Professional services firms are under more pressure than ever to control referral activity.

Compliance teams at accountancy firms and solicitors need confidence that relationships are appropriate, referrals reach the right destination, and sensitive cases receive proper oversight.

Financial Planning and wealth firms face their own scrutiny through the FCA’s Consumer Duty, which demands evidence that clients are being routed to appropriate specialists and treated fairly throughout their journey.

Yet all firms need to empower teams to serve clients seamlessly, making introductions to trusted advisors without unnecessary friction. RQ's approval workflows give firms that extra layer of protection - without turning referrals into a bottleneck.

A centralised panel you can trust

When a firm joins RQ, all professional relationships sit in one place. For many organisations this is the first time they’ve had a single, accurate view of who they refer to and why.

It replaces scattered half-empty spreadsheets, inbox threads, and private relationships with a transparent, governed panel. From day one, firms can see:

• Every active relationship
• Who approved it
• How it is used across the firm
• Where new relationships are being requested

This visibility is the foundation for controlled, predictable referrals.‍

Relationship approvals

Many firms want oversight of new relationships before they appear in their panel. With relationship approvals switched on, any request to add a new partner routes to account admins for review.

A typical flow:

1. A team member requests a new relationship
   (for example, a tax adviser wants to refer to a new pensions specialist).
2. Admins are alerted instantly
3. They review the request, approve it, and RQ sends the invite
4. Once the partner signs up, they join the firm’s panel

This protects the firm from informal or inappropriate additions and ensures every relationship meets internal and regulatory standards.

Referral approvals

Some referrals carry more risk than others — conflict-prone categories, regulated services, or areas where the firm has strict boundaries. For these, RQ's core functionality alone may not be suitable.

Referral approvals let you mark any relationship as requiring review. From that point, every referral to that partner pauses for approval.

How it works:

• The team member submits the referral as normal. No extra steps.
• The designated approver receives an alert.
• They can approve, modify, or reject the referral.
• If modified, the case returns to the referrer to update.
• If rejected, it closes with a full audit trail.
• If needed, the approver can redirect the referral to a more suitable partner.

This gives firms real-time control in the exact areas they worry about most, without turning referrals into a bottleneck.

Directing unassigned inbound referrals

Inbound referrals from Compass or calendar booking links sometimes arrive without a named adviser. Without clear ownership, these can drift or be missed entirely.

RQ solves this with lead adviser routing. Firms nominate a lead adviser for each partner, ensuring every unassigned referral is captured and handled promptly.

Protection without friction

Approvals are designed to be lightweight. Staff refer as they always have. The checks happen behind the scenes, surfaced only to the people who need to intervene.

Firms gain:

• Stronger compliance control
• A defensible audit trail
• Confidence that referrals reach the right partner
• Protection against conflict, risk, and inappropriate routing
• Oversight at firm, team, and service-line level

All without extra paperwork or manual chasing.

Why it matters for leaders and compliance teams

As organisations grow, referral activity becomes harder to track, risk becomes harder to manage, and informal processes become fragile.

A misplaced referral can damage client trust, trigger regulatory questions, or expose unapproved relationships that slipped in unnoticed.

Approval workflows provide a simple, scalable safeguard. They give firms confidence that referrals are going where they should, that risky areas are monitored, and that every decision is logged and auditable.