# Client File: user manual
Started 2026-10-23 at Richard's request: one manual for the whole app that stays current as the app
is built, and that can later be turned into a demo and a video. "Lead to billed in one app."
## How this manual is kept
- One file per part of the app, in this folder. Written for the people who use the app (partners,
employees, subcontractors), in plain words, no technical terms.
- **Every change to a feature updates its section in the same commit** (rule in the project's
CLAUDE.md). A section that is out of date is a bug.
- Each section has the same parts, so it can become a video chapter:
1. **What it is for**: one or two lines.
2. **How to**: numbered steps, with the exact button names as they appear in the app.
3. **Who sees what**: anything partners, employees and subcontractors see differently.
4. **Tips**.
5. **Demo script**: what to click, in order, and what to say (this becomes the video narration).
- Screenshots go in `docs/manual/img/`, named after the section (e.g. `notes-home.png`).
- **The ? Help button answers from this manual** (every `.md` here is built into the page at deploy),
so a section that is missing or wrong is also a gap in Help.
## Sections
| Section | File | State |
|---|---|---|
| Signing in, the side menu, Help, Team (inviting people, roles, permissions) | `getting-started.md` | **written** |
| Clients & Leads, Prospects, Quick quote | `clients-and-leads.md` | **written** |
| New client (reading a return, family set-up) | `new-client.md` | **written** |
| The client file (facts: seen, told, not yet; businesses; service lines and fees) | `client-file.md` | **written** |
| Engagement letters, letter wording, payment authorization, scope changes | `engagement-letters.md` | **written** |
| **Notes** (client, prospect and firm notes; actions; reminders; AI summary) | `notes.md` | **written** |
| Time (clock, time entries, invoices) | `time.md` | **written** |
| Deadlines and filed dates | `deadlines.md` | **written** |
| CRA letters | `cra-letters.md` | **written** |
| Worksheets, Ask My Client, What I need from you, Still open | `asking-clients.md` | **written** |
| Tools: bank statements, payees, chart of accounts, Receipt Matcher, filing report | `tools.md` | **written** |
| Groups: shareholders, companies, association; salary, dividends and loans | `groups.md` | **written** |
| Bank & card accounts (09: the account list and the statement months) | `bank-card-accounts.md` | **written** |
| Archive & dissolve (Copy from QuickBooks, Dissolved, keep until) | `archive-and-dissolve.md` | **written** |
## The 15-minute demo (running order)
The story a demo tells, one client from first call to bill. Each step points at its section's demo
script.
1. **A lead comes in** (Clients & Leads): add the prospect, log the call, set a follow-up.
2. **Quote it** (Quick quote): price the work, email the quote.
3. **Make it a client** (Prospects): one press; the prospect's notes come along.
4. **Set up the file** (New client): read last year's return; family and businesses filled in.
5. **Engage** (Engagement letters): the letter, the fees, the client signs.
6. **Do the work, keep the log** (Notes): notes, screenshots, an action with a due date and a
reminder; the firm's procedure used as the client's checklist; the AI summary.
7. **Never miss a date** (Deadlines, CRA letters): what is due, what CRA asked, who is on it.
8. **Bill it** (Time): the clock ran while working; turn the time into an invoice.
## Turning it into a video
Each section's demo script is written to be read aloud while doing the clicks. Record one chapter per
section, in the running order above. Keep each chapter under three minutes.
---
# Archive & dissolve
## What it is for
Closing a company from start to finish. The **Dissolution** part takes you through every step that
applies to this company, explains why each one matters (with wording you can copy to the client), and
puts every due date on Notes. **Copy from QuickBooks** keeps the company's records with its file, so it
can be deleted from QuickBooks and still be answered for if CRA audits. Nothing is ever deleted by itself.
Built for companies incorporated in **BC, Alberta, Ontario or federally**. Another province is marked
"not covered yet: handle by hand".
## How to
### Open it
Open the client, press **Archive & dissolve** (near the bottom of the side menu, with **Close file
(client left)** and **Delete this file**: everything about ending a client is together).
### Dissolution (partners change it; anyone who can see the client reads it)
1. **About this company:** pick **Incorporated in** (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Federal,
Another province), tick where it **Operates in**, and what it **Has**: GST/HST, BC PST, Payroll (the
owner's salary counts), Workers' comp. These decide which steps and due dates apply.
2. **The three dates**, as they become known: **Business stopped**, **Money paid out**, **Dissolved**.
Each due date that follows from them goes on the client's **Notes** as an action given to you, and
moves when you change a date (one already marked done is left alone):
- Business stopped: payroll deductions sent (7 days), Records of Employment (about 5 days), T4s
(30 days), final GST/HST return, final BC PST return, workers' comp (30 days), for what it has.
- Money paid out: T5 slips for the wind-up dividend (30 days).
- Dissolved: final T2 (6 months); for Alberta, the final AT1 too.
**DUE DATES (ON NOTES)** lists them.
**Final T2**, just under the dates: **Final T2 already filed?** Usually No: the final T2 is filed
after dissolving (6. After). Yes when the last return was already filed as the final one; then give
**Tax year ended**, **Filed on** and the **Confirmation no.** **6. After** then shows the final T2 as
done, and no "File the final T2" goes on Notes when the Dissolved date is entered.
3. **The tabs: 1. Checks, 2. Zero out, 3. Close accounts, 4. Clearance, 5. Dissolve, 6. After, Guide.**
Each step is a card with **To do / Done / Not needed** at the top right, and **Why this matters**
at the bottom, which folds open; **Copy for the client** copies that explanation, tables and all,
to paste into an email. **Guide** shows every explanation together. The steps on each tab are numbered
in the order they show; a step that does not apply is left out, with no gap in the numbers.
4. **1. Checks** (works now):
- **Registry check** (always first). The buttons open the right registry search (Corporations Canada, BC
Registry, Ontario Business Registry, Canada's Business Registries); no password is needed to look.
Enter the **Status on the registry**, **Legal name**, **Incorporation number**, **Directors on
the registry** (one a line), **Annual reports filed up to date?** and any **Notice that it will be
struck off**. It records who checked and when.
- **Already dissolved or struck off** shows only if the status is Dissolved or Struck off: that is a restoration job, not a
dissolution.
- **Annual reports up to date.** If they are not up to date, pick **File the missing reports, then
dissolve** (and put it on Notes) or **Let the registry strike it off** (an empty, dormant company
only; the client's acknowledgment is optional, off by default).
- **Are the directors on the registry correct?** It compares two lists:
- **Directors on the registry:** the names you typed in the Registry check, **Directors on the registry**, one
on each line.
