Financial services compliance software: what to bring and what to get back

Updated

Financial services compliance software is bought by a financial services business under federal and state rules at the moments a programme is most anxious and least able to say what it needs: before a licence, before an examination, after a finding. The seller's value is judgement about what the regulator expects; the buyer's leverage is knowing the programme in numbers first, because an engagement scoped from the register is smaller, cheaper and better than one scoped from a brochure. This page walks what to bring to financial services compliance software, what the engagement should change, what must come back at the end, and where the free sheets on this site work the programme's own figures, with no account, so the first meeting starts from them.

A service, monthly

A compliance service is bought monthly, and the month is mostly reminders and reports: evidence due, attestations due, cases aging, trainings outstanding. Ask what the service does in a month, and compare its month-end report with the sheets on this site worked from the programme's own figures; if the outstanding lists are not shrinking, the service is not doing the job it was hired for.

What the engagement should change

The count of obligations actually owed, the controls that satisfy several at once, the evidence each control needs and no more, the audit days per year, the gap rate and the hours per gap. Each is an input to a sheet on this site, so the before and after of the engagement is a pair of worked sheets rather than a slide. For financial services regulation the sheet to start with is the obligations register sheet. Ask for the before and after in that form; a provider who promises maturity rather than numbers is promising a feeling.

What must come back

The register, in a form the programme keeps updating without the provider: obligations, controls, evidence templates, an audit plan the programme can run itself next year, and the attestations with who signed them. A deliverable that lives only in the provider's portal is a subscription to the provider. The guide this page supports covers choosing among regulatory compliance consulting firms in detail. Attestvio Pro keeps the register under the client's own name and exports it; the sheets stay free.

What to bring

The register's numbers: obligations, controls per obligation, evidence items per control, minutes per item, reviewers and their hours. The obligations register sheet on this site returns the items, the hours and the months to a full attestation. For a financial services business under federal and state rules the record behind those numbers is the licences, the disclosures, the complaints log, the examinations and the annual attestations; bring it as a count, not a folder. A provider of financial services compliance software who can read the sheet and say which obligations are over-evidenced and which are bare has found the engagement's value in the first hour.

Questions people ask about financial services compliance software

What does financial services compliance software cost?

Providers quote after scoping and this site publishes no figure for them. The number that matters is the fee against the reviewer hours and audit days the engagement removes, which the free sheets on this site work from your own programme.

How do I scope financial services compliance software?

From the register: obligations, controls, evidence items, reviewer hours and the months to attestation, worked on the free obligations register sheet and brought to the first meeting.

Does Attestvio provide financial services compliance software?

No. Attestvio is software that keeps the register, evidence and attestations and works the arithmetic; it gives no view on what a regulation requires. The sheets make any provider's engagement scoped and checkable.

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