We rely on several key external agencies for our IT infrastructure, legal counsel, and bookkeeping. Should these outsourced partners get their own seats on our Accountability Chart, or do we only include W-2 employees?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The Accountability Chart is about functions and accountability, not tax status or payroll classifications. If a critical function is outsourced to an external vendor, that function must still be represented on your chart.

However, you cannot put an entire agency name in a seat, nor should you put an external vendor in a leadership seat without internal oversight. Every outsourced function must report to an internal seat owner who is ultimately accountable for their results.

For example, if you outsource your IT, you should have an internal seat, perhaps titled Technology Coordinator or operations lead, that is accountable for vendor management, system uptime, and security. The external IT agency reports to that internal seat. The internal seat owner is the one who gets run through the GWC™ check.

If you have a high-level fractional executive, like a fractional CFO, they can occupy a leadership team seat temporarily. In this case, their individual name goes in the seat, and they must fully GWC™ the role. This ensures there are no gaps in accountability, keeping your operations clean and transparent for future buyers.