- **Directors on this client file:** the people ticked as **director** on **02 The Client**, in the
company's shareholders list (each person there has a **director** tick). Tick them there first if
the card says "none ticked yet".
Once both lists have names it says "The same people. Nothing to change", or shows in red who is on
one list but not the other (a short first name such as Matt for Matthew counts as the same person).
If the registry is wrong, **Put "File a change of directors" on Notes**: the change is filed on the
registry before dissolving. If the client file is wrong, fix the ticks on 02. Tick when **CRA has
the company's current mailing address**. An old address on the registry does not matter.
- **Anything that stops us for now.** Four No / Yes questions; a Yes says what to do instead.
- **Registered in another province.** If Yes, which ones, and put cancelling them on Notes.
- **Unlimited liability company** appears only for an unlimited liability company (its name ends in ULC): get a lawyer.
5. **2. Zero out** (partners): clear every balance sheet line to zero, and see the journal entry
before anything goes to QuickBooks.
- Enter **Business stopped** above, then press **Read the balance sheet**. The server reads every
account's balance on that date from QuickBooks, read-only, within a minute ("Waiting for the
server", "Reading QuickBooks now", then "Read").
- **Each line, and how it clears:** every asset and liability with a balance, with a choice:
Bank: Paid out to the shareholders. Receivables and other assets: Written off, or Collected by the
owner. Equipment and vehicles: **Owner takes it, at a value** (type today's value; the difference
from book value is a gain or loss) or Written off; their amortization is Cleared with the assets.
Payables: Written off (income: debt forgiven), or the owner pays them. Credit cards, loans and other
debts: Owner takes it over. A tax account shows "Tax: pay it before the payout (s.160)".
- Pick **The shareholder loan account** (found by its name) and the accounts the entry uses:
**Write-offs go to**, **Debts forgiven go to**, **Gain or loss on assets**, **Wind-up dividend
account**, **Forgiven shareholder loan goes to**. **Clear part as salary instead** if the owner
wants salary rather than dividend (payroll and a T4 then follow).
- **What the shareholders receive:** the shareholder loan is cleared last. If the shareholders owe
the company, by the wind-up distribution: paid-up capital returned tax-free, the rest a wind-up
dividend. If the company owes them more than it has, the rest is forgiven. The **review package**
shows what each shareholder (by their % under Who owns it) must claim.
- **The journal entry:** every line with its account, debit, credit and why, and the totals. It
always balances, and after it every balance sheet line is zero.
- **Make the working paper** opens a printable page with everything: the dates, each line and how
it clears, the distribution, the entry, the review package and the approval.
- **Approve and post to QuickBooks** asks you to confirm, then the server posts it as one adjusting
journal entry, exactly as shown, and shows its QuickBooks number. Nothing posts without it. Once
posted the page is locked; reading the balance sheet again before posting clears your approval.
6. **3. Close accounts:** one card for each account the company **Has** (About this company), with its
due date from the dates above, a link to where it is closed, and ticks with the date (and the
confirmation number) as each is done:
- **GST/HST:** Final GST/HST return filed; GST/HST account closed (Represent a Client).
- **Payroll:** Last deductions sent; Records of Employment issued (ROE Web); Final T4s filed;
Payroll account closed.
- **BC PST** (BC only): Final PST returns filed; closed in eTaxBC.
- **Workers' compensation:** WorkSafeBC, WCB Alberta or WSIB, for each province it operates in:
Final payroll reported; Account cancelled; in BC the owner's own coverage too.
7. **4. Clearance:** **Ask CRA for a clearance certificate?** No by default. Yes shows the TX19
checklist (and the GST352 for a GST registrant), with ticks, Sent and Certificate received.
8. **5. Dissolve** (by where it is incorporated):
- **Print the resolution to dissolve**: the shareholders' resolution with the right wording (BC
ordinary; Alberta, Ontario, federal special) and a signature line for each shareholder. When Zero
out has a dividend, **Print the directors' resolution for the wind-up dividend** too.
- **BC only: Print the affidavit**: pick the director who swears it and whether the company has no
debts or has provided for them; sworn before the filing, kept in the records.
- **Filing the dissolution:** the right registry link and fee, the **Records custodian** and
their address, **Copy the details for the form**, and **Filed on**: that date fills **Dissolved**
above, which puts the final T2 on Notes. Tick when the certificate is saved.
- Check the wording of the resolution and affidavit before you use them the first time.
9. **6. After:**
- **The final T2:** its due date, the summary for the tax software (**Copy the summary for the tax
software**: tax year, line 078 Yes, zero balance sheet, dividends), ticks for Filed and Notice of
assessment received; for Alberta the final AT1 too. Ticking Filed shows **On** (the date) and
**Confirmation no.** If **Final T2** at the top says it was already filed, this card shows that return instead,
with only the Notice of assessment tick.
- **Every CRA account closed:** a tick for each account it had (corporate, GST/HST, payroll, T5).
- **Copy from QuickBooks:** a reminder (for you) to copy after the final T2, then delete the company
in QuickBooks.
- **Closing letter and invoice:** **Make the client's download link (30 days)** for the last copy;
**Draft the closing letter (Gmail)**: what was done, the download link, keep the bank account open
until we confirm, cancelling licences and subscriptions is theirs; **End the link** stops it at
once. **Make the invoice (The job's fixed fee)**, then tick Invoiced.
### The client's download page
The link in the closing letter opens a page with the client's company name and every file of that copy,
grouped (Start here: the Audit pack index, reports for each year, lists, bank statements, sales invoices,
receipts), each to download, and **Download all** for one zip. It works for 30 days, needs no sign-in,
and shows nothing else. Make a new link to start the 30 days again; **End the link** stops it.
### Copy from QuickBooks (partners)
1. Press **Copy from QuickBooks**. The server starts within a minute. A few years of books with
receipts takes a few minutes. The screen checks every 20 seconds and shows "Waiting for the
server", then "Being read from QuickBooks now", then "Copied".
2. Press **Show the files** and **Open** a few to check them, or **Download all** to get every file of
that copy in one zip (named for the client and the date, with the invoices, attachments and
statements in their own folders).
3. **Delete this copy** (partners) removes a copy for good, after asking. Give the client their
download first if they need it.
**It only copies.** Nothing changes in QuickBooks or Drive, and the client stays active on every list.
Use it any time you just want the data: a backup, a year-end snapshot, before handing a file over. Only
**Mark dissolved and archive the file** (below) archives the client file, and the app never deletes a
company from QuickBooks: you do that yourself in QuickBooks.
