Hub · Clients

Keep, fix or part ways with a client

Most client problems start in the first fortnight: scope that was never written down, documents that trickle in, a fee nobody agreed. The rest start later, when a client no longer fits and nobody knows how to end it well.

This is where The Firm keeps its reading on onboarding clients properly, setting the terms, and ending an engagement cleanly.

Updated 11 November 2026 · 14 pieces

Playbooks

All of Education

Playbook Client onboarding process for accounting firms For any firm taking on a client. You finish with signed terms, the client identified, everything you need collected once, and the first review booked. 5 steps4 min read1 to 2 weeks to put in placeTemplate
Playbook AML/CTF for accounting firms: ready in 90 days For Australian firms that provide designated services. You finish enrolled, with an approved program, due diligence built into onboarding and the cost priced. 6 steps5 min read90 days to put in placeTemplate
Playbook Part ways with a client When and how to end an engagement: the conversation, the letter, handing over records and your professional obligations. Written playbookTemplate

Start with these

AI client onboarding for accounting firms: what to hand off

AI can take on most of the paperwork in onboarding a new client: the scope note, the document request, the completeness check and the welcome sequence. Identity checks, risk decisions and client acceptance stay with a person, and client permission comes before any of it.

Trent McLaren · 27 Sept 2026 · 8 min read

Tax

TASA rules are here — and your engagement letter probably isn’t compliant

The Firm newsroom · 29 Nov 2025 · 6 min read

Client consent for AI: what to tell clients, when to ask, and the letter to send

Whether you need client consent to use AI depends on where you practise and what data you feed the tool: US tax preparers face a criminal statute, while AU, UK and Canadian firms mostly work from professional codes and privacy law. This guide covers when consent is legally required versus good practice, plus an adaptable engagement letter clause and client explainer.

Trent McLaren · 22 July 2026 · 9 min read

Everything else

Guides and tools

From the AI in Practice Summit

Watch It Get Built — A Client Onboarding Tool Created Live From Scratch Brian Clare builds a client tax-intake tool live in Lovable using 11 plain-English prompts — no code — with AI conditional questions and document verification.

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