Scope a client’s bookkeeping cleanup before you quote
A client arrives with a year of statements and a request to “get the books ready.” Before you quote the cleanup, establish what they have, what they need, and which questions only they can answer.
Use this workflow to turn that first conversation into a defined engagement. The client can organize and review the year in Arkrel, then send your firm a read-only report or exported files. You decide what professional work follows.
1 Define the outcome before collecting files
Ask what the client expects at the end: an income-and-expense report for tax preparation, cleanup of an existing accounting file, a return prepared, or ongoing bookkeeping. Write down the requested outcome and the deadline before estimating the work.
If your firm needs to inspect the records before quoting the cleanup, agree on the scope and fee of that initial review first.
For the Arkrel report, start with one client organization and one tax year. Identify any separate business activities during intake so your firm can decide how they should be handled in its own work.
- Which tax year needs attention, and is more than one year involved?
- Does the client already have books, a prior return, or a report for that period?
- Who will gather missing records and answer transaction questions?
- What will your firm deliver, and what needs a separate agreement?
2 Build a record inventory
List every bank account, credit card, and payment service used for the activity under review. For each, record the months available and any gaps. Include accounts closed during the year and personal accounts used for business purchases.
Ask for the supporting records relevant to the engagement: receipts and invoices, sales records, payment-platform summaries, cash activity, and details of significant assets or loans. Keep the originals organized by year and source so your team can return to them when questions arise.
3 Resolve the gaps that change the job
Review the inventory before setting the final scope. Twelve files may cover twelve months, or they may include duplicates and leave a missing period. Confirm the date coverage for each source.
If an accounting file already exists, record its last reviewed or reconciled period and preserve the starting reports in your own workpapers. Separate missing records from corrections to entries already made. Your firm can then identify where catch-up begins and what earlier work needs attention.
Ask about transactions whose meaning will affect your review. A deposit might be customer income, a transfer, a loan, or money contributed by the owner. A card payment may settle purchases already recorded elsewhere. Capture the client’s explanation and any supporting record in your normal workpapers.
Use a short open-items list. For every question, name the source, the period, what is missing, who will answer it, and when you need the response. This makes the remaining work visible before the client commits to a timetable.
4 Have the client review the year in Arkrel
Start with one representative statement. The client can review merchants and see My year for free, with no card required. Use that first pass to identify the kinds of questions they will need to answer; use your record inventory and professional review to establish the wider scope.
The client uploads statements or forwards them to their Arkrel email-in address with +bank added before the @ sign. They work through merchant review in their own account, using what they know about the business to review the activity.
Give them a focused list of questions to answer alongside that review. Ask about unfamiliar merchants, personal purchases, transfers, and items needing receipts or an explanation. Keep unresolved questions in your firm’s usual communication or workpaper process.
Before the handoff, ask the client to check the selected year and the statement inventory again. A useful review includes both the transactions present and the records still outstanding.
Use an account coverage workpaper
In your firm’s own workpaper, use one row per account and statement period. Include these fields:
- Account label and statement period
- Source received and any known gaps or overlaps
- Period already covered by the existing books
- Unanswered question and person responsible
- Next action and response date
5 Receive the report and scope the next work
For a year covered by a paid plan, the client can share a read-only report link or download the tax report and accountant exports. The share-link recipient can open the report without an Arkrel account or sign-in. Available report downloads include CSV, accountant CSV, and PDF.
Agree on the handoff format in advance. A report link can support your first review; files can fit the next step in your firm’s process. Have the client send the report or files through the channel you have agreed to use.
Review the report together with the source inventory and open-items list. If you have questions or corrections, send them back to the client. The client makes changes in their own account and provides the updated report or files.
Then define the professional work your firm will perform: checking source records, resolving open questions, reconciling accounts, correcting an existing ledger, making adjustments, or preparing a return. Set the deliverable and completion conditions for each part of the engagement.
Price the work you are agreeing to do
Turn the intake findings into a list of tasks your firm can estimate. Keep the estimate in your own workpaper, with the accounts, periods and records used to prepare it. A transaction count helps describe the job, but the condition of the existing books and the questions still open also affect the work.
Build the estimate by task
Separate the work into the parts your firm will actually perform. These may include organizing source records, reviewing transaction explanations, filling missing ledger history, correcting existing entries, reconciling accounts and preparing the agreed reports.
