Repeatable VSME work comes from a method, not duplicating last year's report. The firm must be able to recover sources and understand what changed.
Define the engagement
Before quoting, establish whether the client needs its own report or support for requests involving its customers. Specify year, scope, recipients and deliverables. State exclusions, including any separate assurance work.
CNDCEC IRS 20 offers professional context. The following sequence is our organisational proposal, not a mandatory process or fee schedule.
A reusable workflow
- Start: confirm standard version, modules and responsible people.
- Inventory: locate sources and gaps before drafting.
- Collect: request information with explicit period and units.
- Review: check calculations, consistency and reasons for omissions.
- Deliver: retain the internally approved version and shared attachments.
- Revisit: assign updates and record changes.
Do not automatically introduce a double-materiality matrix as a VSME requirement. Additional analysis may be a separate service with a defined purpose and limits.
Estimate without invented benchmarks
Use observable factors: sites, sources, systems, gaps, specialist input and recipient requirements. Separate initial setup from subsequent updates.
For the first engagement, measure collection, review and rework hours. Use them to improve the next estimate, not to claim every client will take the same time.
Checks between years
Before reusing a value, verify period, definition and scope. Before reusing text, check that it still describes actual practice.
The objective is a more controllable engagement, not an automatic report or an unmeasured percentage cost reduction.
Read about skills and responsibilities and the source dossier.