ACCOUNTING FIRMS

The missing W-2 should not be the thing the partner remembers at midnight.

Every return, close, and filing waits on documents the client has not sent yet. We connect intake, document requests, reminders, assignment, review, and billing so the firm knows what is missing, who is working on what, and what is due this week.

Get the free audit See the five workflows

A day that will sound familiar

The second week of March

The senior has sixty-two returns in progress and a spreadsheet that says which ones are missing something. It was accurate on Friday. Since then, nine clients have sent documents to four different places: the portal, the partner’s personal email, a text with a photo of a 1099, and one envelope on the front desk. One household is still missing a W-2 and a brokerage statement. Someone emailed them about it two weeks ago. Nobody has followed up because nobody knows if they replied.

The partner reviews at night. Returns reach her in a shared folder with a sticky note, and she finds out a preparer was waiting on her only when he asks. Three engagement letters for new clients are unsigned, so the work has started but the billing has not. The quarterly payroll filings for the bookkeeping clients are due in a month, and the checklist for them lives in the head of the person who is out on Thursday.

Five workflows

What changes for accounting firms.

  1. 01New client intake and engagement letters

    Today

    A prospect calls or emails. The partner has a conversation, quotes a fee from memory, and the engagement letter goes out when someone drafts it, sometimes after the work has begun.

    Connected

    The inquiry collects entity type, services needed, the prior-year situation, and deadlines. The engagement letter is built from those answers and sent for signature. The office sees which ones are not signed, and work does not start until they are.

  2. 02Document requests

    Today

    A generic checklist goes out by email. Clients send what they have, wherever they want, whenever they get to it.

    Connected

    Each client gets a request list built for their situation, with one place to upload. As documents land, the list updates itself. The preparer sees what is in and what is still out without opening the inbox.

  3. 03Missing-information reminders

    Today

    Someone remembers to chase. In March, nobody remembers.

    Connected

    Reminders go out on a schedule for each missing item and stop the moment the item arrives. The firm can see which clients are holding up their own return and for how long.

  4. 04Work assignment and review

    Today

    The partner assigns by walking over. Review happens in a shared folder with sticky notes and a verbal.

    Connected

    When a file is complete, it is assigned by capacity and deadline. When the preparer marks it ready, the reviewer gets it in a queue with the notes attached. Review comments go back to the preparer as a task, not a hallway conversation.

  5. 05Billing and recurring deadlines

    Today

    Invoices go out after the return is filed, if someone remembers the hours. Recurring filings are tracked in a spreadsheet.

    Connected

    The invoice is built from the engagement letter and the logged time when the work is marked complete. Recurring deadlines for each client sit on a calendar that creates the task, sends the document request, and shows what is at risk.

Where it breaks

Four places the process usually fails.

  1. THE FOUR INBOXESDocuments arrive by portal, email, text, and paper. The spreadsheet that tracks them is right for about a day. After that, the senior is checking four places to answer one question.
  2. THE CHASE NOBODY OWNSThe request went out two weeks ago. Whether the client answered is a question only the person who sent it can answer, and she is on sixty other files.
  3. THE STICKY-NOTE REVIEWA return waits in a folder for the partner. The partner does not know it is there. The preparer does not know she does not know. The deadline does.
  4. THE UNSIGNED ENGAGEMENT LETTERThe work started because the client was in a hurry. The letter was never signed. The invoice is now a conversation instead of a document.

One handoff, before and after

An individual return missing one document

Today
  1. The preparer opens the file, gets halfway, and finds there is no brokerage statement. He emails the client and moves to the next file.
  2. The client replies four days later with a photo of the wrong page, sent to the partner’s email.
  3. The partner forwards it a day after that. The preparer asks for the right page. The client is now traveling.
  4. The file sits in the spreadsheet as “waiting on client” with no date. Nobody looks at it again until the client calls about the deadline.
  5. The return is finished in the last week, reviewed late at night, and invoiced whenever someone gets to it.
Connected
  1. The request list for this client already shows the brokerage statement as outstanding before the preparer opens the file.
  2. The client got the first reminder on schedule, with one place to upload and a note about which pages are needed.
  3. When the statement lands, the list updates, the file is marked complete, and it goes into the assignment queue.
  4. The preparer finishes it in one sitting. When he marks it ready, it appears in the reviewer’s queue with his notes.
  5. The reviewer signs off, the return is filed, and the invoice is built from the engagement letter and sent the same day.

What to track

The numbers that tell you whether it is working.

We do not promise a percentage. We show you which numbers to watch, and we measure them before and after.

Questions accounting firms ask us

01Does this do any of the accounting or tax work?

No. We work on the office side only: intake, engagement letters, document requests, reminders, assignment, review routing, billing, and deadline tracking. The preparation, the review, and every professional judgment stay with your staff.

02What does AI do in an accounting firm’s office, in plain terms?

It notices and reminds. It sees a document has not arrived and sends the reminder. It sees a file is complete and puts it in the queue. It sees a phase is done and builds the invoice. It does not read the numbers or decide anything about the return.

03Our clients are not good with portals. Will they use this?

The request goes out by email or text, whichever the client answers, with one link and a plain list of what is needed. Photos from a phone count. Anything that lands in the wrong place can be attached to the right file by your staff in one step, so the list stays true either way.

04We have a practice-management system. Does this replace it?

No. We build inside it where it allows, and around it where it does not. The point is that the record you already keep stops needing a second copy in a spreadsheet and a third in someone’s head.

05What happens if something breaks in the middle of busy season?

Every step has a fallback to the way you do it today. If a reminder does not send, the item is still on the list and a person sees it. We build in the slow months, test on real files with your staff, and do not change anything in the last six weeks before a deadline.

START WITH ONE PROCESS

Bring us the busy-season checklist that lives in one person’s head.

We will map how it works today, find where it waits or gets repeated, and tell you whether fixing it is worth the effort.

Get the free audit See what we build
  1. The mapOne process in your business, drawn end to end on a single page
  2. The waitEvery place it stalls or gets repeated, and who is carrying it today
  3. The answerWhat fixing it would take, or a straight answer that it is not worth fixing