What it keeps, for every fiscal year from the first transaction to today:
- **Audit pack index.xlsx**: one page listing every file, by year, and what it is for.
- **FY reports** (one Excel file a year): trial balance, balance sheet, profit and loss, general
ledger, every transaction, tax summary, AR and AP aging at the year end (at today's date for the
year still open), and each bank and card reconciliation where QuickBooks gives it.
- So far QuickBooks has **refused the reconciliation reports** to the app's connection ("Permission
Denied"); the copy says so and carries on. Save them from QuickBooks yourself if you need them.
- For Canadian books the **tax summary comes back empty** from QuickBooks; the GST collected and
paid is in the general ledger (the GST accounts), and the GST returns filed are on the client file.
- **Lists.xlsx**: chart of accounts, customers, vendors, employees, items, classes, tax codes and rates.
- **Sales invoices index.xlsx** and **a PDF of every invoice, sales receipt, credit memo and refund**
the company issued, as QuickBooks prints it.
- **Attachments index.xlsx**: every receipt, bill and note attached in QuickBooks, and the
transaction it belongs to.
- **Each attached file** (receipts, bills), as it was uploaded.
- **Every bank and card statement** filed in the client's Drive folder (the tax-year folders and their
"Statements" account folders), as filed. Statements kept anywhere else in Drive are not looked for;
the archive says so if it finds none.
- **QuickBooks data (raw).zip**: everything exactly as QuickBooks sent it.
**What CRA requires** is in there: the books (ledger, every transaction, the raw data, which CRA wants
kept in electronic form) and the source documents QuickBooks holds (sales invoices, attached receipts
and bills) and the bank statements. The reports and aging are not required but make an audit quick.
Payroll records stay wherever payroll was run.
You can press **Copy from QuickBooks again** at any time; each copy is kept, newest first, until you
delete it.
The **Copy from QuickBooks** button is always shown. It is greyed out for anyone who is not a
partner, and until the client's QuickBooks company is linked to the app: the screen then says so. It is
linked once, when their QuickBooks is connected to the server. Ask Claude Code to link it.
### Mark it dissolved (partners)
1. In **Dissolved**, set **Dissolved on** (it starts at the Dissolved date above, if entered).
2. Press **Mark dissolved and archive the file**, then OK. The file is archived (it leaves every list
and tool, and keeps everything in it).
**Not dissolved after all** clears the date. The file stays archived: **All clients**, **Archived**,
**Bring back** puts it back on the lists.
## Who sees what
- Anyone who can see the client sees the Dissolution page, its archives, and opens the files.
- Only a partner changes the Dissolution page, presses **Copy from QuickBooks**, **Delete this copy**,
**Mark dissolved and archive the file** or **Not dissolved after all**.
## Tips
- **Which button at the bottom of the menu:** **Archive & dissolve** for a company being dissolved;
**Close file (client left)** for any other client who leaves (a personal client, a business that moved to
another accountant); **Delete this file** only for a mistake (a duplicate or a test file).
- Copy from QuickBooks before the company is deleted in QuickBooks. QuickBooks gives read-only access
for only a limited time after a subscription is cancelled.
- A dissolved file is still found under **All clients**, **Archived**, and opens as before.
- Each firm's archives are its own: the files sit in private storage and open only through a link
that lasts 10 minutes, for someone who can see that client.
## Demo script
1. "This company is closing. Everything we need to do is on one page."
2. Open the client, press **Archive & dissolve**. Set **Incorporated in** and what it **Has**.
3. Enter **Business stopped**: "Every deadline that follows is now on Notes, with a reminder."
4. On **1. Checks**, press the registry button, enter what it shows, and open **Why this matters** on
**Annual reports up to date**: "This is what I send the client: **Copy for the client**."
5. Press **Copy from QuickBooks**: "The server reads every year of their books, every report, every
receipt and every bank statement into the file." When it says Copied, **Download all**.
6. Press **Mark dissolved and archive the file**. "Now we can delete it from QuickBooks, and nothing is lost."
---
# Asking clients: Worksheets, Ask My Client, What I need from you, Still open
## What it is for
Getting what we need from the client: forms they fill in on their own computer or phone, questions
about unexplained bank lines, and the list of documents still missing.
## How to
### Worksheets
1. Open the client, press **Worksheets** (the number on it counts forms that came back and are not
filed yet).
2. The forms: New Personal Client, New Family & Company Client, Rental Property Summary, Vehicle Expense
Summary, Employment Expense Summary, Self-Employed Summary (and the GST/HST registrant version),
Moving Expenses Summary. Tick the ones to ask for; some tick themselves from the file ("picked
itself").
3. On a form: **Open** (filled in from the file, for you to see), **Copy link**, **Email to client** (a
Gmail draft; you press Send; needs the client's email on 02), **Pull in answers**.
4. The client fills it in a browser; it saves as they type and comes back by email.
5. Under **Came back**: answers go into the file by themselves as **told**. Where the file already says
something different, the file's value stays and **Use theirs** is offered. **Put into the file**,
**Copy**, **Open on the New client screen** (the family form), and **Filed** when done.
### Ask My Client (questions about bank lines)
Asking, approving and posting all work (the Poster was switched on 30 Oct 2026). An approved line goes
into QuickBooks within about a minute, so **Take back** only works in that minute; after that, delete
the journal entry in QuickBooks by hand.
1. Press **Ask My Client**, choose the **Fiscal year**, and **Show** the lines in 9900.
2. Tick lines (Shift-click for a range), edit **Question for the client** (default "What was this
for?"), tick **Receipt wanted** where needed, press **Put ticked on the list**.
3. **See the list before sending** shows it as their phone will; **Take off the list** removes one.
4. **Send the list to the client**, confirm: Gmail opens with a private link (you press Send). The link
works for 30 days after the last send; **End the link** stops it, **Copy the client's link** copies
it.
5. On their phone the client answers each line (quick answers such as Business supplies, Meal with a
client, Personal, I don't know, or typed), and can **Add the receipt** (photo or PDF). No password.
6. To clear a line (answered or not: you may already know), choose its **Account** and **Tax code**
(**Account default** uses the tax code on the client's chart). Money in can carry tax too: to an
income account it is GST/HST collected on a sale; to any other account it is a refund that takes
back the tax claimed. The tax codes show under the client's own names for its province (HST ON in
Ontario). A sale with two taxes (GST/PST, GST/QST) is refused for now, and so is anything with
Quebec QST (post those by hand). Then
press **Approve** (needs Post on Team). **Take back** undoes it until the Poster takes it. The
Poster moves the line out of 9900 with one Adjusting Journal Entry; the bank line is not touched.
