AI coworker

Client onboarding for a small accountancy practice

A new client is rarely what slows a small practice down. What slows it down is the work before the first compliance job can start: a proposal that has been agreed but an engagement letter that has not come back signed, identity documents still outstanding, software access that has not been granted, or a first-year information pack that is only half complete.

None of those chases is difficult. Together they keep the person who should be starting the bookkeeping or the first return on the follow-up instead.

Lorework is an AI coworker for that work. It works through the web systems you already use, on its own computer. The wider coworker model for a practice, including Making Tax Digital dates and the annual compliance cycle, is set out on the accountants page. Once the client is on the books, the later chase for year-end records is on the chasing clients for records page. This page is about getting the client on properly, so that first job can start with a complete file.

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From proposal to an agreed engagement letter

The path is familiar: a conversation or a proposal, then a letter that sets out what the practice will do. Until that letter is agreed, the file is still open-ended.

ICAS's engagement letters helpsheet (last reviewed September 2026) treats the letter as the foundation of the engagement. A well-drafted letter should identify the client, the scope of the work and when it will be done, the firm's responsibilities and the client's, the terms, and the commercial arrangements including the fee. ICAS says members should try hard to agree an engagement letter for every professional assignment, and again when the scope changes. Documenting terms in writing is compulsory for statutory audit, and a sensible practice for other work. The helpsheet is best-practice guidance, not a professional standard, and any letter still has to be tailored to the file and reviewed by the practice before it is sent.

The professional work — deciding the scope, drafting or approving the letter — stays with the practice. The admin is getting the agreed letter out, following up if it has not come back signed, and making sure the file is not treated as live until it has.

Identity checks, before the relationship starts

ICAS guidance on customer due diligence (updated 29 October 2024) says CDD measures should normally be completed before entering into a business relationship. That includes ascertaining and verifying the client's identity from independent and reliable sources, and, where relevant, the identity of beneficial owners, as well as information on the purpose and intended nature of the relationship. The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on Payer) Regulations 2017 are UK-wide; for a Scottish firm supervised by ICAS, ICAS's guidance is the practice starting point.

ICAS policies and procedures guidance requires firms to have AML policies and procedures, train relevant staff, and keep client identification evidence for five years from the end of the business relationship. ICAS has also been clear that Companies House identity verification is not a substitute for a firm's own CDD.

ICAS's tax computations helpsheet is equally plain that, before client work starts, the firm should have completed the required anti-money-laundering checks and have an up-to-date engagement letter in place.

The professional decisions — whether CDD is complete, whether the risk profile is acceptable — stay with the practice. The admin is the request for ID, the reminder if it has not come back, and a flag that the file is still blocked.

Software access, bookkeeping records and the first-year pack

Once the letter is agreed and the ID is in, the file still needs the working material: access to the client's bookkeeping software or bank feeds, the opening records the practice has asked for, and the practice's usual first-year information pack. That pack is the firm's own list — typically things such as prior-year accounts, tax records and standing information about the business — not a statutory form, and this page does not invent a standard checklist for every practice.

Where the client has to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, onboarding also includes the setup that has to be in place before quarterly updates can be sent: choosing compatible software and starting digital records of self-employment and property income. HMRC is introducing that duty in stages, based on qualifying income. The accountants page covers the quarterly dates themselves. The onboarding job is to get the client set up, not to send the update.

A clean handoff into the first compliance job

When the letter is back, the ID is on the file, access is in place and the first-year pack is complete, the file can be handed to the person who will do the first bookkeeping, VAT, Self Assessment or accounts job. If something is still missing, that should be visible before the work is treated as underway.

From that point, the recurring chase for records is the job described on chasing clients for records. Onboarding is what makes that later chase start from a complete file, rather than from a half-finished starter pack.

What an AI coworker does on client onboarding

Your team works with Lorework in chat. You can require approval before it writes or submits anything. Follow-ups, checks and reminders can run as scheduled, recurring tasks.

Typical starting bottlenecks when a practice takes on a client are:

Sending the engagement letter the practice has already approved, and following up if it has not come back signed.
Requesting identity documents and other information the firm needs for customer due diligence, and reminding the client if they have not arrived.
Collecting software access, bookkeeping records and the practice's usual first-year information pack.
Where Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies, prompting the setup steps — compatible software and digital records — before the first quarterly update is due.
A clean handoff list of what is complete, and what still blocks the first compliance job.
Recurring checks, such as a weekly sweep of new clients with an unsigned letter, outstanding ID, or an incomplete pack.

Lorework does not give tax, accounting or AML advice, draft or approve an engagement letter as the practice's professional document, complete or sign off customer due diligence, choose or file through Making Tax Digital software, or prepare or submit a return. Those stay with the practice. It takes on the admin around that work.

How you teach it the way your practice works

You do not have to write a technical specification. Your team teaches Lorework your procedures and templates, in chat, the way you would brief a new starter — the letter follow-up, the ID request, the first-year pack. You can ask it in chat, or set recurring work on a schedule.

It works in the web systems you already use, on its own computer. There is no need to rip out the practice-management system you already run.

How a practice starts

Start with one routine job, such as the follow-up on unsigned engagement letters or outstanding ID, not a wholesale change of tools. Add the procedures and templates Lorework should follow. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.

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Questions

What can an AI coworker do during client onboarding in an accountancy practice?

It takes on repetitive admin such as sending an approved engagement letter and following it up, requesting identity documents, collecting software access and the first-year pack, and handing a complete starter file to the person doing the first compliance job. Your team teaches it those processes by chat. It does not give tax or AML advice, or complete customer due diligence.

Can it draft the engagement letter or sign off the ID checks?

No. ICAS treats the engagement letter as a document the practice should agree and tailor to the file. Customer due diligence is a professional decision and should normally be completed before the business relationship starts. Lorework can send the letter the practice has already approved, and can chase the documents the firm has asked for. It does not approve the letter or complete the checks.

How is this different from chasing clients for records?

This page is the work that happens before the first compliance job can start. Chasing clients for records is the later, recurring chase for the information that blocks a return or a set of accounts once the client is already on the books.

Where does Making Tax Digital fit into onboarding?

Where a client has to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, onboarding includes the setup — compatible software and digital records — that has to be in place before quarterly updates can be sent. Lorework does not send those updates or choose the software. The quarterly dates themselves are covered on the accountants page.

Does every new client need the same first-year pack?

No. The pack is the practice's own list, not a statutory form. Your team teaches Lorework the list you already use for that type of client.

How does a practice start?

Start with one routine job, such as the follow-up on unsigned engagement letters or outstanding ID, not a change of systems. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.