A client intake form for accountants and bookkeepers
An accounting engagement is scoped by four things: which service, for what kind of entity, for which periods, and at what volume. A deadline decides how fast it has to happen. Get those first and the engagement letter nearly writes itself.
What should accountants and bookkeepers ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which service do you need: tax preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, catch-up work, or advice? | Each is scoped and priced differently, and some firms only take some of them. |
| Is this for you personally or for a business, and what kind of business entity? | A sole proprietor, a partnership and a corporation are different returns and different work. |
| Which years or months does this cover? | One year of returns and three years of catch-up are different engagements. |
| Roughly how many transactions a month, and how many bank and card accounts? | Volume is what bookkeeping is priced on. |
| What do you keep your books in today? | Accounting software, spreadsheets and a shoebox of receipts each mean different setup work. |
| Is there a deadline or a letter from a tax authority driving this? | A notice changes the urgency and sometimes who in your firm should take it. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Do not ask for tax identification numbers, account numbers or copies of returns in a first inquiry. You do not need them to decide whether to take the work, and they can be collected through your usual secure channel once the engagement starts.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “I need help with my taxes.” | A personal return, a business return, or both, and for which year? |
| “We’re a bit behind on the books.” | Roughly how many months need catching up, and is a filing deadline driving it? |
| “It’s a small business.” | About how many transactions a month, and how many bank and card accounts? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
A notice from a tax authority, an audit, or an unusual business structure usually deserves a call before you quote. So does a prospect who simply wants to meet the person who will handle their money. The intake still saves that call its first fifteen minutes, because the service, entity, periods and volume are already on the page.
How do you set this up from the Client intake template?
Acquainto has a Client intake template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Client intake, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
The template asks for a name and email, branches on the service the person is interested in, and asks one follow-up question per service. For an accounting practice, make the service choice tax, bookkeeping, payroll and advisory, put the entity and period questions on every branch, and use each branch’s own question for what that service needs: the volume for bookkeeping, the number of employees for payroll.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.