An answer never changes a payee ruling: change rulings on the Payees page.
7. Each line moves: On the list, Sent to the client, Answered, Approved, Cleared out of 9900 (or
Problem, with the reason). **Show: Only lines approved or cleared** lists them. If the month is
undone on the Poster page (**Undo this month**), its journal entries are deleted too and the lines
drop off this page; they come back as new lines (to ask or clear again) when the month is posted again.
### What I need from you
1. Press **What I need from you**: the document request, listing only what the client alone can
supply (anything CRA gives us once we are authorized is left off).
2. **Copy to clipboard**, **Print this list only**, or **Open DocHub**. Nothing is sent by itself.
### Still open
Section **05 Still open** of the file: every fact not established yet, in three groups, each listed
by where it sits on the file. Click a name to jump to it.
1. **Ask the client**: only what someone marked **Check with client** on 02 or 03. Each has a tick,
on to start.
2. **For reference**: everything else not known yet, which we look up, work out or have in
QuickBooks (GRIP, UCC, the shareholder loan, statements and so on). Ticks are off: tick one to
ask the client for it after all.
3. **Entered, to confirm**: already on the file (told, or typed in on New client) but not checked
against a document yet. Mark each **Seen** when you have.
On a company's file, directors, shareholders and related companies are not listed once **07
Shareholders & group** holds them. **Clear the ticks** takes every tick off.
**Draft the email to the client** opens a Gmail draft to the client listing every ticked item in
plain words, the client's own first, then one heading per business, signed with your name. Read it
and press Send. It also puts an action on the file's **Notes**, "Information asked for", due in 7
days and given to you. Anyone who can open the file can use it.
## Who sees what
- Anyone who can see the client can send forms and lists. The client sees only their own form or list,
by a private link.
## Tips
- Send **Worksheets** before tax season: the answers land in the file by themselves.
- Use **What I need from you** at the end of every client call.
## Demo script (about 2 minutes)
1. **Worksheets**, tick Rental Property Summary, **Email to client**. *"The client fills it in on their
phone; it comes back into the file."*
2. Show **Came back** and **Use theirs**. *"Nothing is overwritten without us choosing."*
3. **What I need from you**, **Copy to clipboard**. *"The missing documents, in one email."*
---
# Bank & card accounts
## What it is for
Part **09 Bank & card accounts** of a client's file: every bank and card account the client has, open
or closed, and which months' statements are in hand for a fiscal year. It replaces the bank account
spreadsheet kept for each client, and fills in while you talk to the client.
It is the same account list as **Payees** and the **Chart of accounts** page: the accounts the filer
finds in the statements are there already, and an account added here shows there too.
## How to
### The accounts
1. Open the client's file and press **09 Bank & card accounts** in the side menu (or **Open 09 Bank &
card accounts** under the Statement filer's **Missing months**, or **Bank and credit card accounts**
in **05 Still open**).
2. The accounts found in the statements are listed already, marked "found in the statements". Their
name and last four digits come from the statements; the number cannot be changed here. Each time
the Statement filer finishes a **Dry run** or a filing, any account it found that is not on the
list yet is added by itself (bank and last four, Credit card when it is a card, Not Yet Ruled);
nothing already on the list is touched. So the list fills even if nobody typed it in.
3. For each, fill in what the client tells you: **Active / Closed**, **Connect to QBO** (the same
choice as on the chart page), **Account type**, **Account for** (Business, Personal or Mixed),
**Name on statement**, **Money in / money out**, **Client comment**. Each box saves as you leave it.
To widen or narrow a column, drag the right edge of its heading; the widths are remembered in
your browser.
4. An account the client mentions that has no statement yet: **Add an account**, then its name and
last four digits. Once it has its number, the filer and the months grid know it. Accounts taken
down on a **Quick quote** are here already once the quote is made a client, marked "from the quote".
5. A returning client with a QuickBooks file: **Read from QuickBooks** (under the list, partners)
reads the bank and credit card accounts in the client's QuickBooks company and adds the ones not
on the list yet, matched by their last four digits: the QuickBooks name, **Active** or **Closed** as
QuickBooks has it, the account type, Not Yet Ruled, marked "added from QuickBooks". It takes about
a minute; the line under the button says when it is reading and then what it found ("Last read
from QuickBooks ..."), and the list updates by itself. Nothing changes in QuickBooks and nothing
already on the list is touched. An account whose QuickBooks name has no account number (e.g. "Cash
& Deposits") is not added; the line names it. A name with two numbers (two cards in one account)
gives two rows. QuickBooks does not say which accounts are on a bank feed, so set any old ones to
**Closed** or **On hold**. The button needs the client's QuickBooks company linked to the app (done
once, when the client's QuickBooks is connected to the server at setup); until then it is greyed and
the line says so.
6. **Active / On hold / Closed**: **On hold** is for an account paused for now that may come back
(for example a card put aside). Nothing from it goes into QuickBooks and its payees are not asked
about; the filer still files its statements and 09 still shows its months. Its row turns light red
and greyed, its **Connect to QBO** reads "On hold", and its column in the months grid is tinted.
Set it back to **Active** and its earlier **Connect to QBO** choice comes back. Payees and the
Chart of accounts show it as on hold; it is changed only here.
7. **Delete**, for an account that should not be on the list at all: one added here goes for good;
one found in the statements is kept, hidden, and taken out of QuickBooks, so the filer does not add
it back. Payees and the Chart of accounts stop showing it. **Show deleted** lists them, with **Bring
back** (its earlier **Connect to QBO** choice comes back too).
### Statement collection
1. Pick the **Fiscal year ending** (it starts on the latest year end that has passed; a company uses
its own year end from 03, anyone else December).
2. One row per month of that year, then two **accruals** months after the year end, in red; one column
per account.
3. **Filed** (green): the filer has that month's statement, from its latest Dry run or filing (the
same statements as the **Bank statements filing report**). Once the statement is also read for
QuickBooks it shows **Filed · ties**, or **Filed · not tied** in orange. **Missing** (red): no
statement for a month that has ended, from the account's first statement on, as in the filing
report. A tick box: tick it when a statement was received another way.
## Who sees what
- Anyone who can open the client's file can see 09. Only a partner can change it, as with the rest of
the client's tool settings. Each firm's are its own.
## Tips
- Once the list has an account, **05 Still open** stops asking how many accounts there are. On a
company's file, Bookkeeping's **Bank and credit card accounts, how many** fills itself with the number of
**Active** accounts here and follows the list as it changes; a number typed there by hand is kept.
- Fill the list on the first review call; the months grid then shows at a glance what to ask for.
