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For taking on a new client

A client onboarding checklist for accounting and bookkeeping firms

Most problems with a new client were visible before the engagement began: a scope nobody wrote down, a predecessor nobody called, an authorization nobody filed. This client onboarding checklist puts those steps in order.

Onboarding at an accounting firm is two jobs that get mixed up. One is deciding whether to take the client on at all, and on what terms. The other is getting everything you need to do the work: authorizations, logins, last year's file. Firms that run them together end up chasing bank feeds for a client whose fee they never agreed.

Last reviewed against 12 primary sources.

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Client onboarding checklist

The full checklist as a printable PDF for US firms, as an Excel workbook, and as a CSV you can load into your own task list or send as a request list.

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No email required.

Next step: send this list to the client as a request list in FirmHello. They upload against each line, and reminders chase whatever is still open.

Get started

The list below keeps them apart. Groups 1 to 4 happen before you do any work. Groups 5 to 8 go to the client, most of them as a request list. It works as an accounting client onboarding checklist for tax and advisory work and as a bookkeeping client onboarding checklist for monthly clients; strike the items that do not apply.

Two federal rules shape the US version. If you prepare returns, the FTC Safeguards Rule treats your firm as a financial institution, so a new client's data comes under your written information security plan from the first upload. And if you will use or share a client's return information for anything beyond preparing the return, section 7216 requires their written consent first.

The checklist

Work through the groups in order. Replace [bracketed] items with your own. The notes say why an item is there; the item line is short enough to send to a client as it stands.

1. Before you accept

  • Run a conflict check on the client, its owners and any related entities A spouse, a business partner or the other side of a sale may already be your client. Check before you learn anything confidential.
  • Write down the scope you are quoting for, and what is excluded
  • Agree the fee, how it is billed and what triggers a change
  • Ask who the previous accountant was and why the client is moving The reason for the change is the most useful thing you will learn in onboarding. A fee dispute or a refused instruction is a warning.
  • For an audit, get management's permission to contact the predecessor auditor AU-C 210 requires the successor auditor's inquiries of the predecessor once management authorizes them, including about fraud and noncompliance with laws.
  • Confirm the work is within your competence and your staff's capacity this season

2. Identity and who you are dealing with

  • A current government-issued photo ID for each individual client FinCEN's customer due diligence rule does not cover accounting firms. The check protects against identity theft and against filing a return for someone who is not your client.
  • For an entity, formation documents and the EIN confirmation letter
  • The names of the owners, officers and anyone who can instruct you
  • Written confirmation of who signs for the entity and who may receive its information
  • Contact details you have verified, not just copied from an email signature

3. The engagement letter

  • An engagement letter for each entity and each type of service One letter covering a person and their company is hard to enforce and awkward to end. Separate clients get separate letters.
  • Scope, exclusions, fees, client responsibilities and how the engagement ends
  • The client's signature on the letter before work begins Use your own signing provider or wet ink. Keep the signed copy with the client's file, not in someone's inbox.
  • A section 7216 consent, if you will use or disclose return information beyond the return

4. Authorization with the IRS

  • Form 8821 if you need to see the client's IRS records An 8821 lets you inspect and receive information. It does not let you speak for the client, advocate for them or sign waivers and agreements on their behalf.
  • Form 2848 if an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent will represent the client
  • Request the authorization through Tax Pro Account where you can The client approves the request in their own IRS Online Account, and individual requests are processed in real time. Faxed and mailed forms need a handwritten signature and join a queue.
  • State forms for each state where you will file or deal with the tax agency
  • Form 8655 if you will file payroll returns or make deposits as reporting agent

5. Access to systems

  • Accountant or advisor access to the ledger software, not the owner's login A shared login means no audit trail of who changed what, and it breaks the day the owner changes their password.
  • Read-only access to bank and credit card accounts, or the statements if not
  • Access to the payroll provider, or its reports each pay run
  • The point-of-sale, e-commerce or payment processor reports that feed the books
  • A record of every login the client has granted you, to revoke when you part

6. The prior-year file and opening documents

  • The last two years of federal and state returns, with all schedules
  • IRS and state notices received in the last three years
  • The prior-year depreciation schedule and fixed asset register Without it, basis and depreciation start from a guess. It is the document predecessors most often fail to send.
  • The year-end trial balance and financial statements for last year
  • Carryforwards the prior preparer tracked, such as losses and credits
  • Loan agreements, leases and any agreements between the owners

