Accounting Onboarding Checklist for New Clients

An accounting onboarding checklist takes a new client from acceptance to a first job with checked details, verified identity, ATO authority and agreed terms. Use the ordered list below to give each step an owner and stop missing items reaching lodgment.

The Onboarding Workflow in Order

1. Accept the client after the practice’s acceptance checks.
2. Collect the client’s details and supporting documents.
3. Verify identity and the authority of anyone acting for the client.
4. Get ATO authority and complete the required client link.
5. Agree the engagement terms and obtain a signed engagement letter.
6. Set up the client records and first job.
7. Welcome the client and confirm what happens next.
8. Start the first job after its blocking items are complete.

Use this client onboarding template for each person or entity. Copy it into Word, Excel or your task list. Add an owner, due date and evidence reference beside every step.

• Acceptance approved, including conflicts and service fit.
• Professional clearance considered and any necessary communication recorded.
• Applicable AML/CTF acceptance requirements complete.
• Client details and relevant documents received.
• Form answers checked and corrections resolved.
• Identity and representative authority verified, with a file note.
• ATO nomination completed where required, and agent link confirmed.
• Engagement letter signed and relevant consents recorded.
• Client records, billing details and lodgment reminders set up.
• Welcome email sent, with the first job’s owner and agreed timing.
• First-job handover approved, with unresolved items assigned or the job paused.

ATO access depends on the relevant nomination and agent link. A completed form does not establish identity or authority. Under the signing policy used here, chargeable work waits for the signed letter.

Staff can prepare folders and collect information while chasing other items. Keep those tasks separate from permission to use ATO services or begin the agreed work.

Before You Accept the Client

Approve acceptance before promising the first job. Check conflicts of interest, whether the work fits your services and competence, and whether the client will provide adequate records.

Ask why the client is changing accountants. Repeated overdue returns, missing source documents or pressure to claim unsupported deductions need the responsible practitioner’s decision before acceptance.

APES 110’s professional appointment requirements require covered members to assess threats and determine reasons not to accept a replacement appointment. Seek professional clearance when replacing an accountant’s work, with the client’s permission, preferably in writing. If communication is unavailable, take other reasonable steps to obtain relevant information and record the decision.

For designated services, complete the applicable AML/CTF customer due diligence before providing the service, subject to applicable exceptions. Use AUSTRAC’s professional designated services guidance to decide whether the work is covered. Keep the detailed procedures in your AML/CTF client checks.

Collect Details and Documents Once

Send one form that collects the client’s details and documents together. Start with legal names, contact details, the services requested and who can give instructions. Then add the information relevant to each entity.

Client type	Details and documents to collect
Individual	Contact and tax details, relevant prior returns and notices of assessment, plus authority for any representative.
Sole trader	Individual details, ABN, trading name, business activities, applicable registrations and prior BAS or business records.
Partnership	Partnership details, ABN and TFN through an appropriate secure collection method, partners, ownership interests and partnership agreement.
Company	Legal name, ACN, ABN, tax details, directors, relevant ownership information, authorised contact and current company extract.
Trust	Trust details, trustee identity, relevant beneficiaries, executed trust deed, all variations and trustee changes.
SMSF	Fund details, ABN and tax details, trustees or corporate trustee, members, executed deed and relevant prior accounts and returns.
Deceased estate	Estate details, executor or administrator, authority documents and relevant records for the deceased and estate.

Request only documents needed for the work. Treat the deceased person and estate as separate records where their tax obligations differ. Keep ID checks in the next step, with their own completion record.

Use the new client form template to assemble the questions. Check ABN, ACN and TFN format as answers arrive. Resolve mismatched names and missing documents before handover, rather than discovering them at lodgment.

Tax Genie runs rule-based checks, then AI review, with every TFN removed first. Fixable issues return to the client and only the affected sections reopen. Alerts and client replies reach the staff working on that client. Staff can request section changes or record their own corrections with who changed what and when.

The form-review checkpoint is complete when the answers match their supporting documents and every outstanding correction has an owner. Identity verification remains a separate checkpoint.

Verify Identity and Get ATO Authority

Verify the client and any representative before providing tax services or using their details to add or change an ATO client record. Establish the representative’s authority separately from their identity.

The TPB’s client verification guidance distinguishes proof of identity from client-to-agent linking. Record who checked the client, the method, the date and relevant documents sighted. The tax-agent client verification guide covers the detailed checks.

For individuals and sole traders, complete the applicable ATO verification and authority steps, then add the client through Online services for agents. The business agent-nomination route does not apply to sole traders.

For ABN entities covered by client-to-agent linking, the client nominates your practice in Online services for business. Their myID and Relationship Authorisation Manager access establish who can act for the business. Your practice then completes the agent link. The agent cannot nominate itself for the client.

Send the client the agent nomination steps and use the ATO’s nomination instructions. If a client says they nominated you but access is missing, check the entity, nominated agent and nomination status before retrying the link.

Mark ATO authority complete only when the required link and intended access are confirmed. A verbal assurance that the nomination is done is a chase item, not the finished checkpoint.

Sign the Engagement Letter and Consents

Agree the scope and fee basis before starting the work. Name the client entities, deliverables, client responsibilities, limits and the work excluded from the engagement.

APES 305 requires covered members to document and communicate engagement terms. It describes doing this before commencement, and obtaining written acceptance, as preferable. Make signing before chargeable work your practice’s explicit policy.

Collect applicable consent to contact the previous accountant and disclose information to third parties. Explain outsourcing and cloud arrangements where required. Record who has authority to accept for each entity.

Use the accountant engagement letter guide for the contents. Tax Genie drafts the letter from the client’s answers and keeps the online signed version with who signed and when.