## Demo script (about 1 minute)
1. Open **09 Bank & card accounts** on a client with statements. *"The accounts the statements have
already shown us are here by themselves."*
2. **Add an account** for one the client mentions. *"Ones they tell us about go on the same list."*
3. Show the grid: green months in the app, an orange one that does not tie, a hand tick for a paper
statement. *"What we have, what is missing, at a glance."*
---
# The client file
## What it is for
The firm's internal record of a client ("never shown to the client"), filled in while you are on the
phone with them. Every fact records how you know it, so when something changes later you can say when
and why.
## How to
### Find your way around a file
The sections, numbered in the side menu:
- **01 The job**: the services we do, by year or period, with fees and Filed dates.
- **02 The client**: the person: names, SIN, contact, family, income sources. On a company's own file,
02 also lists its **shareholders**, each with a **director** tick: that is where you mark or unmark
who is a director of the company (03 points back to it). The Dissolution page's Step 4 reads it.
- **03 The business**: one card per business, each with **Condition**, **What we inherit** and **How
money leaves**.
- **04 Access & engagement**: CRA authorization, the engagement letter and how they pay.
- **05 Still open**: everything nobody has established yet; the agenda for the next call.
- **06 Scope changes**: what changed after the letter was signed.
- **07 Shareholders & group** and **08 Salary, dividends & shareholder loans** (see Groups).
- **09 Bank & card accounts**: every bank and card account, and which months' statements are in hand
(see Bank & card accounts).
Every section has its own notes box at the bottom for anything that does not fit a fact.
### Enter a fact
1. Type the **Value**.
2. Say **How I know it**: **seen** (read off a document you can open; then type **seen where?**, for
example "NOA 2023"), **told** (the client said it, not checked), or **not yet** (nobody has
established it).
3. **When** fills in by itself the first time the fact lands, and again when how you know it changes.
4. Marks on some rows: **assumption** (goes into the engagement letter's "what the fee assumes" if
still not seen at signing), **on the engagement letter**, **important: used by the tools**.
5. **Check with client** (on 02 and 03) puts a fact at the top of Still open.
The stamps at the top count the file: **seen**, **told**, **not yet**, **check with client**, and
whether the letter is signed. Contact details and similar directory facts do not count.
### 01 The job: services and fees
1. **Services on this job**: a button for every service, above the tabs. A ticked one is on the job;
click it to open its tab. A **+** one adds it to the job (for the first person or business it fits)
and opens it. **+ Same service for someone else** adds a second one, e.g. a T2 for another company:
choose the service and who it is for. Under **Services for this engagement**, each service on the job
has its own tab with a red **×** beside it to take it off (it asks first while the service has lines;
Bookkeeping takes its add-ons with it). Each tab is named for the service
(and who it is for only when the same service is on the job twice). Each line has its year or period, a
**Filed** date (yearly lines and annual GST), the fee (fixed, or from – to, with optional hours),
how you know it, and **x** to remove it. Choose the tax (GST, HST, no tax).
2. **Summary** (the first tab, once there is a service) lists every service with who it is for, the
years it covers and its price, with **Open** to go to its tab. Under the **TOTAL**, on every tab: **How we bill**: **Fixed fee (lump sum)**, invoiced **When the letter is
signed**, **When the work is done**, or **A deposit, then the balance** (with **Deposit %**; when the
estimate is a range, the deposit is that % of the lower figure, on the letter and on the deposit
invoice), **In stages** (choose **Stages**, 2, 3 or 4, then each **Stage %**: 50/50, 25/25/50 or
25/25/25/25 to start; a red line warns until they add up to 100%; the buttons are **Create stage 1 invoice** and so
on, each that % of the lower figure), or **Each month, in advance** (for ongoing bookkeeping: the
letter gives the monthly amount of the bookkeeping and its add-ons; **Create this month's invoice**
drafts one month, and **Create invoice for other work** the rest, e.g. the T2); or **By time
(hourly)**. It shows what the letter will say. Under it: **Engagement letter: View PDF** (the letter in a
new tab, laid out as the PDF), **Save as PDF**, **Open the letter**; and the invoice: with a fixed fee,
**Create invoice** (or **Create deposit invoice** and **Create balance invoice**) makes a draft from the
estimate, one line per service at the lower figure of a range, included add-ons left off; it opens to
check, like any draft (partners). **From time** / **Create invoice from time** opens Time for this client. The
quote and the letter always take every service, whichever tab is open. The total and tax show
under every tab.
3. **Bookkeeping add-ons**: on a Bookkeeping tab, under **Add-ons - tick what this bookkeeping covers**,
tick **Bookkeeping setup, once**, **GST Filing**, **PST Filing**, **Payroll** or **WCB** for that business.
Each is one row: **Included in the bookkeeping fee**, or **Extra** with the amount in the **$** box and
**per month**, **per quarter** or **per year** (Setup: **once**). GST and PST start Included. An add-on
covers the same periods as the bookkeeping, so its price shows at once. Anything else goes in
**Notes on the add-ons**. Add-ons have no assumptions and no card of their own; the Summary marks them
"bookkeeping add-on" and the letter says "Included in the bookkeeping fee" or gives their price.
Untick to take one off. Once every business has Bookkeeping, these five leave the service list;
without Bookkeeping they are services of their own.
4. **+ Add a detail** for optional facts about the job.
5. Deadlines come from these lines (see Deadlines). Fees are partners only.
### Businesses and the family
- **Add a business** for each business card; **x** removes one. A corporation can get its own linked
file with **Make this its own file** (then **Open its file**).
- Under the client's name, the **group strip** shows every linked file (family, companies) with a
button each, and **Shareholders, companies and association**. A file's button opens it on the same
section you are on: from 07, 08 or 09 you land on that file's 07, 08 or 09. No group yet: partners
see **Link related files**.
- The family view shows a person with spouse, children and businesses, or a company with its owners.
### The Drive folder
Put the client's Drive folder address in **Client folder**; then **Open Drive folder** shows in the side
menu, and the header has **Open in Drive** and **Find in Drive**.
### Find a fact, still open, and the buttons at the foot
- **05 Still open**: click an item to jump to it. **Find a fact** searches the whole file.
- **Export JSON**: downloads the whole record to this computer.
