Clients and engagements
Onboarding evidence and confirmations
See what new clients still owe you, and how the documents they send are checked.
A newly accepted client usually still owes you things: identity evidence, a signed engagement letter, confirmations such as a tax reference. Onboarding is that list, kept per client until it is empty. This article shows you how to see what is outstanding across the firm and how the client provides it.
Before you start
- You need permission to view clients to open the report.
- A client's checklist depends on its jurisdiction and kind, so an Irish company and a UK sole trader are asked for different things.
Evidence and confirmations are different things
- A document is evidence: a passport, a certificate of incorporation, proof of address, a signed engagement letter. Chasing it is a job for the client.
- A confirmation is an answer the firm records, such as a VAT registration or a tax reference number. It is a job for the firm.
Both can be outstanding, and the report shows them together.
Steps at a glance
Step 01
Open the report
Go to Reports, then Onboarding outstanding. The tiles count the items outstanding, the clients affected and the items awaiting a document. Each row is one item for one client, with what it needs and how long it has waited, oldest first.
Onboarding outstanding. 1: the filters for items that need a document or a confirmation. 2: the Waiting column. Step 02
Work one half at a time
Select Needs a document to see what to chase from clients, or Needs a confirmation to see what the firm has to record. Use Search items... to find one client, and Export to take the list away.
Read the Waiting column before the count. One item outstanding for four months is a bigger problem than six items outstanding since Tuesday.
Step 03
Check what the client has sent
A client with portal access can send an outstanding document from the client portal. The file does not tick the item off by itself: it arrives in Documents, in For review, for somebody at the firm to check. See For review, Bin and Quarantine.
Marking an item as provided, and marking a client's onboarding complete, are not currently available on the client record. Until they return, use this report to see what is outstanding and For review to check what arrives.
What success looks like
A client whose items are all provided no longer appears in the report.
Next steps
- Onboarding outstanding: more on reading the report.
- Engagement letters: the signed letter is often the first item outstanding.
Common questions
The client says they sent it. Look in For review. A file the client sent waits there until somebody checks it.
Can work start before onboarding is finished? Orin does not stop you, because sometimes it is right. Whether your firm allows it is your firm's policy.