Checking a fee file before the custodian posts it
The fee file leaves the billing system in the layout the custodian expects and posts against live accounts shortly after. Four things are checkable before it goes. Whether the rate stored in the system still matches the rate in the signed agreement. Whether the method matches the agreement, and whether it bills in advance or in arrears. Whether sweep cash covers the debit without forcing a sale. Whether an account terminated mid period was prorated rather than charged in full. Each of those has produced a refund somewhere.
The account application comes back not in good order because of a missing initial, and the whole signature cycle runs again.
The custodian holds the assets and is the record. The advisory firm runs a relationship system alongside it, plus a portfolio and reporting system, plus a planning tool, and the same client identity is entered into each because there is no shared key between them.
- Orion
- DocuSign
- Excel
When this is the wrong thing to build
Pick something else if billing runs off a single flat rate keyed once and never revisited, or if the custodian already returns a preview file that operations reads line by line. A second check over a short list is friction with nothing behind it.
The constraint that shapes it
Books and records rules require preservation of communications relating to advice and recommendations, and to the movement of funds, in an accessible place, for a defined period with the earliest portion held locally. More on how this sector works.
Run the rules of the other side first, so the submission does not come back. Read what this shape is, or start from one of these.
- Counting the clock that public marketing starts on a listing
- Checking for a signed buyer agreement before a tour is confirmed
- Catching a filing rejection before the clerk does
- Catching the invoice lines an e-billing gate will reject
- Checking that a technician may legally take the call
- Filing a backflow test report the purveyor will accept
- How do I check advisory fee rates against the signed client agreement?
- Why did a fee debit fail for insufficient cash in the account?
- Should a terminated account get a prorated refund of prepaid fees?
- How do I catch a wrong fee schedule before the debit posts?
- Does my fee calculation method match what the brochure discloses?
Back to wealth management, or see how this is priced and scoped.