Review is the bottleneck nobody wants to admit to

Growth in a compliance practice usually means more preparers. That works until everything they produce has to pass through the same two people, at which point adding staff increases the queue rather than the output.

Why it stays hidden

Because the queue is invisible. Files waiting for review sit in a partner's pile, physical or digital, and their age is not measured. The practice knows it is behind without knowing precisely where.

Rework is the second cost

Some files come back repeatedly. In most practices nobody knows which preparers or which clients generate the most rework, so the pattern is addressed as a general exhortation to be careful rather than as specific training or a specific client conversation.

Measuring it is uncomfortable, which is exactly why it goes unmeasured.

What relieves it

Rarely more partner hours. Usually a narrower review: standard files reviewed on exception, complex files reviewed fully, and the distinction decided in advance rather than by whoever picks up the folder.

That is a policy decision, and it needs the queue data to be made confidently.