Client onboarding is more complicated and complex than a 30-day checklist

I read a lot of articles about client onboarding written by software vendors (Yes, I know... I work for one. But I also run an accounting practice). Most of them present onboarding as a linear task. Here are the steps, it's easy, it'll take you 30 days. Crack on.

But from experience, it's not that simple.

Onboarding is both complicated and complex. It's complicated because there are lots of moving parts: proposals, engagement letters, AML checks, professional clearance, HMRC, software, bank feeds, historical records. It's complex because it involves people, and no onboarding will ever be exactly the same.

The two need handling differently. The complicated parts can be documented, sequenced and automated, but the complex parts can't. They need time, curiosity and good conversations.

So the goal isn't to make onboarding simple. It's to systemise the complicated parts, so you have more time for the complex ones.

Here's how I think about it, from before you ever meet a prospect to six months after they've signed.

Onboarding starts before you ever meet them

I think onboarding starts with you positioning yourself as an expert. How do you do that when you haven't even spoken with a prospect?

Content, and your existing clients shouting about you.

Accountants and bookkeepers don’t like to draw attention to themselves and we either don't see ourselves as experts or we are afraid of sharing our secrets because someone might steal them. And as for capturing case studies, in my own case we did it when we launched our website but we haven't updated it. Sssh. Some of the companies we might not even still work with. We're too busy doing the work.

Most people switching accountants or bookkeepers aren't excited about it. There's a reason why they're changing accountants and a case study describing a situation like theirs, and a client saying "they sorted it and I finally understand my numbers", builds confidence before you've said a word.

My tip: the best time to ask for a testimonial is straight after an early win, while the client still remembers the difference. Don't wait until year-end and remember to capture the timeline. It helps to set expectations.

Before they sign: understand their why

This is the complex part, and I think we either rush it or don't do it.

We need to ask the classic coaching questions. Where are they now? Where do they want to get to? What's in the way? Three questions to ask every prospect, and you'll learn more than you will from their last set of accounts.

Not brave enough to ask those questions? Maybe you start smaller:

• Why are you looking to move accountants? The answer tells you what went wrong and what to avoid repeating.

• What are you trying to achieve? This can be as simple as asking, "What do you want to do this year?" Everyone needs a plan.

• What does good look like for you? More time, more profit, paying yourself properly, or finally switching off at the weekend?

Then push beyond the business and ask about their personal situation. Business owners need a good relationship with their business, and they need to remember that they define the rules. The business works for them, not the other way round.

I know that when I understand where I'm heading, I get excited. If we can understand a client's goal and help them find purpose in it, that makes us valuable. It moves us from "the people who do my tax return" to "the people who help me get where I'm going."

It's also a quick win. Sometimes just helping someone say their goal out loud is the first useful thing you do for them.

And sometimes the answer is: we're not right for each other

A good onboarding process should also tell you when not to take someone on. But we are too quick to say ‘yes’ when we should say ‘no’.

Some warning signs:

• They're reluctant to go through due diligence.

• There are unpaid fees relating to their previous accountant.

• They want the cheapest price, the fastest turnaround and the highest quality all at once.

• They won't commit to giving you information on time.

Walking away early is far cheaper than a difficult relationship later. It's part of good onboarding, not a failure of it.

Price, quality, speed: agree which matters most

You know the triangle: price, quality, speed. you can't have all three, so what's their priority?

I don't ask this often enough, and I'm sure it's behind a lot of the frustration that comes later.

A client needing you to rush a set of accounts to submit their R&D claim is very different to a client who wants the most cost-effective compliant service and isn't in a hurry. Both work. But if you don't agree on the priority (I’ve purposely written priority not priorities) up front, you might make the wrong assumption.

Have the conversation, agree on the priority and write it into the proposal. If things change, remember to update the proposal…this is why we have a proposal and a letter of engagement, it sets the expectations for both parties.

Document the vanilla tasks and show them to the client

Some tasks are the same for every client:

• Proposal, pricing and engagement letter.

• Client due diligence (AML) and identity verification.

• Professional clearance and handover from the previous accountant.

• Tax authority authorisation (HMRC digital handshake or 64-8).

Have you written them down? If they live in someone's head, they'll be done differently every time, and something will eventually get missed.

Then tell the client about them. Most clients have no idea what we do and why we need to do it. An AML check can feel intrusive if nobody explains why you're asking for a passport and proof of address. An HMRC authorisation code sitting in someone's inbox won't get actioned if they don't know it matters. A simple one-page visual of the steps, what you need from them and why, removes a lot of that friction.

Enabling one way of collecting information is why we add forms into Socket.

What gets missed?

The parts that take the time, and cause the frustration, are usually these:

• Getting the right access, sorting the chart of accounts and setting up systems. Do you give them training? Do you share a guide?

• Often you won't get to see their numbers until they've signed the proposal, and you've got to contend with the ongoing work while the historical data is messy. The longer you leave it, the more difficult it is to explain to the new client. Yeah, it was the old accountant's fault, but you were too slow to mention it and now it's your problem.

