Recording in-person client meetings: consent, kit and a file note

Recording an in-person client meeting is the simplest way to get an accurate file note without typing through the conversation. Ask first, put a phone or small microphone on the table, and turn the recording into a reviewed note within a day. The law on consent varies more than most firms assume: by country, and in Australia and the US, by state.

This guide is for the accountant who meets clients across a desk, on site, in a farm kitchen or in a cafe. If you run most meetings on video, our guide to AI meeting assistants for accounting firms covers that side.

Two separate sets of rules apply to a recorded meeting. The first is the recording law: whether you can lawfully record a private conversation at all, and whose agreement you need. The second is privacy law: once you hold a recording of a client, you hold personal information and have duties about telling them, keeping it secure and keeping it only as long as you need it.

The short version, as at October 2026, from the primary legislation:

Market	Recording law	Privacy law that still applies
Australia	State and territory law. NSW’s Surveillance Devices Act 2007 requires the consent of all principal parties, with narrow exceptions such as protecting your lawful interests. Victoria’s Surveillance Devices Act 1999 and Queensland’s Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 allow a party to the conversation to record it.	Privacy Act 1988, for firms it covers: APP 5 (telling people what you collect and why) and APP 11 (security).
United Kingdom	Recording a conversation you are part of is not generally a criminal matter for the person recording.	UK GDPR. The ICO says you must tell people your purpose, retention period and who you share with at the time you collect their data.
United States	Federal law (18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d)) allows a party to record. Some states require every party’s consent, including California (Penal Code 632), Florida (s934.03) and Washington (RCW 9.73.030).	State privacy laws and your professional obligations on client information.
New Zealand	Crimes Act 1961 s216B does not apply to a party to the private communication, so a party may record.	Privacy Act 2020, Information Privacy Principle 3: tell people you are collecting, why, and who will receive it.
Canada	Criminal Code s184(2)(a) allows interception with the consent of the originator or intended recipient, so a party may record.	PIPEDA for private-sector organisations in commercial activity; Alberta, BC and Quebec have their own substantially similar laws.
South Africa	RICA s4 lets a party to a communication intercept it, unless the purpose is to commit an offence.	POPIA section 18: tell the client what you collect, the purpose, and who you are.

Australia is not one rule: the other states and territories have their own acts, so check the one you are meeting in, not the one your office is in. A meeting across a US state line can pull a stricter rule into play too. The way through is the same everywhere: get every person in the room to agree, out loud, and record that they did. Everyone’s consent satisfies every regime above and does most of what the privacy laws ask.

This is general information, not legal advice; recording laws vary by state and province, so check the law where the meeting takes place.

Ask before the phone goes on the table. A line that works:

“I’d like to record this so I can listen to you properly instead of writing everything down. It’s only used to write up my notes, it stays in our system, and I’ll delete the audio once the note is done. Is that OK? I can pause it any time.”

That covers purpose, retention and the right to pause. Then:

• Start the recording and ask again. “Just confirming you’re happy for me to record.” Their yes is now on the recording itself.
• Ask everyone. A spouse, a business partner or the client’s bookkeeper who joins halfway through needs asking too.
• Log it on the client record. A consent field or a line in the file note: date, who agreed, any limits they set.
• Put it in writing once. Add a short recording clause to your engagement letter or privacy notice, so verbal consent at each meeting sits on top of something the client has already read. If you are reworking onboarding, our client onboarding checklist is a good place to add it.

If a client says no, take written notes and move on. Do not ask twice in the same meeting, and do not record anyway.

You do not need specialist equipment. The usual options:

• A phone on the table. Fine for two or three people at a small table. Face up, do-not-disturb on, away from cups and shuffled paper.
• A clip-on lavalier microphone. Better when there is background noise (cafes, workshops, a farm shed) or when you are walking a site with the client.
• A small conference microphone. Worth it for a boardroom table with four or more people, where a phone at one end will miss the far side.
• A tablet. Handy for showing documents, but a screen between you brings back the laptop problem.

