Clients and engagements

Adding a client

Take on a new client through acceptance: identity, ownership, screening, identity checks, risk and the declaration.

Updated Clients and engagementsLast checked

Adding a client is a regulated act, not a form. Orin walks you through client acceptance in order: who the client is, who owns and controls it, a sanctions and politically exposed person screen, identity checks on the people behind it, the risk assessment, and a declaration. Each step exists because your firm is expected to have done it before it acts.

Before you start

  • You need permission to create clients to start and accept one, and to edit clients to fill in the steps.
  • To request identity checks you also need permission to request AML checks, and your AML wallet needs enough free to pay for them.
  • Have to hand the client's legal name, its registration number where it has one, its financial year end, the primary contact's name and email, and the people who own or control it with an email address for each.
  • You do not have to finish in one sitting. Changes save as you go.

Steps at a glance

  1. Step 01

    Start a new client

    On Clients, select New client. You can also choose New in the top bar, then Client.

  2. Step 02

    Choose where the client comes from

    Pick one option, then select Continue. Each card says how many steps follow:

    • New to firm: not on file anywhere yet. You type everything in. 8 steps.
    • Existing client: accepted before Orin, on paper or elsewhere. This adds a Prior acceptance step to carry that record across. 9 steps.
    • Existing customer: already on your customer list. Their details fill the form for you.

    From this point the client exists as a draft.

    The Add client window asking Where does this client come from, with New to firm selected and marked 8 steps, Existing client marked 9 steps and prior acceptance, and Existing customer showing how many customers are not yet clients.
    The first choice decides which steps follow.

  3. Step 03

    Work through the acceptance steps

    The rail on the left lists the steps and marks each one done, outstanding or needing attention. Select Continue to move on, or select a step in the rail to go back to it.

    • Client: the primary contact, then the jurisdiction first, because it decides the legal structures on offer and what the registration number is called. For an Irish company, Look up fetches the registered name and address from the Companies Registration Office; check what comes back before you use it.
    • Ownership & control: everyone whose ownership or control matters, until the ownership picture is complete. If the primary contact is one of them, Add as an individual adds them for you.
    • Relationship & audit: when the relationship starts, and whether it is an audit.
    • Risk & diligence: the risk tier and level of diligence. Ongoing monitoring is scheduled from what you declare here.
    • Accounting & tax: the step just before the declaration. The Financial year end is required before the client can be accepted. The framework, periods, tax and VAT references can be filled in now or later on the client record.
    The Add client window for a new client on step 7 of 8, Accounting and tax. The rail lists Client, Ownership and control, Screening, Verify identity, Relationship and audit, Risk and diligence, Accounting and tax, and Evidence and declaration. Financial year end is marked as required.
    The step rail for a new client, open on Accounting & tax. A tick is a finished step; a warning sign is one with something still to do.

    Need to stop? Select Save as draft at the top of the window, or close it. Nothing is lost; the draft waits under View the drafts on the client list.

  4. Step 04

    Run the screening

    The Screening step runs a fresh sanctions and politically exposed person check over every individual on the ownership step. It is never taken on trust from an earlier check.

    A possible match is decided by your firm's money laundering reporting officer, not by whoever is adding the client. If nobody holds that role, matches cannot be decided and acceptance waits.

    Screenshot not captured: running a screen sends the individuals' names to the screening service, so this step was described from the product rather than run on the demo.

  5. Step 05

    Verify identity

    On Verify identity, each person whose ownership or control matters proves who they are on a link sent to them. You can check the business itself too. Select Request identity checks, check where each link goes, and confirm. The cost is held from your AML wallet and charged as each check finishes. Identity checks walks through the window in full.

    The Verify identity step, step 4 of 8, for a new client. It says identity checks are not complete for the director, and lists the director and the business itself as Not checked. Verify identity in the rail is marked 1 and Request identity checks is marked 2.
    Verify identity for a new client. 1: the step in the rail. 2: Request identity checks.
    • A client new to the firm cannot be accepted until every one of those people has passed, or your MLRO has accepted their check. The step names anyone still outstanding.
    • An existing client does not wait. The step says a check is not needed, though you can still run one.
    • If no check can be run, because the identity service is unavailable, the step offers Proceed without an identity check. The client is then marked as not identity-checked and your MLRO is told.

  6. Step 06

    Confirm the declaration and accept

    On Evidence & declaration, check the summary of what you are committing and the evidence behind it. If anything is missing, a Still outstanding list names each gap with a link to the step that fixes it.

    While the client is still a draft, you can remove a file you filed as evidence by mistake: select the bin beside it, then Remove. It is deleted from the client and from Documents. If Documents is required to keep the file, Orin refuses and says why.

    Tick I confirm this declaration on behalf of the firm, select Accept client, and confirm.

    Accepting cannot be undone. It creates the client, locks the acceptance record as audit history and starts monitoring.

    Screenshot not captured: accepting is permanent, so it was not done on the demo business.

What success looks like

The window shows ACCEPTED and says the client is on the client list, with the next review date and the monitoring that has been scheduled. Select Open client record to go to it, or Add another client.

Next steps

Common questions

I do not have all the details yet. Leave it as a draft. Drafts are counted beside Clients in the menu and listed under View the drafts, where Continue picks up where you stopped.

A colleague cannot find a client to raise an engagement against. An unfinished acceptance is the usual reason. A draft is not a client, and nothing can be booked against it.

Acceptance is waiting on identity checks. The Verify identity step names who is outstanding. A link may be unopened, or a referred check may be waiting for your MLRO.

Can I throw a draft away? Yes, if you can create clients. Use the bin beside it in View the drafts.

Why does Orin ask for identity evidence? Anti-money-laundering rules make your firm responsible for knowing who it acts for. Holding the evidence in one place is what makes that answerable later.

The Clients part-way through dialog listing draft clients, each with Continue and a bin button
Drafts waiting to be finished, each with Continue and a bin to discard it.
The client listFind a client, read the client list and open a client record.Onboarding evidence and confirmationsSee what new clients still owe you, and how the documents they send are checked.Identity checksSend each person a link to prove who they are, follow the result on the client's Compliance tab, and know when the MLRO must decide.

Was this page helpful?

Still stuck?

Raise a ticket