Two weeks of diagnostic work, then a retained arrangement where we sit in on operations meetings, untangle the spreadsheets, and hand the routine to someone on your own team. Below is the order things happen in, what we need from you at each point, and where the work stops.
The sequence below is what most retainers look like from the first call to the handover. Timelines shift with the size of the operation, but the order rarely does.
Week 1
A 30-minute call to confirm what is bothering you most, followed by the first site visit. We walk the floor, open the filing cabinet, and look at the shared drive before anyone touches a spreadsheet.
Week 2
Two weeks of interviews and observation produce a written map of how supplier approvals, records retention, and health and safety files currently work. We flag where paper and digital versions have drifted apart.
Month 1
We join your ops meetings, rebuild the reporting pack tab by tab, and start aligning POPIA-aligned records handling with what staff actually do at the desk. Nothing is deleted without a written reason.
Months 2 to 4
A junior staffer is trained on the monthly routine, contract review steps, and file upkeep. We sit beside them for two cycles, then step back and review the output rather than produce it.
Handover
You keep the process maps, the reporting template, and a short procedure document. Your accountant handles the statutory sign-off; we make sure the groundwork is there when they ask for it.
A few terms get used loosely in advisory work. Here is what they mean in our engagements, so nobody is surprised halfway through the second week.
We do not sign off financial statements, issue assurance opinions, or act as your accounting officer. What we do is get the underlying records, process notes, and reporting pack into a state where your accountant or auditor can work from them without chasing you for three weeks.
The opening diagnostic is a fixed two-week block. We walk the floor, read the contracts, open the shared drive, and sit in on whatever meetings are already happening. You get findings and a prioritised list. There is no obligation to continue into a retainer afterwards.
A retainer covers a set number of days per month, agreed in advance. It typically includes ops meeting attendance, records tidy-up, and reporting pack preparation. Work outside that scope, such as a new site setup or a system migration, is quoted separately rather than absorbed.
We help you decide who may access personnel files, how long delivery notes and supplier records are kept, and what happens to a departing employee's documents. We do not interpret the Act for you or represent you in a complaint. Where a question is genuinely legal, we say so and you take it to your attorney.
Handover works best when a single junior staffer owns the routine and has a written procedure to follow. We train that person directly and stay reachable for the first two monthly cycles. If the role changes hands, retraining is a short separate engagement.
We keep the file current, flag expired certificates, and set a review rhythm. The file itself remains your property and your legal responsibility. We are maintaining a system you own, not taking over the obligation that sits with the employer.