A client onboarding workflow a small CPA firm can finish before anyone touches the books

Teams call a client "onboarded" when the portal invite goes out. That is the middle. Onboarding is done when all of this is true:

• The engagement letter for these services, for this entity, is signed and filed
• Ledger access, bank access, and any payroll or bill pay in scope actually work
• Folders exist and the first named document request is out
• The first close date is a card on the close board with a bookkeeper and a reviewer

AICPA's beginner automation example is this shape: a form comes in, records get created, a welcome email goes out. They also list creating the folder structure, generating the letter through a secure channel, and alerting the team when it is signed. (How to build automations in your small firm) Automate those. Do not automate the yes. If you are still choosing which repeating work to build after onboarding, start with accounting firm automation.

Illustrative clock, not a promise in your letter. Start it the day the owner writes yes. If a step slips, the later dates move. You do not compress review.

The AICPA Professional Liability Insurance Program treats a new client, and extra work under different standards, as needing a letter. Extra work that takes real time, such as year end planning, needs a letter. A short addendum can cover a minor add on if it states the request, your response, the fee, and that the original terms still apply. (Do I really need a new engagement letter for that?) Put that gate on day 1. A 1040 letter does not cover monthly books.

Collect this on a call, then type it in. Do not ask for passwords in email. Publication 583 is about records you can find later, not a screenshot in a thread. (Publication 583)

If the owner will not connect the card they still spend on, park it. Do not start the close as if the card does not exist.

One scheme for every new client. Year, entity, then month. Statements, receipts, payroll, tax, correspondence. The first request is not "send us everything." It is a list for the first period you will close.

• Bank and card statements for [Month], or confirmation that the feed covers those days
• Payroll reports for [Month] if payroll is in scope
• Loan statements if there is a loan on the balance sheet you just inherited
• A photo or PDF of any receipt over an amount you name, for items the bank text will not explain
• One upload link. Not 'email me' and a portal and a text.

After that list goes out, onboarding admin work is watching it. Coding waits on a bookkeeper who has a file they can actually open.

The intake card dies when the close card is born. Do not keep a forever Onboarding column. The monthly cycle in client advisory services automation is where the file lives now. The letter you sent on day 1 is in the bookkeeping engagement letter templates, not a 1040 letter with books scribbled in the margin.

Illustrative. You sold monthly books and the 1120-S. On the sales call they mentioned "maybe payroll next quarter."

• Two letters, or one letter that names books and the 1120-S and states payroll is out of scope until a later letter.
• Onboarding collects ledger and bank access only. Payroll login is not a day 4 task.
• The close board card is books. The tax board card is the 1120-S. They are not subtasks of onboarding.
• When they ask for payroll in June, stop. New letter or addendum. New access. New close steps. Do not 'just add it' because you already have the bank feed.

That June request is the one that causes claims when nobody writes it down. The insurance article's point is the extra work needs a paper trail. (Do I really need a new engagement letter for that?)

Download the onboarding checklist. Stages, owners, exit rules, an access block, and a row you can copy per new client. Fill it from the signature log and the login screen, not from a kickoff call you remember fondly.

Once the letter is signed, collecting the first statements is still the slow part. The tax season operator keeps each missing list current and drafts the follow ups, with your staff approving what goes out.