In 2002, David Paine published something unusual for the agency world: a manifesto. Not a pitch, not a capabilities deck — a set of beliefs about how a client-service firm should actually be run. He called it the PainePR Service Manifesto: Putting Clients and People First, and it argued, plainly, that the agency model was broken in ways that hurt both clients and the people doing the work.
I had the good fortune to work for David. What I learned there became the foundation of how I practice finance — and, years later, of the firm I built. Below are the ideas from his manifesto that shaped me most, and how each one lives inside The Good CFO today. The words in the pull-quotes are his and his firm’s; the commentary is mine.
Blame the process, not the person.
The manifesto’s central claim was radical for a talent-obsessed industry: consistent quality doesn’t come from hiring stars, it comes from designing systems that let good people succeed. David leaned on W. Edwards Deming to make the point.
“Better than 94 percent of all outcomes are a function of the system, not the people.”— PainePR Service Manifesto (2002), citing W. Edwards Deming
That single line rewired how I see problems. When a number is wrong or a close slips, the instinct to blame a person is almost always misplaced — the process failed them. It’s why our whole method starts with mapping the system before touching the people, and why “blame the process, not the person” is something we say out loud.
A culture built on humanism.
PainePR ran on what David called a Bill of Rights — the right to be heard, to be told the truth, to be treated fairly regardless of title, to have balance. It was humanism as an operating principle, not an HR slogan.
“The only competitive advantage companies have is the quality of the relationships they can build with their own people.”— PainePR Service Manifesto (2002)
I took that with me completely. A good CFO isn’t just a steward of capital — they’re a steward of the culture the numbers depend on. It’s why we measure how people feel with the same rigor we measure cash, and why “people over profits” is a value we actually hold, not one we print.
Put senior people on the actual work.
David’s sharpest critique was structural: the layered agency model pushes real work down to the least experienced people, then burns senior time on inspection and rework. Clients pay more for worse. His answer was flatter teams where experienced professionals do the day-to-day.
“Clients are best served by an agency service structure that has far fewer layers, less management, and more day-to-day involvement of experienced staff members.”— PainePR Service Manifesto (2002)
This is exactly how we staff. Our controllers often do the bookkeeping too, because an experienced person does it faster and better than a hand-off through layers — and we only add a junior resource when the work is genuinely transactional. You get senior judgment on the work that needs it, and nothing wasted on the work that doesn’t.
Profit that doesn’t come at the expense of people or clients.
The manifesto didn’t pretend money doesn’t matter — it argued that the usual levers for making it (billability targets, performance-based pay, profit centers) quietly destroy the quality they’re meant to fund. Better systems, not longer hours, are what make a firm both good and profitable.
“A study for one major national client found that we saved them 20 percent in fees because our system resulted in better planning, reduced inspection, and less rework.”— PainePR Service Manifesto (2002)
That reframed profitability for me as an engineering problem, not a squeezing problem. It’s the logic behind how we work with clients: a clear monthly budget and scope, efficiency built through systems, and a model designed so the incentives never pull us away from doing right by your business.
Get better, on purpose, forever.
Finally, PainePR treated improvement as a discipline — documenting methods, inviting everyone to scrutinize them, running quality circles, getting better year after year rather than by accident. It’s Deming again: intention over chance.
“In the absence of a formal system that promotes quality, generating great results is more likely a product of chance than real intent.”— PainePR Service Manifesto (2002)
That belief is the engine of The Good CFO Method — a Plan-Do-Study-Act rhythm that runs from the weekly sprint to the annual plan. We don’t hope things get better. We build the system that makes them.
The revolution starts here
That was PainePR’s tagline, and more than twenty years on it still reads as a challenge worth answering. David Paine set a standard for what it means to serve clients and people well — and to run a firm on beliefs, not just billables. We don’t claim to have it all figured out any more than he did. But it’s the standard we try to live, and we’re grateful for it.
Our thanks to David Paine and PainePR for the manifesto and everything it taught. The full document is worth your time.