Bookkeeping · Tools & Practice · Brief · Working level
Onboarding a new bookkeeping client: the first 30 days
A clean onboarding does three things in order: secures the right access, reviews the prior books skeptically, and establishes a baseline reconciliation so you never inherit responsibility for balances you have not verified.
The first 30 days of a bookkeeping engagement determine whether you spend the next year doing bookkeeping or archaeology. Three moves, in order: get access properly, review what you are inheriting, and draw a documented line — the baseline reconciliation — between the past and your tenure. Skip the third and every error in the file's history quietly becomes yours.
Week one: paper and access
Nothing posts before the engagement letter is signed. Then collect access — least privilege throughout, logged in an access register per backup and data security.
The access checklist:
| Step | What you do | What proves it's done |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signed engagement letter on file | Countersigned copy stored |
| 2 | View-only bank/card access, own login | You can pull statements yourself |
| 3 | Ledger-software user at the right role | Login works; audit trail shows your name |
| 4 | Document store shared and organized | Folder taxonomy set per document management |
| 5 | Payroll portal reports access (if payroll) | Latest registers and 941s downloadable |
| 6 | Prior two years' tax returns received | PDFs filed in year-end folders |
| 7 | Intro made to the tax accountant | Email sent, reply received |
Decline payment rights unless the engagement explicitly includes bill pay — a controls point, not a convenience point (see internal controls).
Weeks two and three: the prior-books review
Read the file like an inspector, not a successor. In order:
- Pull the reconciliation history. When was each account last reconciled, and do the reports actually tie to statements?
- Read the balance sheet line by line. Every balance needs a plausible story: what is in "uncategorized asset"? Why is a payroll liability negative? Old, stale balances are the fossil record of past errors.
- Compare the last filed return to the books. Retained earnings and closing balances should tie to the return, adjusted for the CPA's entries — the flow described in working with the tax accountant. A gap here means the books diverged from the filed reality at some point, and you need to know when.
- Scan the chart of accounts for duplication and one-off categories.
- Check the bank-feed setup: broken connections, rule lists, unaccepted transaction queues (the hygiene standard in bank-feed hygiene).
- Write up findings for the client — factually, without editorializing about the prior bookkeeper.
If the review reveals months of unreconciled history, stop: that is a cleanup project with its own fixed fee, per the cleanup-then-monthly pattern, not something to absorb into a monthly rate.
Week four: the baseline reconciliation
The keystone. As of your start date (ideally a month-end):
- Reconcile every bank, card, and loan account to its statement.
- Verify payroll liability balances against the latest filings.
- Document every unresolvable discrepancy — amount, account, what you tried — rather than plugging it quietly.
- Send the client a short memo: "Books reconciled through May 31. The following items predate my engagement and remain open: …"
That memo is the boundary stone. Anything surfacing later is datable to one side of it, which is fair to the client, fair to your predecessor, and the single best liability protection an onboarding can produce — the documentation habit from bookkeeper liability basics starting on day 30.
From day 31, you are in rhythm: weekly feed review, monthly close, and the standing monthly client note. The engagement's ceiling was set in these four weeks.
Frequently asked questions
- What access does a bookkeeper need from a new client?
- View-only online banking for every bank and card account, a user login (not shared credentials) in the ledger software, the document store, payroll reports access if payroll exists, prior-year tax returns, and the tax accountant's contact. Payment-initiation rights are not required for bookkeeping and are better declined unless the engagement specifically includes bill pay.
- What is a baseline reconciliation and why does it matter for new engagements?
- It is a full reconciliation of every balance-sheet account as of your start date, documented and shared with the client, marking the boundary between the prior bookkeeper's work and yours. Without it, you silently inherit every historical error. Discrepancies found later are datable to before or after the baseline — which is both fair and protective.