We all know LoAs are a drag. But here’s a question most firms haven’t solved: who should be doing what?

In this blog we cover;

• Why clear LoA roles matter (especially as firms grow)

• The 3-step framework to understand LoA’s end-to-end

• Pros and cons of different real-world approaches

• How AI-supported admin teams improve compliance and capacity

Why This Question Matters

If you’re scaling an advice firm, you’ve probably asked yourself: how should we handle LoA’s?

They’re time-consuming. They’re fiddly. But they’re essential.

Let paraplanners do them? You lose capacity for writing new cases. Let your admin team take over? You risk accuracy, rework, and slow turnarounds — unless they’re experienced and properly trained.

It’s an easy call if you’re a solo adviser or running a lean two-person operation. But the second you’ve got multiple support staff, junior and senior paraplanners, or varied experience levels in the team, it gets messy fast.

We’ve spoken to hundreds of firms wrestling with this exact decision. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, what is consistent is the need for clear role definitions, a structured process, and the right support tools.

So let’s break it down.

The LoA Breakdown: Our Framework

At 4admin, we look at the LoA process as three distinct steps:

1. Submission: Send the LoA in the right format, to the right office, and make sure it doesn’t get lost in the ether. Sounds simple — but if you’ve ever spent an hour finding the correct provider email address, you know it’s not.

2. Analysis: Review the initial response documents. Identify the key features. Summarise it cleanly so you’re not just dumping a 12-page PDF on someone else’s desk. Note what’s missing (for step 3).

3. Chase: This is where you fill the gaps. Email. Call. Call again. Chasing down whatever info is still needed to potentially progress to the report writing stage.Then make sure the CRM gets updated.

Whether you’re a solo operator or a 50-person firm, these are the steps. There’s no secret back door that some people have access to, so the question becomes: who owns which step?

3 Common Team Structures (with Pros & Cons)

Let’s run through three setups we see most often — and what they get right (and wrong).

Option 1: Admin does Steps 1 through 3

✅ Pros: Fully centralised. Cheaper resource. Easy to track. 

❌ Cons: Risk of misreading documents. Realising something important too late when the paraplanner flags it. Back-and-forth between teams slowing things down.

Option 2: Admin does steps 1–2 → Paraplanner does step 3

✅ Pros: Good cost balance. Admin handle the heavy lifting; paraplanner steps in when precision matters. 

❌ Cons: Still relies on admin getting the first pass right. Without training, this leads to confusion and follow-up questions.

Option 3: Admin does step 1 → Paraplanner does steps 2–3

✅ Pros: Experienced eyes do the technical analysis. Less risk of missing something important. 

❌ Cons: Expensive paraplanners bogged down in admin. Slows down new business.

None of these are perfect. But they all can work — with the right training and tech.

Our View: Train Admin, Support with AI

If we had to pick a side, we’d pick this: train your admin and back them with AI.

Why? Because firms that do this consistently see better outcomes across the board:

• Paraplanners stay focused on technical advice and case strategy

• Admin feel more empowered and confident in their role

• Turnaround times shrink

• Compliance goes up thanks to better CRM records

At 4admin, this is exactly where we slot in.

We’ve built tools to help admin understand, analyse and extract policy info. Then prepare summary sheets and upload data to the CRM — all at the click of a button.

No double keying. No guesswork. Just accurate data, faster.

It’s not just about saving time — it’s about moving people up the value ladder, improving job satisfaction and reducing costs.

Bonus: The Hidden Compliance Risk

Here’s a hot topic of conversation: CRM hygiene.

When handling replacement business, most firms we speak to don’t fully populate plan data in their CRM. Why? Because if the plan’s being replaced anyway, what’s the point?

The point is: compliance, due diligence, and firm valuation — just mark them as inactive!

We’ve seen acquisition deals delayed or downgraded because the CRM is half empty. It’s not that firms don’t care, it’s because they’ve had to choose between capacity constraints and compliance.

But now, they don’t have to.

We use our AI to automate CRM data entry — so that admin can do what used to take an hour in under a minute. The result? Cleaner data, better audit trails, and fewer sleepless nights before a PI renewal.

The Conclusion? It Depends — But It Should NEVER be Manual

Every firm is different. Your team structure, your goals, your workflow preferences — they all shape the right answer.

But no matter your setup, there’s one truth that holds: manual doesn’t scale.

Adding tools like 4admin transforms LoAs from a reactive mess into a streamlined machine — better compliance, better capacity, and happier clients.

Don’t just take our word for it:

• “The 4admin LOA program has increased both efficiency and the overall productivity of our admin team. so much that we have gone from having a full time LOA Administrator to now being able to cross train that individual to assist in other areas of the admin function.” – Heather @Canter Holland

• “The 4admin platform has revolutionized our LOA process. It has allowed our team to process a higher volume of LOAs daily, ensuring client cases progress swiftly and efficiently” - Joey @ Frizell Wealth Management

Are you still wrestling with LoAs? Let us know which approach you take and why!