How a 180-entity firm switched providers in three weeks
When their senior compliance person resigned with three weeks' notice, they had a choice: scramble to recruit, or rethink the function entirely.
This case study is a composite based on real switching patterns we have seen from multiple firms in this position. Specific firm name and numbers anonymised; the sequence and outcomes reflect actual engagements.
Mid-sized accounting practice, 180 client entities
A mid-sized accounting practice in Melbourne, around 25 staff. 180 client entities under management: a mix of trading Pty Ltds, family trusts with corporate trustees, and SMSFs. The firm had a single corporate secretarial specialist with eight years' tenure who held effectively all the firm's ASIC compliance knowledge.
Lodgement work routed through her exclusively. CAS360 was administered under her login. Annual review reminders ran from her personal calendar. Standing instructions for individual clients lived in her memory.
Three weeks' notice. Fourteen reviews due in the next 60 days.
The compliance lead resigned to move interstate for family reasons. She gave three weeks' notice, which was generous, and offered to do a clean handover.
The problem was not her behaviour; the problem was that fourteen annual reviews fell within the 60 days following her last day. The firm had no second person trained on CAS360 and no senior accountant who could plausibly cover. The managing partner called us on day three of her notice period.
Three options on the table
The partners spent two days working through the alternatives. The maths on each was clear within a meeting.
Speed first. The longer reason came later.
The immediate driver was the calendar. The fourteen annual reviews due within 60 days forced a fast decision. Outsourcing was the only path that could be live in time.
The longer reason emerged within the first month: the function had been a single point of failure for years. Whoever the firm hired to replace her would create the same risk again. After living through the departure, the partners did not want to be in the same position in three or four years' time.
Three weeks, signed engagement to fully independent
The transition started day five of her notice period and was substantially complete by her last day, with the third week running independently.
- ›Free transition audit returned within 48 hours of first call
- ›Engagement letter signed; no fee to switch
- ›All 180 entities reconciled against the ASIC register
- ›Three previously orphaned entities flagged for confirmation
- ›Compliance calendar built for every entity through the next 12 months
- ›ASIC Form 362 signed by each client company and lodged for registered agent transfer
- ›Six annual reviews due during the transition managed cooperatively with the outgoing provider
- ›Branded compliance calendar opened to the firm partners
- ›Outgoing corp sec lead's last day passed without incident
- ›Two further annual reviews lodged independently by CoSec on the firm's behalf
- ›First director ID check processed for an incoming director
- ›Two share allotment notices lodged within statutory deadline
- ›No client noticed the change
Twelve months on
The firm checked back in at the 12-month mark. Headline numbers below; the longer answer was that nobody had given the corp sec function a thought since week three.
We thought we had a staffing problem. We actually had a structural problem. The staffing problem was solved in three weeks. The structural one is permanently off our list.