Client Portal for an Accounting Firm
Secure document exchange and task tracking portal replacing email-based workflows. Clients upload, review and sign documents without email attachments or paper.
Mid-tier accounting firm — tax, advisory and bookkeeping
A 15-partner accounting firm with over 800 active clients. Tax returns, BAS, financial statements and advisory work all required document exchange between the firm and clients — source documents in, completed work out for review and signature.
Everything moved by email. Clients emailed scanned receipts, bank statements and source documents. Staff emailed draft returns for review. Clients printed, signed, scanned and emailed back. Important documents were buried in email threads, lost across inboxes, and impossible to track.
What needed to change
Email was the document management system. Every client interaction produced a chain of emails with attachments. Finding the latest version of a document meant searching through emails. Client records were scattered across multiple accountants' inboxes.
Document collection was painfully slow. Chasing clients for source documents — bank statements, receipts, payroll data — consumed hours of staff time. Repeated follow-up emails, phone calls and reminders. Some clients took weeks to respond.
No visibility into where things were up to. Partners could not see which client jobs were waiting for documents, which were in progress, and which were ready for review. The workflow was invisible until someone asked.
What we built
A secure client portal for document upload, review, e-signature and task tracking — integrated with the firm's practice management system for workflow visibility.
Document Exchange
Clients upload source documents to their portal. Staff upload completed work for review. Everything is organised by client, financial year and document type — not buried in email.
Task Tracking
Clients see a task list — "Upload bank statements", "Review draft tax return", "Sign engagement letter." Clear progress indicators show what is done and what is outstanding.
E-Signatures
Clients review and sign documents electronically within the portal. No printing, scanning or posting. Signed documents file automatically to the client record.
Automated Reminders
System sends automatic reminders for outstanding tasks — document uploads, reviews, signatures. Configurable frequency and escalation stops the admin team chasing manually.
How it works
Staff creates the client task list
For each engagement (tax return, BAS, etc.), the system generates the standard document requirements. Staff can customise per client.
Client receives notification
Client gets an email with a link to their portal. Logs in and sees what is needed — clear task descriptions with optional help text.
Client uploads documents
Drags and drops source documents into the portal. Documents tag to the correct engagement and file to the client record automatically.
Staff completes the work
Once all documents are received, staff processes the work. Uploads the draft (tax return, financial statements, etc.) to the portal for client review.
Client reviews and signs
Client receives notification that documents are ready for review. Reviews in the portal, asks questions via secure messaging if needed, then e-signs. Done.
Measurable outcomes
Tax season used to be an avalanche of emails. Now clients upload everything to the portal, we process it, they sign electronically, and the whole thing is done without a single email attachment. We should have done this years ago.
How we delivered it
Workflow Analysis
1 weekMapped the document lifecycle for tax, BAS and advisory engagements. Identified where the bottlenecks were (client document collection) and where the most time was wasted (email searching and chasing).
Portal Build
4 weeksBuilt the client portal with document upload, task tracking, e-signature integration and automated reminders. Integrated with XPM for practice management data sync.
Staff & Client Interface
2 weeksBuilt the staff-facing dashboard for managing client tasks, reviewing uploads and tracking engagement progress across the firm.
Pilot & Rollout
2 weeksPiloted with 50 clients across 3 partners for 4 weeks. Refined onboarding flow based on client feedback. Rolled out firm-wide with personalised client invitation emails.
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