7. Communication and portal set-up

  • A client portal login for each person who will send or receive documents
  • Agree how you will send documents and how you will not, such as email attachments Your security plan under the Safeguards Rule covers how client data reaches you, not just where it is stored.
  • Multi-factor authentication switched on for every client login
  • One named contact on each side, and a backup

8. The first deadlines

  • The next return due date and whether an extension will be needed
  • Estimated tax payments for the current year, and who calculates them
  • Payroll deposits and quarterly payroll returns, if you are taking on payroll
  • Forms 1099-NEC, due January 31, if the client pays contractors
  • The date you need the client's documents by, written into the request list

Before you use this

Supplied as-is, with no guarantee. These templates are general information, not legal advice, and not a substitute for it. Have your own legal adviser review and adapt one to your practice and your jurisdiction before you put it in front of a client. FirmHello accepts no responsibility or liability for any use made of them.

How to run onboarding without it running you

  1. 1

    Decide before you collect

    Finish groups 1 to 3 before you ask for a single bank statement. A client who has uploaded two years of records feels engaged whether or not the letter is signed.

  2. 2

    Send the client's half as one list

    Authorizations, logins and opening documents go out together, with a date. Five separate emails over three weeks are how items get lost.

  3. 3

    Keep what you received and when

    The identity documents, the signed letter and the predecessor's reply are the file you will want if the engagement is ever questioned. Keep them with the client, in one place such as a client portal for accountants, not scattered across staff inboxes.

  4. 4

    Close onboarding on a date

    Pick the day onboarding ends and the first period's work starts. An onboarding that never formally ends turns into unbilled set-up work.

Where onboarding goes wrong

Work before the letter

The client needs something urgently, so a junior starts on it while the letter is still with them. If they never sign, the scope of that work is whatever they remember asking for.

The predecessor nobody asked

A client moving firms in the middle of a dispute brings the dispute with them. One enquiry to the previous accountant, with the client's permission, is cheap insurance.

Logins that outlive the client

Bank, ledger and payroll access granted at onboarding is rarely revoked at the end. Keep a list of what you were given so offboarding can undo it.

The client's half, as a request list

Groups 5 to 8 are what FirmHello is for. Save them as a request list template, send it when the engagement letter is signed, and the client sees one checklist with your firm's name on it, with reminders going out until each item arrives. The signed engagement letter, the ID documents and last year's returns sit in the client's vault with everything they send later. FirmHello does not sign anything: the letter and any authorization forms are signed in your own signing tool or on paper, then kept in the vault. More on the client portal for accounting firms page.

See a request list in the tour

Related templates and guides

What it is Engagement letters Accounting Accounting Bookkeeping Bookkeeping For accounting firms Accounting firms

Questions about onboarding new clients

Do US accountants have to verify a client's identity by law?

Not under a general anti-money laundering rule. FinCEN's customer due diligence rule covers banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds and futures firms, not accounting firms. Firms check identity anyway, because a return filed for an impostor is a fraud with your name on it.

Should I use Form 8821 or Form 2848?

An 8821 is enough if you only need to see transcripts and notices. You need a 2848 to represent the client: to speak for them, sign agreements or argue their position. Only someone eligible to practice before the IRS, such as a CPA, attorney or enrolled agent, can be named on a 2848.

When do I need a section 7216 consent?

Before you use or disclose a client's return information for anything other than preparing the return: offering another service, sharing it with a lender, or sending it to a preparer outside the United States. The Form 7216 consent page has the wording.

Does the FTC Safeguards Rule apply to a small firm?

Tax preparation firms are named in the FTC's own guidance. Firms that hold information on fewer than 5,000 consumers are exempt from some provisions, not the rule as a whole. The plan itself is covered on the WISP template page.

Is this checklist enough on its own?

It is a template supplied as-is. State rules, your state board's requirements and your insurer's conditions may add to it. Have your own adviser review it before you rely on it.

What changed

  • Added an Excel (.xlsx) copy of the checklist beside the PDF and CSV.

Send the list once, and let it chase

Each line becomes something the client uploads against. Reminders go out on your schedule until the list is complete, and every file lands in the client's vault.

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