- **Close file (client left)** (partners): a client you no longer work for. The file leaves every list, tool
and reminder list, and keeps everything in it. To bring it back: **All clients**, **Archived**,
**Bring back**.
- **Delete this file** (partners): type the client's name exactly. A quote nobody accepted (fees
but no engagement letter) can be deleted. A file with real work in it (an engagement letter,
worksheets that came back, bank statements, QuickBooks postings, payee rulings, a report, scope
changes, an imported chart or billed time) is never deleted; you are offered to archive it instead.
Every delete is logged with a full copy of the file, so a mistake can be put back (ask for it).
- **Print / PDF**: prints the file, or saves it as a PDF (choose "Save as PDF" as the printer).
## Who sees what
- Partners see every file and every fee. Employees and subcontractors see only the clients ticked for
them, and never a fee.
## Tips
- Mark **seen** only when you could show the document; **told** is honest and fine.
- Run through **05 Still open** at the start of every call with the client.
## Demo script (about 3 minutes)
1. Open a client. *"The record of everything we know, and how we know it."*
2. Type a year-end, mark it **told**; then **seen**, "NOA 2025". *"Seen, told or not yet, on every
fact."*
3. Open **05 Still open**. *"And this is the agenda for the next call."*
4. **01 The job**: show the services, fees and a **Filed** date. *"The job drives the letter, the
deadlines and the bill."*
---
# Clients & Leads, Prospects, Quick quote
## What it is for
Everyone who is not a client yet, and everyone who is, in one place: where each lead came from, the
next follow-up and who is doing it, the quote, and for clients the engagement letter, the next filing
deadline and the work still to bill. **Partners only.**
Where to find them, in the side menu: **Clients & Leads** (with a red count of follow-ups due today
or late) and **Quick quote** (next to Refresh). On a client's Job there is also a **Quick quote**
button next to "Not a client yet?". A lead is a prospect: one list, on the **Prospects** tab of
Clients & Leads; **Open** on a row opens that prospect's own page.
## How to
### Add a prospect
1. Press **Clients & Leads**, the **Prospects** tab, then **+ Add a prospect**.
2. In the row: **Name** and/or **Business** (one of the two is needed), **Phone**, **Email**,
**Came from** (Referral, Cold call, Website, Other).
3. Press **Add the prospect**. They start as a **Lead** with a follow-up today.
### Work a lead
1. Find them on the **Prospects** tab of **Clients & Leads**: the stage buttons **All open**, **Lead**,
**Contacted**, **Quoted**, **Won**, **Lost**, **Do not contact**, or the box "Find a prospect".
Press **Open**: the **Prospect** page opens, with everything about that one person or business.
**Back to Clients & Leads** returns to the list.
2. Fill in what you know: **Person or company**, **Referred by (a client)** (picking a client sets Came
from to Referral), **How we met**, **Email consent**, **Stage**, **Next follow-up**, **Follow-up
by** (a partner), and **Do not contact** if they asked not to be called. Everything saves as you
type. Warnings about CASL (email consent) and Do Not Call appear under the form when they apply.
3. **Log a call**: under **Notes, newest first**, type what was said, choose the next follow-up
(keep as is, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, or none) and press **Log it**. A Lead becomes
Contacted. **Open Notes** opens the prospect's full notes (screenshots, actions, AI summary).
4. **Quote them**: press **New quick quote**; their name, email and phone are already filled in.
Or link a quote already made with **Link a quote already made…**.
5. **Won**: press **Make it a client** (see below). **Lost**: set the Stage to Lost. A small box asks
why: **Too expensive**, **Went elsewhere**, **No reply**, **Not a fit**, or **Other** (type a short
note, then **Save**); **Cancel** leaves the stage as it was. The form then shows **Why lost** (change
it there), the list shows "Lost: no reply", and the reason is cleared if they ever move back to an
open stage or to Won.
6. **Delete this prospect** removes them and their notes for good (their quotes stay, unlinked).
### Get a quote: the public web form
A page anyone can fill in without signing in, at your firm's own link. A request lands on Clients & Leads as
a Lead marked Website, with a follow-up today, a Client contact note of what they asked for, and an
email to the partner you chose within about 5 minutes.
1. On **Clients & Leads**, the **Prospects** tab, press **Web form** (partners only). The panel shows
your firm's link.
2. **Copy** copies the link; **Open the form** shows it as a visitor sees it. Put the link on your
website, in an email signature or on a card. The same link is on the **Get a quote web form** card
under **Tool settings**, **What each tool does**. **Make a new link** replaces it (the old one stops
working at once, so the website needs the new one).
3. Fill in, saved as you type: **What the form says at the top**, **The thank-you message**, **A
contact line under the form** (e.g. "Or phone us at …"), **Who gets the email** (a partner),
**Requests a day, at most** (after that the form asks people to phone; 20 to start), and
**Taking requests** (untick to close the form for a while).
4. Under **Services the form lists**, tick the services the form offers. The first time you open
**Web form** the standard list is saved, so the form lists it from then on.
5. What a visitor sees: **Your name**, **Business (if any)**, **Email**, **Phone**, **How did you hear
about us?** (a referral asks **Who referred you?**), **Best way to reach you** and **Best time**,
**Province**, the services under **What do you need?** (ticking Bookkeeping asks the lines a month
and the software; T2 asks the year end and the years to file; T1 asks how many returns),
**Anything else we should know**, the tick **You may email me about my request** (needed), and
**Send my request**. Email consent is recorded as "They asked us". Every answer is in the lead's
"Website form" note, one line each; set **Came from** and **Referred by** on the prospect from it.
6. A hidden box catches robots (their request is dropped without a word). Someone already on the list
at an open stage with the same email gets a new note "Website form, asked again" and today's
follow-up instead of a second row.
### Make a prospect a client
1. On the prospect, press **Make it a client**. New client opens with the person (and the business,
for a company) filled in. A company needs both the business name and a contact person.
2. Check it and press **Create the files**.
3. The prospect is marked Won and linked to the new file. All their notes move onto the client's
notes, plus one note "From the Prospects list" with where they came from, who referred them, how you
met and when they were added. Afterwards the button reads **Open the client file**.
### Clients & Leads: see everything at once
1. Press **Clients & Leads**.
2. The tiles across the top: **follow-ups due**, **quotes out** (with the $ range), **won this
month**, **% of quotes won**, **lost** (with the reasons counted, e.g. "4 lost: 2 no reply, 1 too
expensive"), **letters out over 7 days**, **hours to bill**, **clients with a filing late or due in
30 days**. Click a tile to jump to that list.
