IFAC debuts Client Classification Tool

• Key insight: Learn how small accounting firms can sort their clients into four distinct categories.
• What’s at stake: Small accounting practices that fail to identify which of their clients are exit candidates.
• Supporting data: Four broad factors used to evaluate a firm’s client relationships.

The International Federation of Accountants introduced a Client Classification Tool for small and medium-sized accounting practices to help them develop a better understanding of their clients.

Processing Content

The downloadable and fillable tool aims to help small and midsized firms prioritize their resources, tailor their services to clients, manage their risks, and strengthen their long-term profitability and efficiency.

The tool provides two customizable templates. The Assessment Template helps firms evaluate clients across four broad factors — financial value, engagement and relationship, growth potential, and operational fit — and group them as Strategic Partners, Steady & Reliable Clients, Watch List Clients or Exit Candidates.

The Strategy Template enables firms to connect the results of their assessment to strategic objectives, action plans, key performance indicators and measurement methods.

The criteria for classification can be adapted to the firm’s specific jurisdiction, client base, values and strategic priorities. Regular reassessment can keep the firm’s decisions aligned with long-term goals as client needs and the firm’s direction evolve.

For additional guidance, a new IFAC Knowledge Gateway article discusses the usefulness of classification, the financial and nonfinancial considerations a firm may use, the benefits for practice management and client service, and practical first steps for introducing a structured approach.

IESBA newsletter

Separately, the IFAC-affiliated International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants launched Ethics Matters, a new monthly LinkedIn newsletter designed to help accountants stay informed about evolving ethics and independence standards and navigate ethics and independence challenges around the world. 

The newsletter includes a new Meet IESBA video series introducing IESBA board members and technical staff, offering audiences an opportunity to learn more about the people behind the board’s work, what motivates them, and some of the experiences and perspectives they bring to IESBA. The inaugural video features IESBA chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias.

“We hope Ethics Matters will bring you closer to our work — and to the people behind it,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “At IESBA, our mission is global, but our work is deeply human. It is shaped by people with different experiences, perspectives, and stories, united by a shared commitment to ethics and the public interest.”

Introductory bullet points created by AI with editorial review.