How to onboard more clients without adding to your workload

Why does client onboarding create such a significant workload in most practices?

The AICPA’s 2025 Practice Management Survey found that the average accounting firm takes 11.4 business days to fully onboard a new client. More striking is that 65% of firms with fewer than 20 staff still rely primarily on email-based onboarding with no automation whatsoever. For most small practices, that’s more than two full working weeks per client, managed through inboxes and spreadsheets.

A practice that takes on 30 new clients a year would be spending the equivalent of nearly a full-time employee’s annual work time on just onboarding admin. Time adds up fast.

Think about it. The engagement letter goes out by email. It comes back signed (or not). Someone chases it. The AML documents are requested separately. The professional clearance email is drafted. And let’s not even get into proposals and letters of engagement. Each step is a potential bottleneck, each chase takes time, and none of it adds value to your firm.

Here’s how to onboard more clients without adding to your workload.

What does an efficient onboarding process look like?

An efficient onboarding process has three characteristics:

1. It’s standardised

2. It’s automated (where possible)

3. It’s tracked in real time

Firms that automate their onboarding process report completing it in 18 to 26 hours (compared to 11.4 days for practices using email-based onboarding). For more on what structured onboarding involves for different entity types, see our guide to onboarding limited companies vs sole traders.

Where are the biggest time sinks in traditional onboarding?

The manual steps that consume the most time are predictable:

• Chasing engagement letter signatures

• Requesting and verifying AML documents

• Duplicate data entry

• Onboarding communication

• Tracking what’s been done

Firms that have addressed these bottlenecks with automation and workflow tools report 20 to 35% reductions in administrative staff hours per client engagement. Across a year and a portfolio of 200 clients, that’s a very significant return on the investment if you’re using the right system.

How does a structured workflow change the equation?

The shift from email-based onboarding to a structured workflow system requires a system that automatically tracks progress.

When those two things are in place:

• Engagement letters go out automatically when a new client is created, with e-signatures built in and automated reminders for unsigned documents

• AML document requests trigger as part of the workflow, with a digital record of what’s been collected and verified

• Client data entered once flows automatically across all connected systems, so there are no duplicate entries

• The practice has a real-time dashboard of all new clients in progress, showing what’s been completed and what’s outstanding without anyone having to manually chase it

Firms using structured onboarding automation also report a 40 to 55% improvement in client satisfaction scores during the first 90 days — which is the period when clients are most likely to form a lasting impression of how the practice operates.

How does BrightManager by Bright streamline client onboarding?

BrightManager by Bright gives practices a structured, trackable onboarding workflow from the moment a new client is accepted. Tasks are assigned, deadlines are set, and progress is visible across the whole team without anyone having to manually coordinate the process. When combined with BrightPropose by Bright for engagement letters and e-signatures, the full onboarding sequence runs as a managed workflow rather than a series of individual tasks tracked by email and memory.

The result is that a practice can take on more clients without increasing headcount.

How does BrightManager by Bright compare to alternatives for onboarding workflow?

The main alternatives in this space are Karbon and GoProposal. Karbon is strong on workflow visibility and particularly popular for mid-sized practice onboarding, with good template and automation capabilities. GoProposal pairs well with practices using a value-pricing model.

BrightManager by Bright connects the onboarding workflow directly to the practice’s ongoing task management, meaning a client moves from the onboarding process into the live workflow without any re-entry of data or manual handoff between systems. Paired with BrightPropose by Bright, it’s an unstoppable force in the onboarding realm. For practices that want a single platform from first contact to ongoing compliance management, that native connection is the key advantage.

BrightManager by Bright gives accounting practices the workflow infrastructure to onboard more clients without the proportional overhead.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.