3. Tabs: **Prospects**, **Business clients**, **Personal clients**, **All clients**. Then the stage
buttons: for prospects **All open**, **Lead**, **Contacted**, **Quoted**, **Won**, **Lost** (with the
reason), **Do not contact**; for clients **All**, **Letter to send**, **Letter out**, **Signed**,
**To bill**, **Billed**.
4. The list: **Name** (with "Prospect, referred by …", "Prospect, from the website" or "Business
client, was a prospect"),
**Stage**, **Quote**, **Change it here**, **What comes next**, **Next deadline** (clients),
**Last note**. Click a heading to sort.
5. **Change it here**, without opening anything: a prospect's stage (Lost asks why), follow-up date
and who does it;
a client's letter state (need to send, sent, signed, not needed) with its date.
6. **Next deadline** is the next filing date from the services on the client's Job (hover to see the
ones after). Red within 14 days or late. A year stops counting once its line on the Job has a
**Filed** date.
7. On each row: **Open** (a prospect opens its Prospect page; a client opens their file, at the engagement
letter if the letter is still to send or out, at Time if it is to bill), **Send a reminder**
(letters out over 7 days), **Email…**, **Make it a client**, **+ Note**, **Delete**.
8. **Email…** offers "Following up on our call", "Following up on your quote", "Reminder: your
engagement letter" or "A blank email". Gmail opens with it ready; you press Send. "Emailed …" is
added to their notes. With no email consent recorded, it asks you first.
9. Several at once: tick rows (the top tick ticks every row shown), then set the stage, a follow-up
date and who does it (prospects; Lost asks why once for all of them) or the letter state (clients),
and press **Apply to the ticked**.
Prospects can also be deleted together with **Delete the ticked**.
10. On the Prospects tab: **+ Add a prospect**, **Import prospects** (a CSV, for example a Notion
database exported as CSV; columns are matched by name: Name, Business, Phone, Email, Source, How
we met, Notes, Stage, Follow up; a preview comes first and anyone already on the list is skipped;
then **Import N prospects**), **Download prospects** (a CSV of the list, with a Lost reason
column), and **Web form** (the public Get a quote form, above).
### Quick quote: a price before anyone is a client
1. Press **Quick quote**, then **New quick quote** (or **Open** a recent one).
2. **Who it is for**: "Someone asking for a price" or "A prospect on our list" (then choose the
prospect).
3. **Name**, **Person or company**, **Who we deal with** (a company), **Email**, **Phone**, **Fiscal
year end** (a company). It saves by itself once a name is typed.
4. **Services**: for each, choose the **Service**, then the **Tax year** or **From – to** months or
**What the job is**. Leave **Quote $** empty and the rate card prices it as a range; or type a
price, or a range with **to $**, and choose **Per** (Month, Quarter, Year, Job). **+ Add a service**
for more; **x** removes one. Bookkeeping also asks transactions a month, bank and card accounts, and
which software the books are kept in. Under them, **The accounts (optional)**: on the call, press
**+ Add an account** for each one they tell you about: bank and account (e.g. RBC chequing), the
**Last 4 digits** and the **Account type**; **x** takes one off. **Bank and credit card accounts**
then counts itself from the list (greyed). The quote they see still gives only the number. When
the quote becomes a client (**Make it a client**), the accounts go on the new file's **09 Bank &
card accounts**, marked "from the quote".
5. **Anything else the price assumes**, one per line. The **Total** shows plus GST.
6. Then: **Show the estimate / the quote**, **Print or save as PDF**, **Copy**, **Email the estimate /
the quote** (Gmail opens; the quote is marked Sent; a linked prospect moves to Quoted, gets a "Quote
emailed" note and a follow-up in 7 days if none is set).
7. **Add to Prospects to follow up** puts a price-check person on the Prospects list (as a Lead, or
Quoted if the quote was sent) with a follow-up in a week.
8. **They said yes: make it a client**: New client opens; the quote's services and prices go onto the
new file's Job, bookkeeping facts onto the business, the quote is marked accepted and the prospect
Won, with their notes carried over. **Not interested** marks the prospect Lost and asks why.
9. Statuses: Not sent, Sent (date), Became a client, Not interested.
## Who sees what
- **Partners only**, on all three pages. Anyone else sees "Only a partner sees prospects."
- Prospect notes are partners only too.
## Reminders
- Give a follow-up to another partner and they get an email within about 5 minutes (if their
reminder emails are on). A request from the web form emails the chosen partner the same way,
headed "New lead from your website", with what they asked for.
- The 7 a.m. reminder email lists each partner's follow-ups due today or overdue (open prospects only,
never Do not contact).
- The red number on **Clients & Leads** is the follow-ups due today or late.
## Tips
- Record **Email consent** before emailing a cold lead: CASL applies to commercial emails.
- Use **Referred by** for every referral; Clients & Leads then shows who sends you work.
- Clean the list every Friday from the **follow-ups due** tile on Clients & Leads.
## Demo script (about 4 minutes)
1. *"A call comes in."* **Clients & Leads**, **+ Add a prospect**, type the name and business, Came
from Referral, **Add the prospect**. **Open** it, pick who referred them.
2. Log the call: "Wants a quote for T2 and bookkeeping", follow up in 1 week, **Log it**.
3. **New quick quote**: add T2 and bookkeeping; the rate card prices them. **Email the quote**.
*"The lead moves to Quoted, and the follow-up is set."*
4. **Clients & Leads**: point at the tiles. *"Quotes out, won this month, letters out, hours to bill,
filings coming up, all in one row."*
5. Back on the quote: **They said yes: make it a client**, **Create the files**. *"Their notes, the
quote and the prices are already on the new file."*
---
# CRA letters
## What it is for
Upload a letter from CRA and AI reads it: what CRA wants, by when, how to answer and how serious it
is. A partner checks it against the letter, and saving puts a CRA action on the client's notes, due on
the deadline and given to whoever handles it.
## How to
### Upload a letter
1. Open the client, press **CRA letters**.
2. In **Upload a CRA letter**, pick a PDF or photos of every page (PDF, JPG, PNG or WEBP, up to 20 MB).
3. Reading takes up to a minute, then: "Read. Check every box against the letter, then press Save."
Something that is not a CRA letter is refused.
What it reads: the letter date, kind of letter, tax, CRA reference, office, years, taxpayer, SIN (last
3 digits only), BN, officer and how to reach them, how to answer, each thing CRA asks for (in plain
words and in the letter's own words, with the page), the format wanted, what CRA is reviewing, the
deadline wording, and a summary for the client.
- **The deadline date** is worked out by rules, not guessed: the date printed in the letter, or the
letter date plus the days in the wording. If neither, it says so and you set it.
