Client retention - Case Study
A Big 4 audit firm wished to understand where it demonstrated differentiation in its offering, examining the technical aspects of actually conducting an audit, through to the less tangible, service-related issues of its relationships.
IQ conducted a hundred interviews with Chief Financial Officers and members of the Audit Committee of the world’s largest, quoted organisations. The balance between the two respondent groups had to be carefully managed because of the different roles, motivation and responsibilities of the two groups, in light of the recent emphasis on corporate governance and independence of auditors.
Disappointingly for the client, there was little perceived differentiation in the technical aspects of their audit “product”, something they believed in. However, it did become clear that there was significant differentiation in areas of client communication, proposal quality and client servicing; the problem was that it was patchy with different strengths and weaknesses being demonstrated in different geographic regions, with little consistency.