Representative output
Briefing memo for [Client] — [Date]
Topic: The strategic question the engagement was scoped around, stated in one sentence. Example: "Whether and how to add Bitcoin to the corporate treasury policy on a five-year horizon."
Audience: Who was in the room, by role. Example: CFO, Treasurer, two outside directors, General Counsel.
Engagement type: Diagnostic · Strategic · or Engagement (multi-session).
1. The frame
One paragraph naming the strategic question, the time horizon, and the constraints the analysis is bounded by. No throat-clearing. The first three paragraphs of every brief anchor to a specific number, date, or named institution.
2. What changed recently
The two or three real-world events, regulatory developments, or market structure shifts that make this question live now, not three years ago. Each item cites a primary source — a Treasury release, a FASB standard, a named counterparty action — not a wire story.
3. The mechanism
How the thing actually works, in plain English, at the depth required for the audience to ask the right follow-up questions of their bank, custodian, lawyer, or counterparty. Diagrams included when they help.
4. The decision space
- Option A: The default path. What it costs, what it forecloses, what it preserves.
- Option B: The deliberate alternative. The conditions under which it dominates A.
- Option C: The aggressive position. What it requires to be defensible, and who it would have to be cleared with.
5. What we did not cover
Scope limits, stated flat. Questions that came up in the room that need their own engagement, a different specialist (legal, tax, custody operations), or more data than was available at the time of the brief.
6. Recommended next moves
Three to five concrete actions, ordered by urgency and dependency. Each one names the owner inside the client organization, the next external party to engage, and the artifact that would close it out.
7. References
The primary sources used — BIS papers, Treasury releases, FASB guidance, on-chain explorers, regulatory filings, named research. Linked where stable; cited by name where URLs change.