Volume is not onboarding
I see firms sign a 20-client schedule before anyone has exchanged a chart of accounts.
That is how February happens. Onboarding is one client, documented standards, a finished package, and a partner who reviewed it. Then you add files. How to pick a free test client is the file choice. This post is the first month.
What I expect in the first 30 days
- Chart of accounts, branding, and client-specific rules written down once
- Access to statements and the software file, not a shared password in a chat
- A named reviewer on their side and a named reviewer on yours
- A complete package under your brand
- A 90-minute review pass you can repeat. See how to review a white-label package.
How it works is that sequence. Sample deliverables is the shape. For CPA Firms is the engagement.
Security and confidentiality come before the feed
Read the SOC 2 Type II report under NDA. Sign the confidentiality piece. SOC 2 and the FTC Safeguards Rule is the diligence post. Journal of Accountancy on outsourcing and professional liability is why you do it before the first statement lands.
Do not onboard a reconstruction file as if it were monthly
If the test client is two years behind, you are not onboarding monthly delivery. You are scoping a rebuild. Catch-up vs monthly is the split. Use tax deadline reconstruction or reconstruction for tax professionals for the history. Onboard monthly on a current file.
After the first package passes
Add 1 to 3 current clients. Keep review in-house. Do not skip the bake-off because the kickoff felt friendly. Accounting Today on making outsourcing work still holds: structure beats a handshake.
Start a free test client when you are ready to run the 30 days for real.