We are preparing for a clean exit in two years and need to transition our QA and compliance seat from an ad-hoc task shared by everyone to a single accountable seat. Our leadership team says we cannot afford a full-time hire yet. How do we handle this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Sharing critical responsibilities like QA and compliance across multiple seats is a recipe for operational failure and will hurt your valuation during due diligence. When everyone is accountable, no one is accountable. You must centralize this responsibility into a single seat on your Accountability Chart, even if you cannot afford a full-time hire today.

To represent this correctly, first define the five core roles of the QA and Compliance seat on your chart. These might include monitoring service delivery standards, managing regulatory filings, and auditing customer records.

Once the seat is defined, you have three options to resource it without breaking your budget:
- Assign the seat to an existing team member who has the capacity and a high Follow Thru conative profile, reducing their responsibilities in other areas.
- Hire a fractional specialist to own the seat for a set number of hours each week, ensuring they are held fully accountable for its metrics.
- Automate compliance tracking using technology, leaving only the oversight role to an internal team member.

Whichever option you choose, there must be only one name in that seat. This structure signals to potential buyers that your operations are systematic, secure, and ready for a clean transition.