If the client asks for additional work, settle the change in scope and fees before starting it. A signed letter for one company does not automatically cover another entity in the group.

Set the Client Up in Your Systems

Create the records from the checked form and confirm the first job’s owner. Match any existing record before creating a duplicate.

• Create or update the client record in practice management.
• Set up the correct person or entity in your tax software.
• Confirm applicable lodgment due dates and assign reminders.
• Create the document folder and file the engagement letter and verification note.
• Record billing details, the agreed fee basis and authorised billing contact.
• Assign the first job, reviewer and client contact.

A checked form gives staff one agreed source for names and entity details. Tax Genie sends approved details into your tax software and Xero Practice Manager after a field-by-field review, and creates XPM jobs.

Before releasing the job, compare its entity with the signed letter and confirmed ATO access. If they differ, correct the record or obtain the missing authority before work continues. Tax Genie’s onboarding workflow keeps the collection and handover steps together.

Onboarding Email Templates

Send the welcome email once the client knows what work your practice has accepted. Keep reminders on the existing email thread and name the missing item in ordinary language.

The following fictional sequence assumes an individual-return engagement, an assigned client-services contact and a first-job target of two weeks after onboarding is complete. Replace those service choices with the terms agreed for your client.

Welcome Email

Subject line: Your accountant - welcome and next steps

Thanks for choosing us to prepare your individual tax return.

Our client-services team is your contact while we collect your details. Reply to this email if you need help with the form or the documents we’ve requested.

Once your form, identity check, ATO authority and signed engagement letter are complete, we’ll start your return. We’ve agreed to send you a draft within two weeks of that point.

We’ll confirm when everything has arrived and let you know if we need anything else.

First Reminder on Day Three

Subject line: Your accountant - prior tax return still needed

Just following up on the prior tax return we requested for your onboarding.

Please upload it through the secure link we sent with your form. If you don’t have a copy, reply and we’ll help you work out the next step.

We need it before we can finish your onboarding and start your return.

Second Reminder on Day Seven

Subject line: Your accountant - reminder about your prior tax return

We’re still waiting on your prior tax return.

Could you please upload it through your secure form link, or reply if you’re having trouble getting it?

Your return is waiting on this item, so the agreed preparation period hasn’t started yet.

Final Notice Before Pausing

Subject line: Your accountant - your return will pause in three days

We still need your prior tax return before we can start preparing this year’s return.

If we don’t receive it or hear from you within three days, we’ll pause the job. Reply if you need help or want to discuss the timing.

Once it arrives, we’ll confirm a revised preparation timetable with you.

Use your practice’s recognisable sender name and the client’s agreed channel. An SMS reminder can ask the client to open the existing request or contact the practice using its known number. Keep TFNs out of emails and SMS.

Tax Genie sends automatic email and SMS reminders for outstanding items and stops when they arrive. Choose timing that matches the engagement and upcoming due dates. Escalate an approaching lodgment deadline to the responsible practitioner instead of continuing routine reminders.

Clients Who Arrive With an ATO Debt

Review the debt before quoting the full catch-up job. Once authority and access are confirmed, inspect account balances, lodgment history, existing payment plans and any recovery notices in Online services for agents. Ask the client for notices sent directly to them, including garnishee and director penalty notices.

List overdue returns and BAS before estimating the work or proposing repayments. Missing lodgments can leave the debt incomplete. Prepare a catch-up timetable and assess the relevant payment-plan conditions, while dealing promptly with recovery deadlines.

Keep urgent debt discussions moving while arranging overdue lodgments. Do not promise that a payment plan stops every recovery action or removes a director’s liability.

Company directors can face penalties for unpaid PAYG withholding, GST and super guarantee charge. Under the ATO’s director penalty guidance, locked-down penalties cannot be remitted by appointing an administrator. Late reporting can cause lockdown, with different reporting rules for PAYG/GST and super guarantee charge.

Refer an existing director penalty notice for urgent specialist assessment. Record debt work separately in the engagement letter, with its deliverables and fee basis. Keep a routine annual return quote separate from reconstructing records or negotiating a debt.

When an Existing Client Restructures

Onboard the new company as a separate client when a sole trader moves the business into it. The owner’s existing personal record and authority do not cover the company.

Collect the company’s ACN, ABN and TFN through the appropriate secure method. Obtain a new engagement letter and company ATO authority. Every proposed director must apply for their own director ID before appointment, as ABRS requires.

Set up GST and PAYG withholding registrations where required, and the company’s payroll and super arrangements. Complete the sole trader’s final reporting obligations before cancelling obsolete registrations. Keep any continuing personal obligations active.

Assess the small business restructure rollover under Subdivision 328-G before moving assets. The ATO’s restructure ruling addresses a genuine restructure of an ongoing business. Eligibility also involves active assets, ownership continuity and other conditions. Incorporating alone does not establish rollover eligibility.

Treat the company as a distinct customer for applicable AML/CTF work. Identify its beneficial owners and decide what new or updated due diligence the designated service requires. Record the company assessment separately from the owner’s personal file.

Tax Genie’s entity registration form collects what your practice needs to lodge the registrations. For owner drawings or company loans, assess Division 7A before agreeing the ongoing work and use the Division 7A guide.

Tax Genie keeps lender companies and borrowers in shared client folders, with yearly loan schedules and recorded cash repayments or dividend offsets. It flags repayment shortfalls and generates editable Word agreements. Loan agreements are signed outside Tax Genie and the signed copies stay with the loan.

Release the company’s first job only when its own details, authority and engagement terms are complete. Keep any asset-transfer advice and ongoing loan work assigned as separate scope items.