A practical client onboarding checklist for accountants

Key takeaways

• Treat onboarding as a single, trackable process with a clear finish line, not an inbox thread.
• Get the engagement letter and identity checks done before any substantive work begins.
• Ask for documents once, in one place, and let automated reminders do the chasing.
• Keep compliance steps aligned with current ATO and Tax Practitioners Board requirements, which change over time.

Why does client onboarding matter so much for a practice?

Onboarding is the first real experience a client has of working with you. If it is clear and calm, they arrive at the first job already trusting the process.

If it is scattered across emails, attachments and phone messages, your team spends the first weeks chasing paperwork instead of doing the work the client is paying for. Missing documents also have a habit of surfacing close to a lodgement date.

A written checklist fixes most of this. It makes the process repeatable, so every new client gets the same standard regardless of who in the team picks them up.

What should be on the checklist?

Here is a practical client onboarding checklist for accountants and bookkeepers, in a sensible order. Adjust it to your services and your registration type.

1. Engagement letter. Set out the scope of work, what the client is responsible for, how fees are approached, and how either party can end the engagement. Have it signed before work starts.
2. Identity verification. Confirm the client is who they say they are, and record how you did it. Check current ATO and Tax Practitioners Board requirements on client identity verification, as expectations are updated from time to time.
3. Agent authority. Make sure the client has authorised you to act for them with the ATO. The steps can differ between individuals and businesses, so follow the ATO’s current process for each client type.
4. Prior-year documents. Request previous returns, notices of assessment, activity statements and any open correspondence with the ATO. This shows you the starting position and any loose ends.
5. Access to accounting records. Arrange access to the client’s bookkeeping file, bank feeds or source records, with only the level of permission you actually need.
6. Communication preferences. Agree how the client wants to hear from you, who the main contact is, and who else can give instructions on their behalf.
7. Deadlines and reminders. Record each lodgement and payment date that applies to the client, then set reminders for both your team and the client.

Depending on the services you provide, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations may also apply. Check AUSTRAC’s current guidance if you are unsure whether they affect your practice.

How do you run onboarding without email chains?

Email is fine for a welcome note. It is a poor tool for collecting a dozen items from a client over several weeks, because nobody can see at a glance what is done and what is still missing.

A better pattern is a single onboarding portal or form that holds the whole checklist. The client works through it at their own pace, uploads documents against each item, and signs the engagement letter electronically.

Behind the scenes, reminders go out automatically when items are outstanding, and your team sees a status for every new client in one view. This is the job accounting client onboarding software is meant to do: turn a checklist into a process that largely runs itself.

A few practical habits help:

• Send one request with everything in it, rather than asking for items one at a time.
• Explain in a sentence why each item is needed, so clients are less likely to skip it.
• Stop reminders automatically once an item is received, so clients are not chased for things they have already sent.
• Keep a named person on the file for questions, even when the reminders are automated.

What can you automate, and what should stay personal?

Automation suits the repetitive parts: sending the welcome pack, requesting documents, nudging when items are overdue, confirming receipt and scheduling deadline reminders. Our business automation page explains how these workflows fit together.

The judgement calls should stay with people. Reviewing identity evidence, deciding whether an engagement is a good fit, and explaining a client’s position in plain language are all things a client expects from their accountant.

A short welcome call once the paperwork is complete is still worth making. It sets expectations and gives the client a person to associate with the practice.

How do you know your onboarding process is working?

Look for signs of friction rather than chasing a particular number. Common ones include clients asking what they still need to send, team members re-requesting documents, and work starting before the engagement letter is signed.

Review the checklist with the team every few months. If the same item keeps stalling, the wording or the timing of the request probably needs to change.

It also helps to keep onboarding in the same system that holds your enquiries, so a new client moves from first contact to active engagement without being re-keyed. Our guide to choosing practice management software covers how that wider layer fits together.

Which onboarding steps can run automatically?

Most onboarding steps can be requested, tracked and chased automatically, while the checks and decisions themselves stay with you and your team.

Step	Why it matters	What can be automated
Engagement letter	Sets scope and fees in writing	Sending, e-signing and reminders
Identity verification	Often required before you act (check current ATO and TPB guidance)	Requesting and collecting documents, while the check stays with you
Agent nomination	Lets you act for the client	Reminders until it is done
Prior-year documents	Gives you a baseline for the work	Document requests with automatic follow-up
Access to accounting records	Lets the work start	A checklist item with a follow-up task
Deadlines	Keeps anything from slipping	Reminders from the client record

Where Launch Your Dream fits

Launch Your Dream (LYD) is an AI-integrated business suite built for one industry at a time, by Sharktech Global, including an edition for accounting and bookkeeping practices. It brings together a website, CRM, automated follow-up and client communication, review requests and local SEO, set up and managed by Sharktech Global on its VCPility automation platform. You can see the accounting version in our live demo, LYD Accrual OS.

If your current onboarding lives in email threads and spreadsheets, book a discovery call and we can talk through how it could run as an automated workflow. You can also browse all our services.