Client Onboarding Checklist for Accounting and Bookkeeping Firms

The first 30 days with a new client set the tone for the whole relationship. Get onboarding right and the client knows what you need, when you need it and how to send it. Get it wrong and you spend the next year chasing bank statements and re-explaining your process.

This checklist walks through onboarding for accounting, bookkeeping and tax firms, from the first call to the first finished deliverable. Adapt it to your services, then turn it into a repeatable template so every new client gets the same experience.

Stage 1: Before the client signs

Onboarding starts before the engagement letter. The goal here is to confirm fit and scope so there are no surprises later.

• Hold a discovery call. Learn what the client does, how they currently handle their books or taxes, and what went wrong with their last provider.
• Confirm the scope. Bookkeeping, payroll, tax preparation, advisory, cleanup work? Write down exactly what you will and won't do.
• Ask about the mess up front. Unfiled returns, unreconciled accounts, IRS notices or months of missing records all change the price and timeline.
• Quote the work. Fixed monthly fees are easier to manage than hourly billing for most recurring work, and cleanup should be quoted separately.

Stage 2: Engagement letter and payment

Your engagement letter protects you and sets expectations. Make sure it covers:

• The services included, and a clear statement of what is out of scope
• Fees, billing frequency and what happens when work goes beyond scope
• The client's responsibilities, including providing complete and accurate documents by agreed deadlines
• Your policy for late documents, such as filing an extension or charging a rush fee
• How and where the client should send documents
• Termination terms for both sides

Collect payment details at signing. Setting up automatic billing now avoids an awkward conversation later.

Stage 3: Collect client information

This is where most onboarding stalls. Ask for everything in one organized request instead of a string of emails.

For every client

• Legal name, contact details and the preferred way to reach them
• Who else you should talk to, such as a spouse, business partner or office manager
• Prior year tax returns, ideally the last two or three years
• Any letters or notices from the IRS or state tax agencies

For business clients

• Entity type and formation documents
• EIN confirmation letter
• Ownership details and any operating or shareholder agreements
• A list of every bank account, credit card and loan the business uses
• Payroll provider details and recent payroll reports
• Sales tax registrations and filing history, if applicable
• Most recent financial statements, or the last closed period from the previous accountant

For individual tax clients

• Personal details for everyone on the return
• Income, deduction and credit documents for the current year (our tax document checklist covers the full list)

Stage 4: Access and authorizations

Getting access sorted early saves weeks of back-and-forth once the real work starts.

• Accounting software access. Ask the client to invite you as their accountant in QuickBooks Online, Xero or whatever they use, rather than sharing their login.
• Bank feeds. Connect read-only bank and card feeds where possible so transactions flow in automatically.
• Payroll and payment platforms. Request accountant or read-only access to payroll providers and platforms like Stripe, Shopify or PayPal.
• IRS authorizations. Have the client sign Form 8821 if you need to view their tax records, or Form 2848 if a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney at your firm will represent them before the IRS. Both can be submitted online, or requested through IRS Tax Pro Account.
• State equivalents. Many states have their own authorization forms for the same purpose.

Stage 5: Set up the client internally

• Create the client record in your practice management system or CRM
• Set up a consistent folder structure for their documents
• Add every filing and reporting deadline to your firm calendar
• Create recurring tasks for monthly, quarterly and annual work
• Assign an owner on your team so the client always has one point of contact

Stage 6: The kickoff call

A short kickoff call turns a signed contract into a working relationship. Cover:

• What you need from them each month or each tax season, and by when
• How they should send documents and ask questions
• How quickly they can expect a reply from you
• What they will receive from you and when, such as monthly reports or a return draft
• Anything still missing from the information request

Send a written recap after the call. Clients forget what was said, but they can always find the email.

Stage 7: The 30-day check-in

After the first month or first deliverable, check in. Ask what has been confusing or frustrating, and fix it now while the relationship is new. This is also the moment to flag any recurring gaps, like a credit card statement that never arrives on time.

Extra steps for bookkeeping clients

• Agree on a chart of accounts, or review and clean up the existing one
• Decide how the client will send receipts and answer questions about uncategorized transactions
• Set a monthly close date and a date when reports will be delivered
• Scope any catch-up or cleanup work separately from the monthly fee

Extra steps for tax clients

• Review last year's return for carryovers, estimated payments and anything unusual
• Ask about life changes: marriage, a new child, a move, a new job, a home purchase or a side business
• Confirm whether they expect a refund or a balance due, and discuss estimated payments for next year

Make onboarding repeatable

The firms that onboard well don't have better clients. They have a system. Every new client gets the same engagement letter, the same information request and the same kickoff agenda, which means nothing gets forgotten and your team isn't reinventing the process each time.

The hardest part to systematize is the information request, because it depends on clients actually sending the right things. Correctdocs turns your onboarding checklist into a guided request. Clients see exactly what to upload, each document is checked as it arrives so the wrong year or a missing page gets flagged immediately, and automatic text and email reminders follow up until everything is in.

Correctdocs is in early access. The first 10 US accounting, bookkeeping and tax firms get a free 30-day pilot on real client requests. Request early access.