Client Onboarding Workflow for an Accounting Firm

Public accounting firms typically employ Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) that work in the areas of audit, tax and management consulting. Four firms, called the Big Four, are the largest companies in the public accounting industry. These are Ernst and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and KPMG.

The importance of a solid employee onboarding process for wealth management firms is well established. That initial period sets the tone for the remainder of the working relationship and, when done right, can help to bolster profitability for all parties involved.

However, many financial planning practices see the client onboarding process as nothing more than a series of tedious tasks that serve no purpose than to meet basic compliance needs. When the process for new client onboarding is mired in administrative data-entry with no focus on the strategic potential of setting a strong foundation upon which to build a working relationship, a huge potential of value is lost. 

This workflow is designed to help you make the most of your client onboarding process. Not only is this process designed to streamline your workflow with a series of best-practice tasks that will adapt to your needs with conditional logic, but manual data-entry is also minimized with the use of auto-fill form fields and parameters.

You will be able to focus your energy on your client’s needs and goals and gain real insight into how best to approach a solution for their situation. By making use of this workflow you are far more likely to get the most value out of your investment (of both time and money) and ensure you’re are optimizing your client onboarding process.

Let’s get started.

Record some basic details about this process with the form fields below.

Pro tip: You can automate this using Salesforce and the Workflow Run Link.

Upload the accounting contract to the form field below.

Send the contract to your client for signing with this email widget. 

You shouldn’t have to do anything, since the body of the email has been prepared for you, pulling in all relevant data automatically. Simply check the text and hit send when you’re ready.

Request the client provides proof of their identity using the email widget below.

All you have to do is check the email looks good and hit send, since the body has already been prepared for you.

Upload your GDPR statement to the form field below.

It’s important that the client understands your privacy and data policies, so send over a copy of your GDPR statement for them to review. 

Simply check the content of the email reads okay and hit the send button, since the content has been automatically filled out for you using data collected in this checklist.

Once you’ve received the signed accounting contract, upload it here.

Upload copies of the proof of identity the client provided to the form field in this task.

Help your client to feel welcome as early into the process as possible by preparing some content to send in a brief welcome email.

Consider incorporating some of the elements in this sub-checklist into your welcome email:

You might have some welcome content prepared ahead of time for situations like this. If that’s the case, simply proceed to the next task.

Otherwise, use the form fields below to record resources that will be the elements welcome email.

Edit the body of the email to contain only relevant information, and then hit the send button when you’re ready.

Set up one of our 1,000+ app integrations to automatically send this welcome email whenever you run a new version of this checklist.

Send your client a questionnaire to learn about their current financial situation.

Edit the body of the email below to include a link to your own questionnaire, then make sure the information looks correct before sending it off.

Record a link to the completed financial questionnaire in the form field below.

Check the contents of the email below, then hit the send button to send a link to your client for them to book an initial consultation call with you.

Everything is already prepared for you; just send the email once you’ve made sure it looks good.

Confirm the date of the onboarding consultation here:

Prepare a consultation agenda ahead of the call, with points that you’ll want to go over with your client.

Use the form field below to record the consultation agenda.

During the call, discuss your client’s business goals and record a summary in the form field below.

Discuss and determine exactly what services the client will need from you.

Once confirmed, record the services needed with the drop-down menu below.

Discuss and record information on the client’s current income.

This kind of information is valuable insight into the inner-workings of their business.

Record information in the form fields of this task, making sure each of them are completed.

Discuss any additional asset values the client holds, and make notes using the form fields below.

Discuss their investment portfolio, and record information using the form fields in this task.

For any additional non-investment items that may be relevant, record notes using the form field below.

Consultation notes

Client’s goals: {{form.Client’s_goals}}
Services required: {{form.Services_needed}}

Client’s annual income ($USD): {{form.Annual_income_($USD)}}
Income notes: {{form.Income_notes}}

Client’s assets value ($USD): {{form.Assets_value_($USD)}}
Assets notes: {{form.Assets_notes}}

Client’s investment portfolio value ($USD): 
Investment portfolio notes: {{form.Investment_portfolio_notes}}

Non-investment items overview: {{form.Non-investment_items_overview}}

After the call, use the conveniently presented data above to update the client’s CRM.

You can automatically update your customer profile with one of our many CRM integrations.

Determine what documents will be needed from the client in order to proceed with their case.

Then, record which documents will be needed using the multiple-choice form field below.

Additional details

{{form.Other_(please_specify)}}

If you declared “other” in the previous task, simply copy the information above into the body of the email below.

Otherwise, check the contents of the email template below and hit send.

You can automate this process with one of our email integrations.

Once you’ve received the tax records you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Once you’ve received the bank statements you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Once you’ve received the cash flow statements you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Once you’ve received the balance sheets you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Once you’ve received any investment portfolio documents you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Once you’ve received any additional documents you requested from the client, upload them to the form field in this task.

Identify the risks that lie at each of the four levels of strategy, operations, finance and legal conformity, and create a strategy on how each of them could be mitigated.

Once you’ve prepared the risk assessment document, upload it to the form field below.

For more information on how you can automate your client onboarding process using Process Street, check out the video below:

Based on your analysis of the client’s tax returns and other relevant documents, make some notes on the client’s current tax obligations in the context of their current situation.

Based on your analysis of the client’s financial documents, make some notes on the client’s financial statements using the form field below.

Prepare a more extensive tax assessment report using everything you know about the client’s current financial situation.

Once prepared, upload a copy to the form field below.

Share the tax assessment report with your client.

The email below contains everything already; your tax assessment report along with a body, the client email and subject line have already been filled out automatically.

Just check it over and hit send once everything looks okay.

Prepare a more extensive financial strategy using everything you know about the client’s current financial situation.

Once prepared, upload a copy to the form field below.

Share the financial strategy with your client.

The email below contains everything already; your financial strategy along with a body, the client email and subject line have already been filled out automatically.

Just check it over and hit send once everything looks okay.

Prepare a more extensive audit report using everything you know about the client’s current financial situation.

Once prepared, upload a copy to the form field below.

Share the audit report with your client.

The email below contains everything already; your audit report along with a body, the client email and subject line have already been filled out automatically.

Just check it over and hit send once everything looks okay.

With your new client fully onboard, it’s time to send over a feedback questionnaire.

The link to your feedback questionnaire is already in the body of the email below; just make sure the information looks correct and send it off.

Once the client has completed the feedback questionnaire, insert a link to it in the form field below.

Use the information gathered from the feedback questionnaire to update your onboarding process.

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