For firms · Certification program
Clients certification
Certifies client experience, measured through client feedback collected independently of the firm. Assessed against a published standard and renewed every year.
What is assessed
Three things, each measured independently of the firm.
Client feedback
Collected by Client Culture through service quality reviews, not by the firm itself.
Experience drivers
Aligned to professional services through the six service standards: responsiveness, clarity, expertise, relationship, accountability and recognition.
Measurement integrity
Coverage is checked and, at Verified and above, the client list is reconciled from the firm's own client record, so selective omission is detectable.
Assessed at the tier your evidence supports
Each tier is a stronger public claim than the one below. The difference is how much Trusted Firms Global can vouch for, not how good the firm is.
At every tierThe survey list is built from the firm's client records. The firm attests fair review practice (Standards section 7).
Standard
Tier oneIndependent measurement.
- What the firm provides
- Its complete invoiced client population, as a CRM export or a prepared list.
- What is verified
- Independence of collection, through Client Culture's manual integrity review. Completeness is not verified.
- Threshold
- NPS ≥ 70 · 250 responses
- Public claim
- Certified status and independence. The NPS is assessed privately; no score is published.
Verified
Tier twoStructurally protected from selection.
- What the firm provides
- Its billing records, supplied by its finance function, or, where it does not bill per engagement, its register of fee-paying clients. Not supplied by fee-earners.
- What is verified
- Coverage reconciled against firm size and across cycles, so selective omission is detectable. Measurement frequency proportionate to the client base.
- Threshold
- NPS ≥ 70 · 250 responses
- Public claim
- Client list drawn from a verifiable client record. The score is published.
Gold
Tier threeThe highest level of process transparency.
- What the firm provides
- Everything at Verified, sustained across every cycle for a full year, with structured follow-up of every detractor.
- What is verified
- Sustained coverage and frequency across the year, and detractor follow-up evidenced in the platform. Mandatory manual review.
- Threshold
- NPS ≥ 80 · 250 responses
- Public claim
- Sustained rigour with closed-loop accountability. The score is published.
Moving between tiers
Most firms are first assessed at Standard. A firm is assessed at Verified once its client record comes from operations or finance and coverage can be reconciled against firm size. It is assessed at Gold once that coverage, and evidenced follow-up of every detractor, has been sustained for a full year.
Certified firms attest to fair review practice: clients are not invited to, or diverted from, public reviews by reference to their rating. Section 7 of the standard
What if we don't meet the standard first time?
Then nothing is published, and the work continues. No credential is issued and no result is made public. We tell you which standard was not met and by how much.
Firms measure with Client Culture on an ongoing program, not a one-off survey. The program is built to lift service: feedback reaches the people who can act on it, every detractor is followed up, and the firm can see where it is improving. That is why firms in the program reach certification. For some it is simply a question of time.
The standard itself does not move. What changes is the firm's process and culture, and the result follows.
How the process works
The same sequence for every firm, every year.
- Step 1
Apply, and tell us the tier you are working towards
- Step 2
Client Culture conducts independent service quality reviews: the survey list drawn from your billing records or register of fee-paying clients at Verified and Gold, and from your client records at Standard
- Step 3
Responses are aggregated and assessed. NPS is assessed privately; a score is published at Verified and Gold
- Step 4
Governance requirements are verified at the tier
- Step 5
A credential is issued if the standard is met
- Step 6
Annual renewal. Gold sustains coverage across every cycle for a full year
Every credential expires after twelve months, so a credential always reflects a recent assessment, not a result from years ago.
What certified firms receive
- A year-stamped credentialWith a unique credential ID. Digitally verifiable and renewed annually.
- A public verification pageOn trustedfirms.global. Clients and prospects can check it at any time, without contacting the firm.
- The mark, in three issued versionsFor light backgrounds, dark backgrounds, and a white card for any background. For the website, email signatures, proposals and print.
- Embed codeDisplays the mark on the firm's website with its verification link, and updates automatically if the credential's status changes.
- A certification summary reportDetailed results including NPS, response rate and process compliance. At Standard, the NPS is a private result.
Shown with Macpherson Kelley's credential, TFG-2026-0015. Use is governed by the Credential and Mark Use Terms.
Common questions
More in the standard and the definitions.
What does the firm have to provide?
A client record for the measurement population. At Standard that may be a CRM export or a prepared list. At Verified and above it is the firm's own client record: the invoiced-client ledger where the firm bills per engagement, the active-client register where it does not, supplied through the operations or finance function rather than by fee-earners.
How long does certification take?
It follows your measurement cycle. Certification is assessed once a completed measurement cycle meets the participation thresholds, and is renewed annually.
Will our clients be contacted repeatedly?
Clients on the survey list are invited in a cycle and can opt out. At Verified and Gold the list is drawn from your billing records or register of fee-paying clients; at Standard, from your client records. Measurement frequency is proportionate to the size of your client base rather than a fixed cadence.
Can a firm choose its tier?
A firm can tell us the tier it is working towards, but it is assessed at the tier its evidence supports. Fees have no bearing on the outcome.
Pricing depends on the size of the firm and the service plan it chooses. It does not depend on the credential awarded, and fees have no bearing on certification outcomes.
Request pricing
Apply for assessment
We respond within two business days with a pricing conversation and next steps.