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Guide

Onboarding a new accounting client: start the relationship with a secure file.

When a CPA firm or enrolled agent takes on a new business or individual client, the first weeks are mostly about documents: an engagement letter, IRS authorizations, prior-year returns, financial records and identification. That is also the moment when a client is most likely to email a scan of a Social Security card or a stack of bank statements as attachments, because nobody has shown them a better way.

This guide is for accounting and tax practices in the United States. It describes common onboarding steps and how ShareAndGo can make collection safer and easier. It is not legal advice. Your firm's own policies, professional standards and counsel come first.

What firms commonly collect at onboarding

The engagement

  • A signed engagement letter describing the scope of services.
  • IRS authorizations where needed, such as Form 2848 for representation or Form 8821 to receive tax information.
  • Identity verification documents, according to your firm's procedures.

History

  • Prior-year federal and state returns, and any IRS or state notices.
  • For a business, formation documents, the EIN confirmation letter, ownership details and payroll provider reports.
  • Depreciation schedules and any carryforwards from the prior preparer.

Current records

  • Bank, credit card and loan statements, or read-only access to the bookkeeping system.
  • Information returns such as W-2s, 1099s and K-1s.
  • Receipts and supporting documents for major transactions.

Why the first exchange sets the habit

Tax preparers handle exactly the information identity thieves want. The IRS publishes guidance for practitioners on safeguarding taxpayer data, including Publication 4557, and the FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers, requiring a written information security program. ShareAndGo does not make a firm meet any of those obligations by itself, but it gives clients a safer way to send records than email.

A request list makes the expectations clear. Clients see exactly which documents you need, upload them into the right place, and can see what is still outstanding. Your staff stop chasing attachments across inboxes.

Onboarding in ShareAndGo

  1. 1

    Open a room per client

    Create a room for the client, with folders by year and category. Start the request list from a template, such as the tax audit one, or build your own.

  2. 2

    Send the request list

    Assign each item to the client contact who holds it. They confirm their email with a six-digit code, with no account or password.

  3. 3

    Let them upload

    Clients drag in whole folders and the structure comes with them. Every upload is scanned for viruses before anyone can open it.

  4. 4

    Organize automatically

    ShareAndGo reads each document, including scans, tags and summarizes it, and can sort uploads into the folder structure.

Running the engagement

As the year goes on, the room becomes the client file. Prepared returns and financial statements can be shared back to the client view-only, watermarked with the reader's name, email address and the date, or with downloads allowed, as you choose. Questions go in the room's question and answer area, assigned to the right staff member.

When a client asks who has seen their records, the audit log answers it: every view, upload, download and change, chained so alterations are detectable and exportable as CSV. Your own team signs in through MyAndGo with Google, Microsoft or email and two-step verification, and session timeouts are yours to set.

If the engagement ends, revoke the client's access and export the room as a ZIP with an index of every document for your own records, following your firm's retention policy.

Questions

Can clients use it without creating an account?
Yes. They confirm their email with a six-digit code each time.
Can we brand the invitations?
Yes. Your logo and firm name appear on invitations.
Does ShareAndGo e-file returns?
No. It is for collecting and sharing documents. Filing is done in your tax software.

Related guides

Year-end document collection

The annual round of collecting records.

Quarterly investor reporting

Another recurring client deliverable.

A business insurance claim

Helping a client document a loss.

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Every business process we cover.