The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Comprehensive New Bookkeeping Client Checklist

This step also includes accessing the most recent account reconciliations to get a better overview of the financial health of the company. Instruct clients and their team members on how to manually enter financial transactions into QuickBooks Online, especially for transactions that may not be captured through automated processes. You can choose to record training videos for navigating through the dashboard, accessing relevant features, and customizing their interface. Alternatively, provide your clients with access to QuickBooks resources to familiarise them with the platform’s features.

This allows you to establish a connection between QuickBooks and the client’s bank account to streamline and automate data entry. On the client’s end, the onboarding process is where they discover how you will work together to achieve their goals. But if you don’t have a solid onboarding process, it’s simply more likely to happen. When you first decided to set up an accounting business, you probably had a vision. You imagined delivering an outstanding service to loads of great clients that recognized your value and rewarded you with money and enjoyable professional relationships.

How Do You Make A Client Checklist?

Be sure to follow your client’s business on social media using your business profile to show your investment in their success. At the same time, add them to your practice’s newsletter if you haven’t already. You could also add their start date, birthday, or company anniversary to your calendar as a recurring event.

• An onboarding process helps bookkeepers and clients by providing a structured and organized approach to introducing the bookkeeper to the client, their business, and their financial systems and processes.
• You need a checklist that is specific to the particular industry you’re serving along with the particular service you’re providing.
• By having a watertight onboarding process, you can increase retention and boost your reputation, so don’t underestimate the importance of this simple tactic.
• Moreover, mobility in data access through any interface device is possible.

That’s when they get to see you “walk the walk” from your initial sales pitch. However, it’s the onboarding phase that determines the difference between long-term success and an increased client churn rate. A welcome email is an excellent way to thank the client for their business and let them know you look forward to working with them to achieve their goals. This is a series of steps that you take every time you bring on a new client.

Client onboarding checklist

To save you time, we’re offering multiple free onboarding templates, including checklists. These templates are customizable, so you can modify them to suit your planning or documentation needs. Smartsheet also offers an onboarding template with enhanced features like easy collaboration. An onboarding process also saves time and keeps things moving on track. Now you’ll have a better chance of retaining your client and creating a healthy working relationship.

• Assigning work to other employees would require collaboration over email, which might get overlooked and cause delays.
• Next, get your meeting off to a good start by setting expectations and running through the agenda.
• Sending out an announcement supports the onboarding process by creating a welcoming environment for new hires so that they quickly feel at home and connected to their team and other networks.
• At this point, get any missing information you need for tool access or walk them through the new client questionnaire if they haven’t already completed it.
• Instruct clients and their team members on how to manually enter financial transactions into QuickBooks Online, especially for transactions that may not be captured through automated processes.

Read our new bookkeeping client checklist guide below, or download the entire list, including links to a worksheet you can copy. You’ll also want a way to track and assign specific tasks and add due dates if you have any. If you want to keep your clients or teammates in the loop, you can automate your project management workflows with automations like these that send project updates as messages. This is pretty meta, but the first step in your customer onboarding template is onboarding new customers. Kicking off the project with a warm welcome starts the relationship on a positive note and sets expectations. If you want to streamline your workflow even more, you can automate your client onboarding.

Child and Dependent Tax Credit for …

If you’ll be doing payroll for this client, this is when you’ll need the relevant documentation. Request tax forms, timesheets, direct deposit forms, and whatever else is necessary. Complete a quick audit and make sure everything is consistent with what you’ve been told so far and make a note of anomalies. Next, give the client a tour of your file-sharing system, e.g., Google Drive. Be sure they have all the proper permissions to use it and edit files as needed. Get the names and email addresses of other employees who might need access to the system.

Getting
new clients is always a moment to celebrate, but for many practices, the effort stops once the sale is made. Sadly, it’s too common for the onboarding process to be a last-minute thought. However, if your employees juggle multiple clients, your lists can get mixed up. Another drawback of this method of maintaining your checklist is that you cannot insert hyperlinks or connect them to other documents.

Send a write-up summary

It has the most essential steps in, but you’ll want to customize it for your practice. That said, we want to help you create your own accounting client onboarding process, so we are going to give you an example onboarding checklist for you to begin putting together your own checklist. Client on boarding is a productive step to establish long-term relationships, up selling services, and referral gaining. You can establish it by uploading client’s documents and information in minimal days by dedicated accounting software tools.

Internal setup processes – stage 2

Knowing the taxation and reviewing previous invoices, financial statements, or documents can also be easier. After the meeting, send an onboarding wrap-up letter that mentions the onboarding process fifo vs lifo: what is the difference has been completed and the ongoing services have now begun, so there’s no room for confusion. During this meeting, discuss communication methods and solidify everyone’s preferred method.