I often wonder if we should jump straight to a retainer with a new client or we should build the scope by teaching them something simple that adds instant value, an audit of their systems or a project with a defined scope.

This is also where you find your first win

Diagnostics: what's wrong, either before they sign or early on.

Every audit or historical review turns something up. Rather than fixing it quietly, tell the client what you found and what you did about it, in plain English, in the first few weeks. "We found three months of unreconciled transactions, a VAT error and a subscription you've been paying for twice. Here's what we've fixed."

That's the moment they realise they made the right choice. It's also the moment to ask for that testimonial.

Hold them to account: how, when and what happens if not

Setting deadlines and timelines is critical, and not all the work is on you. A lot of onboarding depends on the client doing their part.

Your role is to ask for a commitment, then hold them to it.

That means being specific about how you want to receive information, the timescales, and the consequences if things don't arrive:

• How: "Upload everything to the portal, please don't email attachments."

• When: "We need your bank statements and missing receipts within five working days of the quarter."

• What happens if not: "If we don't have them by then, your onboarding moves back and your first VAT return may need to go to the next slot."

This isn't you being difficult, it's being clear. Remember you are the expert and most clients appreciate knowing exactly what's expected of them. The ones who don't are usually on your warning-signs list.

Don't drop the baton inside your own firm

This one's easy to miss. Who owns the client's onboarding once they've signed?

In a lot of firms, one person wins the work and someone else delivers it. Everything the client shared in those early conversations (their why, their goals, their worries) can get lost at the handover. The client then has to repeat themselves, which is exactly the experience they were trying to leave behind.

Name an owner for every new client, and pass on the story as well as the paperwork.

There's a lot for the client to take in. Should you send the new client a welcome pack? Yes. It's one of the simplest ways to set expectations.

It should cover:

• Clear signposting on who’s going to be looking after them, and how they can contact them.

• What you need from them, and by when.

• What the next few months look like.

Getting the paperwork done in 30 days is achievable, but it takes time to do everything else. It's finished when you understand the client and the client understands their numbers and can use them to make decisions.

These are some of the activities you’ll need to cover, make it clear about the pacing - some activities can be done quickly, others take time:

• Setup and the boring stuff.

• Build good habits. Training on the processes and tools, and who does what. You need to change habits to fit your way of working; remember you're the expert, and clients don't have to keep their old way of doing it.

• Automate. Payments, bill capture and regular reporting, so the admin looks after itself.

• Understand the numbers. Go through their reports together and explain what they mean for their business.

• Decisions and direction. Go back to "What do you want to do this year?", now with real data behind it.

• How's it going? A health check on their systems and on the relationship.

Take these activities and build your timeline across the first couple of months. Each activity builds on the last, and by the end your new client will be making decisions with numbers they understand.

Once you’ve created a timeline, share it, and stop pretending onboarding ends after 30 days.

Should you charge for onboarding?

Yes. People don't value what they don't pay for.

When onboarding is free, it feels optional to the client. Documents arrive late, actions get forgotten and questions go unanswered. When it's paid for, things move faster.

It's also fair, because onboarding is real work, and you're doing it whilst managing the new client's day-to-day finances (the bit they pay for).

If you don't charge for it, you're either absorbing that cost or quietly loading it into the monthly fee, which isn't transparent either.

There are different ways to handle it. You could charge a fixed onboarding fee, or credit the fee against the first few months. Either way, explain what it covers. Once clients see the list, most understand.

How do you know your process worked?

Most firms don't ask. Unless you ask, you'll never know.

Here's how you can:

• Have a conversation. Sometimes it's better to get someone different to ask, "How's it going so far? Is there anything we could have made easier?" It's a chance to learn, and to bring things back in line, fast.

• Send a short CSAT or NPS survey. They're quick to complete, and they set a benchmark.

• Ask the question. "How likely are you to recommend us?" It's the perfect time to get the next referral, and that case study we talked about (the one I haven't updated... Sssh).

Feedback is only useful if it changes the process for next time.

Systemise the complicated. Make time for the complex.

The vanilla tasks will always need doing. The engagement letter, the AML checks, professional clearance, the HMRC authorisation.

This is where I keep coming back to Elon Musk's Algorithm, from one of my favourite books. Question every requirement. Delete anything you can. Simplify what's left. Speed it up. Only then automate it.

That's the order that actually works for the complicated part too. Don't automate a mess, tidy it up first. Document them, make them visual, use tools to speed them up. That's the complicated part, and it should be the same every time.

But clients won't remember how smooth your identity check was. They'll remember how you made them feel, and whether you helped them get where they want to go.

That's the complex part. It's never the same twice, and it takes creativity. No checklist will do it for you.

Firms that treat onboarding as 30 days of box-ticking will keep losing the clients who left their last accountant for exactly that reason. The firms who instead treat it as the start of a relationship will keep their clients longer.