New client onboarding for UK accountants
New client. Messy records. Clean start.
The first month of a new relationship is the one they judge you on — and it’s usually the month you spend rebuilding history for free. Prepare the historical bookkeeping and opening balances the week they sign, using rules your firm already owns.
| Code | Account | Opening | Movement | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Current Account | 10,000.00 | 11,536.31 | 21,536.31 |
| 1010 | Savings Account | 5,000.00 | 4.11 | 5,004.11 |
| 4000 | Sales Revenue | 0.00 | (12,750.00) | (12,750.00) |
| 4200 | Interest Received | 0.00 | (4.11) | (4.11) |
| 7200 | Rent & Rates | 0.00 | 950.00 | 950.00 |
| 6300 | Computer & IT | 0.00 | 263.69 | 263.69 |
| 9999 | Opening Balance Equity | (15,000.00) | 0.00 | (15,000.00) |
| Totals | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
A new client almost never arrives with clean books.
They arrive with a login you can’t get into, a previous accountant who is slow to respond, a set of accounts from eighteen months ago, and a bank account. Somewhere in there is the opening position you need before you can do any of the work you actually quoted for.
That reconstruction is real work, and it is almost never on the engagement letter.
Build the history from the one record that is always complete — the bank — then set opening balances and hand the client into your normal process with the numbers already straight.
Where Entrio fits
Entrio is not accounting software.
It prepares the history so the client can start in your accounting software from a reviewed position, rather than from whatever the previous accountant left behind.
- Chase the previous accountant
- Work out what their coding meant
- Rebuild history in Excel
- Key opening balances by hand
- Check them against old accounts
- Reconcile the bank
- Start the work you actually quoted for
An unbilled first month, on every new client
- Import the statements as the bank produced them
- Categorise on your firm’s rules
- Review the exceptions, not the routine
- Reconcile — gaps surface before export
- Trial balance that foots both ways
A reviewed opening position in week one
- Statutory accounts
- VAT returns and payroll
- Corporation tax
- Companies House filing
- Invoicing and client access
Carries on exactly as it does today. Nothing needs migrating.
Entrio doesn’t replace your accounting software. It replaces the hours before you open it.
The part that compounds
Your tenth new client should be easier than your first.
In a spreadsheet it isn’t — every onboarding starts from a blank sheet and the firm’s accumulated judgement stays locked in the heads of whoever happens to be free. Entrio treats that judgement as an asset the practice owns.
Client beats firm beats built-in. Every rule you write onboarding this client is waiting for the next one.
Onboarding is a one-off — once per client, forever.
Which is exactly why it is worth systematising. Every new client is a fresh chance to spend the first month rebuilding history by hand, or to spend it reviewing work that your firm’s existing rules already did. Knowledge that lives in one experienced employee’s head walks out of the door with them; knowledge in a rule set doesn’t.
Clean start. Fewer handover hours.
Bring the client in without rebuilding everything by hand.
A fair question
“Onboarding is a one-off. Why buy software for it?”
Because it’s a one-off per client — so for a growing practice it isn’t a one-off at all, it’s a recurring tax on growth. And it lands at the single worst moment: the first month, when the client is deciding whether they chose well.
It’s the first impression
Whatever you do in month one is what they think your firm is like. "We’ve already rebuilt your last year and here’s the position" is a different opening to "we’re still waiting on your old accountant".
It’s the least billable work you do
Reconstruction rarely appears on the engagement letter, so the hours come straight out of the margin on everything that follows.
It’s what caps your growth
If taking on a client costs a week of unbilled reconstruction, the number of clients you can take on is set by that, not by how many want to join.
Proof, not promises
We can’t show you a case study yet. We can show you the arithmetic.
No case studies yet — we’re taking our first firms now. What we can do is let you check the arithmetic, which is the only claim that matters here anyway.
We’d rather show you a reconciliation you can pick apart than a testimonial you can’t check.
Founding firms · 20 of 25 places left
Shape onboarding around real handovers.
We’re taking our first firms as founding members. Onboarding is where the awkward cases live — an unreachable previous accountant, accounts that don’t agree to the bank, opening balances nobody can evidence. Bring those. 33% off, locked for as long as you stay. Best suited to firms who like sharpening the tools they work with.
Tell us what your firm actually needs. What fits real practice gets built.
Talk to the person building Entrio — not a ticket queue.
Founding firms get first response when something needs fixing or explaining.
Keep your founding rate for as long as you stay — it never expires, never rises.
Pricing
Priced per practice, not per statement.
Unlimited uploads on every plan. The work bunches at year-end, and that is exactly when you shouldn’t be watching a meter.
One bookkeeper, a manageable list of clients.
- Up to 50 clients
- 1 team member
- Unlimited statement uploads
- Your own chart of accounts & firm rules
Need a little more? Add 10 clients for £10/mo, or a team member for £29/mo — no need to jump a tier.
Start on SoloA small firm with staff and a full client book.
- Up to 250 clients
- 5 team members
- Unlimited statement uploads
- Your own chart of accounts & firm rules
Need a little more? Add 25 clients for £15/mo, or a team member for £25/mo — no need to jump a tier.
Start on PracticeA full practice, counted generously.
- Up to 1,500 clients
- 25 team members
- Unlimited statement uploads
- Your own chart of accounts & firm rules
Need a little more? Add 250 clients for £60/mo, or a team member for £15/mo — no need to jump a tier.
Start on FirmEvery plan starts with a 14-day free trial No card required Cancel anytime
Frequently asked questions
Before you onboard a real client.
Can I import the previous accountant’s spreadsheets?
Not as the transaction source, no. Entrio builds the ledger from exported Excel and CSV bank statements, because that is the one record that is complete and not somebody else’s interpretation. Supporting schedules from the previous accountant are still useful — use them to set opening balances and to sense-check the result.
Can I prepare opening balances?
Yes, and it is part of the workflow rather than a workaround. Enter them from the last set of accounts the previous accountant produced, and they flow into the trial balance from day one. If you also rebuild the prior year in Entrio, you can roll it forward instead.
What if the client has never used accounting software at all?
That is the easiest version of this job, not the hardest. There is no existing ledger to reconcile against, no half-finished coding to unpick, and no previous accountant’s conventions to reverse-engineer. Bank statements in, reviewed trial balance out.
Can a new sole trader stay on cash-basis accounts prep in Entrio?
Yes. Once bank accounts, periods and the first statements are in, the same workflow produces a cash-basis profit and loss and trial balance for the tax year. You still file Self Assessment elsewhere. Limited companies still hand a trial balance to accounts production for statutory work.
Does Entrio replace Xero, FreeAgent, Sage or QuickBooks?
Not for clients who will live in those systems day to day. Entrio prepares the historical bookkeeping so they enter your normal process from a reviewed starting position. For cash-basis sole traders who never need a cloud seat, Entrio can stay the bookkeeping layer for the year.
How long does it take to onboard a new client?
That depends entirely on the state of the records, and anyone quoting you a number without seeing them is guessing. What we can say is what changes: the first client takes as long as it takes, and every one after it reuses the rules you have already written.
Can I review everything before it leaves?
Yes. Categorisations, VAT treatment, opening balances, exceptions and reconciliations all stay visible, and the export is blocked while a reconciliation is open.
Can I set a client up before I have all their statements?
Yes. Import what you have, and import the rest when it arrives — new statements slot into the same ledger by date, and your rules code them on the way in.
Start every new client with clean books.
Try it on the next one who signs — or on the sample client waiting for you the moment you register, before any real client data goes near it.