Backed by Y CombinatorFour documents and three sheets that open with last quarter's recommendation status, then check the client's numbers against its own size bracket, not an all-sizes blend.
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Pack of 7 files: 4 documents, 3 spreadsheets
Client Advisory Services Meeting TemplatePrior Recommendation Status
[Firm Name]. Reviewed before this quarter's findings are opened.
| Recommendation | Status | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| [Recommendation] | Adopted | $__,___ / quarter |
| [Recommendation] | Not adopted | $__,___ / quarter |
Every recommendation gets a verdict before this quarter's benchmark findings get written.
Page one for a client advisory meeting template is a six-section agenda (performance, tax, risk, strategy, prior action items, next steps) and a practice benchmarking survey measuring the accounting firm's own fees and staffing, not the client's balance sheet. The monthly package already reports the client's own numbers every month. None of the agendas compare those numbers against real, size-matched industry data, and the comparison most firms reach for first, an all-sizes average, gets the read wrong in a different direction on every ratio it touches.
Sennwick Precision Manufacturing, a $16.4 million manufacturer, sits inside the Census Bureau's "$10 million to less than $25 million" bracket for its sector, not the all-sizes figure most benchmarking guides default to. Its equity-to-debt ratio is 1.82. Against the all-sizes average of 1.83, Sennwick is $23,600 short, which reads as noise. Against the size-matched average of 2.38, it is $2,179,600 short, which is not. Its current ratio tells the same story in the opposite direction: a $1,664,000 surplus against the wrong benchmark becomes a $1,120,000 shortfall against the right one.
The review opens with last quarter's recommendations, not this quarter's numbers. One of four was adopted: a powder-coating vendor rebid saving $22,400 a quarter. One went unadopted entirely, an overtime-reduction plan, and its cost is now a specific number, $10,920 a quarter, rather than a general sense that overtime runs high. This quarter's new recommendation is built on the equity gap directly: a year of retaining Q2's earnings run rate, no further distributions, closes 66.4 percent of the shortfall on its own, before a fractional CFO prices any other lever.
Trend PackSennwick Precision Manufacturing. Five quarters plus the trailing-twelve-month total used to size the benchmark bracket.
| Quarter | Revenue | Net income | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2Q 2025 | 5,780,000.00 | 294,780.00 | 5.1% |
| 3Q 2025 | 5,960,000.00 | 321,840.00 | 5.4% |
| 4Q 2025 | 6,390,000.00 | 293,940.00 | 4.6% |
| 1Q 2026 | 5,910,000.00 | 313,230.00 | 5.3% |
| 2Q 2026 | 6,240,000.00 | 361,920.00 | 5.8% |
| TTM | 24,500,000.00 | 1,281,930.00 | 5.2% |
$24.5 million of trailing revenue and $16.4 million of total assets is what places Sennwick in the Census Bureau's $10-25 million asset bracket rather than the all-sizes line.
Benchmark ComparisonQ2 2026. Every figure converted into the dollar amount each benchmark implies at Sennwick's own base.
| Ratio | Sennwick | All-sizes | Size-matched |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | 1.95 | 1.43 | 2.30 |
| Net margin | 5.8% | 15.60% | 7.59% |
| Equity-to-debt | 1.82 | 1.83 | 2.38 |
| Ratio | Reads as, all-sizes | Reads as, size-matched |
|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | $1,664,000 surplus | $1,120,000 short |
| Net margin | $611,520 gap (crisis) | $111,696 gap |
| Equity-to-debt | $23,600 short (noise) | $2,179,600 short |
Three ratios, three different distortions from one wrong bracket: a surplus that is really a shortfall, a crisis that is really a manageable gap, and a shortfall the wrong benchmark reads as noise.
Prior Recommendation StatusReviewed first, before this quarter's findings are written.
| Recommendation | Status | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Powder-coating vendor rebid | Adopted | 22,400.00 / qtr saved |
| Supplier terms net-30 to net-45 | Partial (2 of 3) | 340,000.00 moved |
| Cash reserve to 6 weeks opex | In progress | 55,769.00 short of target |
| Temp labor, cut overtime premium | Not adopted | 10,920.00 / qtr still open |
The not-adopted row is why the overtime premium sitting at 6.9 percent of payroll, almost unchanged from 6.8 percent last quarter, is a renewed ask this quarter rather than a repeat surprise next quarter.
Every recommendation ever made to this client, with a verdict, adopted, partial, in progress or not adopted, and the dollar impact behind each.
Five quarters of the client's own revenue and net income, plus the trailing-twelve-month total that sizes which benchmark bracket applies.
The client's ratios against both the all-sizes average and the size-matched bracket, each converted into the dollar amount it implies.
The memo naming which benchmark disagreement this quarter's recommendation is built on, and why that one over another with a similar gap.
This quarter's new, renewed and carried-forward asks, each with a named owner and a decision date, not a shared to-do list.
The meeting run in one fixed order, closeout first, so a recommendation cannot go unmentioned by starting with new numbers instead.
The deck actually presented, generated from the same three sheets the findings and recommendations read from, so nothing is retyped.
Take the blank Word and CSV files now, no account required, or open this pack in River and have the agent build the closeout from what you send.
Whatever was suggested at the prior review, in any form, plus whatever evidence shows what actually happened since: an invoice, an email, a bank balance.
Revenue and net income by quarter and a recent balance sheet, so the agent can size the benchmark bracket from total assets rather than assume one.
Review the Benchmark Comparison sheet before the recommendation it produced, and assign an owner and a decision date to whatever the meeting decides.
Yes. Download the whole pack as Word documents and CSV sheets with no signup and no credit card. Edit with AI is a separate, optional path for firms that want the agent to build the closeout and the benchmark comparison from what you send. The template library holds the rest of the packs.
Word documents (.docx) for the four narrative documents, including the deck, and CSV (.csv) for the three sheets, zipped into one file. They open natively in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Excel, Numbers and Sheets, with nothing to convert.
A monthly package reports what happened. This tracks whether what got recommended actually happened, and checks the client's own numbers against an industry benchmark matched to its size rather than an all-sizes average, which a client close tracker does not attempt at all.
It blends the smallest and largest companies in the sector into one figure, and that blend moves independently of anything happening at the client. On the worked example it understated one gap, overstated another, and called a real shortfall noise, three different distortions in the same quarter.
Then a designated person at the client, not the advisor, has to decide which recommendation actually gets implemented. AICPA guidance lists deciding which recommendations to implement or prioritize as a management responsibility the firm cannot assume, even on an engagement this well documented.
It creates a free River account and installs this exact pack as a private workspace. It opens ready to read whatever was recommended last time and whatever the client's numbers show now, which is where the closeout and the benchmark comparison both come from. Nothing is written until you send something.
Accounting and advisory firms running a recurring client advisory or CAS engagement, especially one that also runs a books cleanup diagnostic at intake or a fractional CFO retainer alongside it. The review here is the standing quarterly conversation, not the monthly package underneath it.
Written by
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open this exact pack in River and let the agent close out last quarter's recommendations before drafting this quarter's findings.
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