Handbooks shouldn’t be HR wallpaper.
Done right, they codify how your business makes money and how people behave to protect margin.
Brand isn’t colors or fonts — it’s the decisions your team makes every day. A great handbook hardwires those decisions so profit isn’t left to chance.
What This Is (and Isn’t)
- It is: A one-source, living operating system: clear standards + checklists your team can follow without you.
- It isn’t: A bloated policy dump nobody reads.
Think of it as a machine you can hand off. Checklists are the asset.
The 7 Sections Your Agency Needs (Keep it to 6–10 Pages)
- Purpose & Scorecard
- Define what “winning” means: NOI target, GM target by service line, DSO target, service delivery time.
- Assign owners to weekly scoreboards.
- Standards of Behavior (How We Work)
- Responsiveness SLAs, meeting rules, writing quality, decision-making protocols.
- Non-negotiables, with 2–3 real examples per rule.
- Finance Controls (Stop Cash Leaks)
- Billing cadence (auto-bill Day 1), rate-card enforcement, scope-change protocol.
- Spend approvals by threshold, vendor payment approvals, duplicate-payment checks.
- CRA/tax remittance cadence with clear owner-of-record.
- Delivery & Time Rules
- Billable vs non-billable definitions, utilization targets by role, time entry policy.
- QA at invoicing: if hours don’t map to invoices, they didn’t happen.
- Communication OS
- Daily huddles (WHAT/WHO/WHEN), weekly WBRs (wins, blockers, risks), escalation path.
- Decision log location and access.
- Onboarding 30/60/90
- Access checklist, required trainings, first deliverables, role-specific success metrics.
- Compliance & Proof
- Data/privacy standards, security basics, device policy.
- Client proof/consent policy (what’s OK to share, how to anonymize, who approves).
How to Build It in 7 Days
- Day 1: Draft scorecard + finance controls (owner + CFO).
- Day 2–3: Add delivery/time rules and communication OS → convert to checklists.
- Day 4: Write standards with 3 concrete examples per rule.
- Day 5: Build onboarding 30/60/90 and access checklist.
- Day 6: Add compliance/proof policy.
- Day 7: Record a 5-minute owner video, publish in a shared doc, require e-sign.
Then run it:
- Review scoreboards weekly.
- Update monthly.
- If it’s not a checklist you can hand to a new hire, it’s fluff.
Metrics That Prove It Works
- Time-to-ramp (by role)
- Error rate at invoicing
- Duplicate payments
- DSO and CRA remittance timeliness
- Rate-card compliance %
- Utilization by role
- Churn of A-players
Common Mistakes
- 40-page legalese doorstops (nobody reads them).
- “Guidelines” with no owners or thresholds.
- No change log — doc goes stale in 30 days.
Bottom Line
Your handbook should be a money machine in writing: decisions, checklists, cadence.
Make it simple enough to follow and strict enough to protect margin. Because without a machine, you end up being the machine.
Call to Action
I’ll audit your finance sections (billing, approvals, controls) and give you a ready-to-ship MVH outline in 48 hours.
We run just two slots per month — book HERE to claim one.
About the Author
Michael Argento, CPA
Founder + Fractional CFO at Argento CPA
Michael helps ambitious Canadian business owners align compensation with performance. From creative agencies and SaaS startups to scaling construction trades businesses, he builds financial systems that reward results — without sacrificing sustainability.