Practice software
Client portals for accountants, so chasing stops being a job
Every practice has somebody whose January is largely spent chasing clients for records that were requested in November. A client portal turns that into a list the client can see, with automatic reminders, and takes the sensitive documents out of email while it is at it.
- Chasing automated
- Records out of email
- Approvals and signatures
The chasing is the cost, not the compliance work
Ask a practice where the time goes in a busy period and the answer is rarely the accounts work itself. It is the administration around it: asking for records, asking again, working out which of forty clients has sent what, and finding the attachment somebody sent to a personal address three weeks ago.
That work is almost entirely automatable, and it is worth more than most practice efficiency projects. A client with a visible checklist of what is outstanding, reminded automatically on a schedule you set, chases themselves. What reaches your team is the exceptions rather than the whole list.
The side effect matters as much. Records arriving through a portal are filed against the client automatically, which removes the search through email that consumes a surprising share of an assistant's week.
How we scope and price this kind of build is set out under custom software development.
What a practice portal usually holds
- A per-client checklist of records outstanding, visible to them rather than held in somebody's head
- Automatic reminders on a schedule you control, escalating as a deadline approaches
- Secure upload and download, so client records stop travelling as unprotected email attachments
- Approvals and electronic signatures, which removes the print, sign, scan and return cycle entirely
- Documents filed against the client automatically, with a date and an audit trail
- Onboarding for new clients, including identity documents and engagement letters
- Access for more than one contact at a client, since the person who signs is rarely the person who sends the paperwork
- Removal of access when a contact leaves the client, recorded rather than assumed
Your practice software may already do some of this
Several practice management and tax products include a client portal, and where yours does and clients use it, the honest answer is to make that work rather than build something. We will say so, and help configure it, which is a much smaller invoice.
Where a build earns its place is usually one of three situations. The bundled portal exists but clients will not use it, which is normally an interface problem and a real one. The practice runs more than one product and clients are being asked to use two portals. Or the workflow around the documents, the checklist, the chasing and the approvals is where the value is, and the bundled portal only does storage.
That third case is the most common one we are asked about, and it is where the time actually goes.
The arithmetic for deciding is in our comparison of off-the-shelf against custom software.
A portal clients will not use is worse than none
The failure mode is consistent. The practice adopts a portal, a proportion of clients cannot get into it or cannot be bothered, and the team ends up running the portal and the email route in parallel. That is more work than before, not less.
So the design question is not what the portal can do. It is what the least technical client on your list will manage without ringing for help, and everything else follows from that.
- Sign-in simple enough for a client who does this twice a year
- A route for the client who genuinely will not use it, without breaking the filing
- Rolled out to a few clients first rather than everyone at once
Count the chasing before deciding
For a fortnight, count the reminder emails and calls your team sends asking for records. That number, times an hourly cost, is the case for or against this in your practice.
The free review does that properly and gives you the findings and a fixed quote in writing, including the case where configuring what you already own is the right answer.
Get in touch
Talk to us about client portals for accountants
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Frequently asked questions
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
What is a client portal for an accountancy practice?
A secure logged-in area where each client sees what records you are waiting on, uploads them, approves and signs documents, and gets reminded automatically as a deadline approaches. Everything filed against the client with an audit trail rather than sitting in a mailbox.
Our practice software already has a portal. Should we still build one?
Probably not, if clients use it. Make that one work first, which is a far smaller job. A build makes sense where clients will not use the bundled one, where you are asking clients to use two portals, or where the value is in the chasing workflow rather than the storage.
How much does it cost?
A focused first version covering document exchange and automated chasing typically lands in the low thousands to low tens of thousands depending on what it has to connect to. The price is fixed before work starts.
Is it secure enough for client financial records?
Individual accounts rather than shared logins, encrypted connections, access limited to each client's own records, and hosting we run and patch. We will also be direct about which records genuinely need to be in there, because the safest document is the one you did not put online.
Will clients actually use it?
Only if it is easier than email for them, which is a design constraint rather than a training problem. The realistic answer is that most will and some will not, so the system needs a sensible route for the ones who will not without the filing falling apart.
Can it connect to our practice management system?
Usually, and it is worth checking before anything is quoted, because it is the biggest factor in the cost. We confirm what your specific products allow at the scoping stage rather than assuming.
