The first month of a new client's records in a Ceredigion practice

The new client signed in Aberystwyth on a Tuesday. The engagement letter goes out, the first request for records goes out, and then comes the wait. Bank statements, payroll details, last year's accounts, the logins, and the odd spreadsheet the previous accountant kept. Some arrive inside a week. Some arrive in pieces over six.

All the while the same questions get asked by email, then again on the phone, then again because the answer sat in a thread nobody could find. The practice does the work twice and bills it once.

That is the loop: onboarding a new client's records and chasing what is missing. It is the same list and the same chase every time. A client in Lampeter needs the same opening pack as one in Aberaeron. The only thing that changes is how long each one takes to come back.

The maths (a sketch, not a client figure)

Take the first month on one new client: the setup and the chasing, shared across whoever picks it up.

The time figures and the hourly rate below are assumptions for this sketch. They are not a client figure and not a fee.

• × 6 hours in the first month = setting up files, logins, and the chart of accounts
• × 4 hours = asking for records, reminding, and answering the same questions again
• × 10 hours in total
• × £45 an hour (assumed) = £450 of practice time on one onboarding
• × 12 new clients a year = £5,400 a year

Now the same first month with a draft step. The checklist is held in one place, each request carries a date, and the reminder is written when an item runs past it. A person reads the draft and approves it before anything goes out.

Score it: the three checks

• Hours. Six to ten hours on one onboarding, most of it spent asking and reminding rather than doing the work. That clears the bar on a single new client, before the second one arrives.
• Repeat. The opening list is the same each time: engagement letter, bank statements, payroll, prior accounts, logins. If it can be written on one page, it can be tracked and drafted for you.
• Risk-if-wrong. A reminder about a missing bank statement is low risk. A request for the wrong document, or a client's details reaching the wrong person, is not. That decides who checks: a named person, every time.

Try one thing this week (free)

Write your opening records list on one page, in the order you actually ask for things. Then, for the next new client, put a date against each item and diarise the chase. No purchase and no new tool. By Friday you will know which items always come back late, and that page becomes the spec.

Where a person stays

Software can hold the list, remember the dates, and prepare the chase. A named person decides what goes out and when to pick up the phone. Anything touching financial records, compliance, or legal work stays approval-only. The client conversation stays human. The awkward question about a late set of accounts and the judgement call on a missing document are not drafted.

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