Whatever you use, test it against four things:

1. Audio quality. Record a two-minute test in the actual room. If you cannot hear the client clearly on playback, a transcript will not either.
2. Battery. Carry a small power bank for long site visits.
3. Offline capture. Farms and basements lose signal. The recording should keep going without a connection and upload later.
4. Encrypted upload and storage. Client audio is client information. Check it is encrypted in transit and at rest, and does not also sync to a personal cloud account.

A recording nobody turns into a note is a liability, not a record. The workflow that keeps it useful:

1. Same day: transcribe and draft. Get the audio into whatever turns it into a transcript and a draft summary.
2. Review it yourself. Fix names, entity names, figures and dates; transcription gets these wrong most often.
3. Write it as a file note, not a transcript. Who attended, what the client told you, what you advised, what was decided, and the actions with owners and dates. Note that consent to record was given.
4. File it against the client in your practice management system, whether that is Xero Practice Manager, FYI, AccountKit or another, so the next person on the job finds it.
5. Turn actions into tasks and send the client a short follow-up email with what was agreed.
6. Deal with the audio. Delete it or move it under your retention policy. Our piece on how long to keep client meeting recordings covers what to keep and for how long.

Some firms do this by hand. Others use a tool that does the middle steps for them: Vinyl, for example, records on a phone in the room and files the drafted note against the client in the practice system, leaving you the review. Either way, keep the 24-hour target: a note written three days later from memory is worse than a careful handwritten one.

Not everything said in a client meeting belongs in a recording.

• Anyone who has not agreed. A staff member who walks in, a family member in the next room, a cafe neighbour. Pause until they leave, or move.
• Passwords, bank logins and identity numbers read aloud. Ask the client to send them through your secure channel instead.
• Conversations about other people that are not needed for the work: an ex-partner, an employee’s health, a family dispute.
• Anything the client asks to keep off the record. Note that it was discussed, without the detail.

Client meetings turn personal quickly: a separation, an illness, a business that is about to fail. When the tone changes, offer to stop: “Do you want me to pause this?” Most phones and microphones pause with one tap. Say out loud when you pause and when you restart, so the recording shows the gap was deliberate, and write a one-line note of anything from the paused section that the file genuinely needs.

The point of recording is to give the client your attention. Once the recording is running, turn the phone face down or leave it in the middle of the table and stop looking at it. Jot only a few words on paper as anchors: a figure to check, a document to request. Summarise what you heard before you finish, which gives the client a chance to correct you and gives the recording a clean recap to work from. If you want ideas for what to listen for while your hands are free, see our piece on spotting opportunities in client meetings, and for how other firms have moved away from pen and paper, what accountants are using instead of a notepad.

Can I record a client meeting on my personal phone?

You can, but check where the audio goes. If the phone backs up to a personal cloud account, client information now sits outside your firm’s systems. Upload to firm-controlled storage and delete the file from the phone once it is filed.

Do I need written consent, or is a verbal yes enough?

The recording laws above do not generally require writing, and a verbal yes captured at the start of the recording is strong evidence. Pairing it with a clause in your engagement letter or privacy notice gives you a written record as well, which helps when someone asks months later what the client agreed to.

What if the meeting is in a different state from my office?

The recording law of the place where the conversation happens is the one to check, and where the parties are in different places, more than one may apply. Asking everyone for consent at every meeting avoids having to work out which rule is stricter.

Should I give the client a copy of the recording?

You do not need to offer one; the follow-up summary is more useful to them. If a client asks for it, treat it as a request for their personal information under your privacy law.

Does recording replace the file note?

No. The file note is the record your firm relies on: reviewed, filed against the client and readable in two minutes. The recording is the raw material for it. Once the note is checked and filed, keep the audio only as long as your retention policy says.