Turnover is how behind books start
Someone gives notice. Access sits with them. The next closer inherits a file they do not trust. Two months later you are reading 1 year behind on bookkeeping.
The handoff is the work. Hiring is not the work. White-label vs hiring in-house is the capacity argument. This post is the next 30 days.
What I would pull before they leave
- Bank, card, and loan logins or a plan to reset them
- The current software file and last reconciled date
- Payroll and processor access
- A written list of client-specific rules that lived in their head
IRS recordkeeping guidance is why you do not wait. If the file is already wrong, treat it as reconstruction. Dead QuickBooks file reconstruction and tax deadline reconstruction beat pretending the new hire will "catch up on nights."
Keep the current month closing
Do not pause monthly work while you recruit. Either an internal reviewer closes this month, or you move one current client to delivery and test it. How to pick a free test client is that choice. For CPA Firms is the model.
AICPA hiring-outlook reporting will not replace the person who just left. Accounting Today on outsourcing for capacity is the peer-level version of the same sentence.
Do not hand the new person a three-year hole and a live close
Split the jobs. Historical gap: reconstruction. Current book: monthly. Catch-up vs monthly. Look at sample deliverables so everyone agrees what "closed" means.
Make the handoff boring
Start a free test client on one current file while you still have overlapping access. Or schedule a conversation if the whole book is about to go dark.