responsibilities.

In retrospect, it was not the right move.

“We kept growing and growing, and the tension caused by having someone in the office doing compliance was not very good for the mood of the team,” he said.

Since 2016, Berube, who handles insurance and investments for professionals and business owners across Quebec, has tasked an outside contractor with handling his practice’s compliance. He couldn’t recommend this approach more highly, and it’s not hard to see why, considering the following benefits:

1. Accountability. Local regulations require evaluations of 10% of all the files advisors handle, which can be a lot to wrangle with 15 advisors on staff. Six months after Berube’s new compliance officer started, the practice received a call saying they had been selected for an audit, and the auditors specifically complimented Berube’s decision to hire from outside.

Obviously the No. 1 goal of compliance is, well, compliance, and being complimented by those who examine what you do is a sign things are going well — especially because the compliance officer has the authority to terminate an advisor who is not compliant, ensuring the team takes his role seriously.

2. Efficiency. Rather than Berube or a colleague spending time on compliance, the contracted officer comes into the office every six weeks and focuses on nothing but compliance work. He gives the staff notice a few weeks in advance about what he will need, and a week after the evaluation provides Berube a three-page report that he simply needs to read and sign.

In addition to convenient proof that his compliant obligations have been met, this provides Berube more time to focus on getting new clients, which is more in line with his strengths and drives more revenue.

This strategy also means staff can focus on providing the materials on the day the officer will be coming in — rather than having an opportunity to say “Oh, I’ll give it to you tomorrow” to an in-house officer.

See three more reasons in the Round the Table article