How can accounting firms create client onboarding packs with AI?
Set up a Skill with your firm’s approved templates: welcome email, engagement letter, document and due diligence checklist, client questionnaire and first-month timeline. For each new client, staff paste the agreed services, entity type, start date and contact details, and ChatGPT drafts a tailored pack in plain language, listing only what that client needs to send and when. A partner or manager checks scope, fees and compliance items against the approved templates before anything goes out. AI does not decide the scope, carry out due diligence checks or sign the engagement.
Why onboarding is uneven
A new bookkeeping or VAT client is often onboarded by whoever made the sale. One client gets a clear checklist and timeline; the next gets a short email and three follow-ups asking for the same documents. Missing information at the start delays the first month’s work and the document chasing that follows. An onboarding Skill turns your firm’s best onboarding into the default for every client, adjusted to the services they actually bought.
What goes in the pack
Swipe to read every column, or focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Item | Drafted from | Who approves |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome email | Your template, the client’s name, contact person and agreed services | Client manager |
| Engagement letter draft | Your approved engagement template and the agreed scope | Partner checks scope and fees, then signs |
| Document checklist | Your checklist per service, such as bookkeeping, VAT or corporate tax support | Client manager |
| Due diligence list | The checklist your compliance lead maintains against current requirements | Compliance lead; the checks themselves are done by your team |
| Client questionnaire | Your questions, filtered to the services and entity type | Client manager |
| First-month timeline | Start date, your internal targets and the client’s deadlines from your calendar | Client manager checks dates against the firm calendar |
A worked example
What the client manager pastes (synthetic)
New client: sample consultancy (free zone company), 6 staff Services: monthly bookkeeping, quarterly VAT returns Start: 1 November · Contact: finance contact, prefers WhatsApp Software: client already uses a cloud accounting system Accountant note: ask for opening balances and last VAT returnDraft from AI (extract)
Welcome email Thank you for choosing us for your bookkeeping and quarterly VAT. Below is everything we need to get started, and what happens in your first month. What we need from you by 8 November 1. Access to your accounting system (we will send the invite steps) 2. Opening balances or last year-end accounts 3. Your most recent VAT return and VAT registration certificate 4. Bank statements from 1 October 5. The documents on the attached due diligence list Your first month - Week 1: access set up, opening balances checked - Week 2–3: October transactions entered and reconciled - Week 4: first monthly summary sent to you For the client manager to check: VAT period dates against the firm calendar; due diligence list version; engagement letter attached separately for partner signature.
Synthetic client, services and dates for illustration only.
How it fits your firm
- Templates stay the source. The Skill only uses your approved templates and checklists, each with its version and date. When the partner updates the engagement template or the compliance lead updates the due diligence list, the new version is approved and the Skill is refreshed from it; the old version is withdrawn.
- Clear for the client. Each pack lists only what that client must send, in plain words, in English or the client’s preferred language, by email or WhatsApp.
- Manual input is the default. Staff paste the agreed details. Creating clients in your practice management or accounting software directly would need a separately agreed, configured and tested integration.
Guardrails
- Every pack is a draft. AI can leave out a required document, add one the client does not need or invent a date, so the client manager checks it against the approved checklist and firm calendar before sending.
- Scope, fees and engagement terms come only from the partner’s agreed scope and your approved template. The partner signs the engagement; AI does not.
- Due diligence and anti-money-laundering checks are carried out and recorded by your team under your compliance lead. The Skill drafts the request list; it does not verify identities, assess risk or decide whether to accept a client.
- Start with synthetic or anonymised client details. Use real client information only after the firm has approved the product configuration, access, retention and its professional and contractual duties for that material. See ChatGPT governance.
An onboarding Skill can be a single Skill for AED 97. Firms that want onboarding, document reminders and client letters working together usually choose a fixed-price package from AED 3,500. See the pricing page.
Common questions
Can AI create client onboarding packs for an accounting firm?
Yes, as drafts. Set up with your approved templates and checklists, ChatGPT drafts a welcome email, document checklist, questionnaire and first-month timeline for each new client, and a manager checks them before sending.
Does AI write the engagement letter?
It drafts one from your approved engagement template and the scope the partner agreed. The partner checks scope and fees and signs it.
Can AI do our client due diligence checks?
No. It can draft the list of documents to request from your compliance lead's checklist. Your team carries out and records the checks and decides whether to accept the client.
Can onboarding packs go by WhatsApp?
Yes. The checklist and timeline can be drafted for email or WhatsApp in the client's preferred language, and staff send them.