For each task, record:
- The account and period it covers
- The amount of work observed, such as statement periods or transactions needing review
- The preparer and reviewer effort you expect
- The records or client answers needed before it can finish
- The assumption that would make you revisit the estimate
Use your firm’s experience with comparable work to estimate effort. If you examined only one statement, identify which parts of the estimate are based on that sample. Check periods with different activity before applying the same estimate to the whole year.
Decide what you can quote now
When the records support a defined scope, use that scope to prepare the proposed fee. When a missing statement or unexplained opening balance could materially change the job, identify the review needed to resolve it first.
Your firm can also divide the cleanup into stages or quote a clearly bounded part while another part remains under assessment. Describe each stage’s deliverable and when any remaining price will be agreed.
Choose the fee basis your firm uses for that work. For a fixed-fee proposal, describe the included work. For time-based work, state the agreed rates and how you will discuss accumulated fees with the client. If you divide the work into stages, describe each stage’s deliverable and either its agreed fee or when and how that fee will be set. Document the assumptions behind the choice.
Make the timing depend on specific inputs
List the records and answers the client must supply, who will supply them and the agreed response dates. Build time for your firm to review those answers into the proposed schedule.
If a missing loan statement blocks the opening-balance review, identify that dependency directly. Agree which other tasks can continue and when you will update the expected completion date. Revisit the schedule when the required input arrives late or changes the work.
Handle new findings before expanding the job
Compare a new finding with the scope already agreed. Record what changed, which tasks it affects and the proposed effect on the fee or delivery date. Check whether the existing agreement covers the additional work and its fee basis. Agree any scope or fee change that remains open before starting that work.
For example, suppose the proposal covers January through December for one bank account and one card account. During review, the client identifies another card used throughout the year. Check the new account’s records and any related entries in the existing books before estimating the added work. Update the account list, affected periods and next deliverable together.
An answer to a question already included in the review may simply let the planned work continue. Use the written scope to decide whether a finding resolves an existing task or adds work.
State the software cost separately
Keep the client’s Arkrel plan and your professional fees clear in the proposal. Arkrel Catch-Up is $599, paid once for 12 months of access to each purchased tax year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Autopilot is $59 per month with a 30-day money-back guarantee and covers only the current calendar year. Your firm sets the scope and price of its own engagement.
6 Close the handoff with a clear status
Record the year reviewed, the report or files received, outstanding questions, and the next person responsible. Confirm which deliverable the client has accepted and which work still needs to happen. For ongoing bookkeeping, agree on a regular statement and question-review routine with the client.
Questions about client cleanup
What should we request before quoting bookkeeping cleanup?
Start with the desired outcome, tax year, account list, available statement months, and any existing bookkeeping file. Then identify missing records and client questions. This gives your firm a practical basis for defining the work and deciding whether an initial review should come first.
Are bank statements enough for the handoff?
Keep the supporting records that explain the transactions. Receipts, invoices, sales records, and business-purpose details can answer questions a statement description leaves open. Tell the client which records your firm needs for the agreed engagement.
Can our firm edit the client’s report through a share link?
The report link is read-only. Send questions or corrections to the client through your normal process. They make changes in their own Arkrel account and send the updated report or exported files.
What can a client try before paying?
They can upload one statement, review merchants, and see My year for free, with no card required. The paid tax report, its downloads, accountant exports, and report sharing require a plan covering that year.
How should we handle more than one tax year?
Inventory and scope each year separately. Catch-Up is purchased per tax year. Autopilot covers only the current calendar year. Ask your firm’s reviewer how work on an earlier period affects the later periods before agreeing on the order of the engagement.
How should we quote when important records are missing?
Identify the missing records and the work they prevent you from assessing. Depending on what can be assessed, your firm may propose a bounded initial review, price a defined stage, or wait for the missing records before quoting. State when you will review the remaining scope with the client.
When should a cleanup estimate be revised?
Review it when new information changes the agreed work, such as another account, an earlier period requiring correction or records that require completed work to be revisited. Explain the affected tasks, proposed fee and timing before agreeing the change.
Give your next client a clear starting point
Ask the client to begin with one statement in their own Arkrel account. They can review merchants and see My year for free before choosing a paid plan for the year’s report and handoff.