Bookkeeping Client Onboarding Checklist | HelloBooks A bookkeeping client onboarding checklist: engagement letter, access and bank feeds, opening balances, chart of accounts, vendor W-9s, and the first close.
Onboarding decides how hard every later month will be. Get the opening balances, accounts and access right in the first two weeks, and the monthly checklist runs smoothly from then on.
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If any part of the work goes to an outsourced provider, the engagement letter is where AICPA members usually place the third-party disclosure, using language such as the AICPA’s published sample. Where tax return information is involved, the 7216 consent is a separate signed document.
Agree every opening balance sheet account to a statement or schedule before coding the first month. An unexplained opening difference costs more to fix in month six than in week one.
HelloBooks Practice lists client import from CSV, recurring tasks and milestones, and deadline auto-scheduling as live, so the monthly checklist and filing dates can be scheduled at onboarding rather than remembered later.
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Efficiency · recurring work
For CPA and bookkeeping firms · efficiency
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General information for tax and accounting professionals, not legal advice. Rules are summarised from the primary sources listed on the date shown; read the current text before relying on it.
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