- **Risk** follows the firm's rules: High for an audit, collections or a deadline within 10 days;
Medium for a review or proposal; Low for a request for information or a matching letter.
### Check it and save (partners)
1. In the list (**Letter date**, **Letter**, **Deadline**, **Risk**, **Status**), press **Check it**.
2. The letter is on the left (**Open the letter in a new tab** for a bigger view); on the right:
- **Deadline**: the letter's wording, the date, where the date came from, and the tick **I have
checked this deadline against the letter**.
- **From the letter**: every field read; kind, tax and risk can be changed.
- **What CRA wants**: each request in plain words, with the format CRA wants; **Take this off** for
anything misread.
- **What CRA is reviewing**, and any "Unclear" warnings to look at.
- **For the client**: what the letter is in plain words, **Risk**, **What we are doing about it**
(Gathering your records, Preparing our response, Talking to CRA, Sent, waiting for CRA), **Who
handles it**, and **One line for the client**.
3. Press **Save** (it needs the deadline date and the tick). A **CRA** note appears on the client's
notes, due on the deadline and given to whoever handles it, so their reminders chase it. Saving
again updates the same note.
4. Statuses: **Read, not checked yet**, **Checked**, **Shown to the client**.
5. **Delete this letter** (partners) removes the letter; its CRA note stays.
## Who sees what
- Anyone who can see the client can upload and read the letters.
- **Partners** check and save them (others see "A partner checks and saves this letter") and delete
them.
## Tips
- Upload every page, including the ones that look like forms; requests are often on the last page.
- Always tick the deadline only after reading it on the letter itself.
## Demo script (about 2 minutes)
1. Open a client, **CRA letters**, upload a letter. *"CRA writes; we upload it."*
2. **Check it**: point at the deadline and the requests. *"What CRA wants, in plain words, and by
when, worked out by our rules."*
3. Choose who handles it, **Save**. Open **Notes**. *"Now it's an action with a due date and
reminders. Nothing slips."*
---
# Deadlines and filed dates
## What it is for
Each client's next filing dates, worked out from the services on their Job, so nothing is filed late.
## How it works
The date comes from the service, the tax year or period on the Job's line, and the year end (the
business's year end, or December 31 if it is not known):
- **T1**: April 30, or June 15 for the self-employed (a balance is still due April 30).
- **T2**: 6 months after the year end. **T3**: 90 days after the year end.
- **GST monthly or quarterly**: 1 month after the period. **GST annual**: 3 months after the year end
(a sole proprietor with a December 31 year end: June 15).
- **PST (BC)**: the end of the month after the period.
- **Payroll**: remittances by the 15th; T4s by the end of February.
- No date for bookkeeping, WCB or one-off jobs.
## How to
### See what is due
1. **Clients & Leads**, a client tab: the **Next deadline** column shows the date in bold with what is
due under it. Red within 14 days or when late ("Late: due …"). Hover to see the next four. Click the
heading to sort by it.
2. The tile **clients with a filing late or due in 30 days** sorts the list by deadline.
3. "no dated service on the Job" means the Job has no service with a date yet.
### Record that it is filed
1. Open the client's Job. On a yearly line (T1, T2, T3, WCB, annual GST) type the date in **Filed**.
2. That year drops off the deadlines and the next year shows. Leave **Filed** empty while it is still
to file; a past due date with no Filed date shows as Late in red.
3. Monthly and quarterly lines have no Filed box; they move on by themselves.
## Tips
- Put the Filed date the day it is filed, so the list only shows what is really open.
- A client with nothing in Next deadline needs services with a tax year on the Job.
## Demo script (about 1 minute)
1. **Clients & Leads**, **Business clients**, sort by **Next deadline**. *"Who is due next, and who is
late, at a glance."*
2. Hover a date. *"And what comes after."*
3. Open the client, type a **Filed** date. *"Filed: it moves on to next year."*
---
# Engagement letters, letter wording, payment authorization, scope changes
## What it is for
The engagement letter is built from the client's Job (services and fees) and file (what the fee
assumes), signed online by the client, and kept with its versions. Anything that changes after
signing is listed under scope changes.
## How to
### Build the letter
1. Open the client, press **Build engagement letter** (side menu, or **Engagement letter** on the Job's
section 04).
2. The app picks the kind:
- **Ongoing work** (bookkeeping, GST, PST or payroll on the Job): the full letter.
- **Project** (one-off or catch-up work).
- **Terms of service** (annual returns only): a one-page sign-off. It can be set to "Not needed" on
04, but the app warns that a T2 with compiled statements needs written terms (CSRS 4200).
3. The letter has the same letterhead as the firm's invoices (logo, name, email, phone, web) and a
summary box under the title: the services, who for, the fee estimate with tax, and how we bill (from
**How we bill** under the Job's total).
**Schedule A** starts with one fee table (Service, Covers, Fee; add-ons "Included"; subtotal, tax and
**Estimated total**), then each service in short rows (What we do, Covers, What you provide,
Deadlines, Fee). **Schedule B** (what the fee assumes) lists only the facts still marked "not yet"
that the services on the Job rest on. Anything blank or still to check shows as "[ … ]".
4. The status line says whether a letter is needed, or needs updating because something was added
after it was signed.
### Send it for signing
1. Fill every "[ … ]" gap and make sure the client's email is on the file (02).
2. **Send for signing online**: the letter is saved as sent and a Gmail draft opens with the signing
link; you press Send. **Copy signing link** does the same but copies the link. **Preview what they
see** shows the client's page.
3. The client opens a private page "Engagement Letter", ticks "I have read this engagement letter and
I agree to its terms", types their full name (and title, for a company) and email, and presses
**Sign and send**. The signed date fills in by itself, and what the fee assumed is kept as the
letter said it.
4. Sending again before they sign replaces the letter they see. After signing, it asks first, makes a
new version (the signed one is kept) and shows the file as not signed until they sign the new one.
5. Signed on paper or elsewhere: **Mark letter signed** (it records today and keeps what the fee
assumed), or type **Date engagement letter signed** on 04. Clearing that date takes the signing off.
6. **View PDF** (the letter in a new tab, laid out as the PDF, with **Save as PDF** at the top), **Save as
PDF**, **Copy to clipboard**, and (partners) **Versions kept**: every version,
sent and signed, with **Show it**.
### Letter wording (the firm's standard letter)
1. On the letter, press **Letter wording**. Anyone can read it; **only a partner can change it**. It
saves as you type.
2. **Letterhead and signature** (address, phone, email, website, who signs, their title); **Title and
opening paragraph** for each kind; **The fixed terms** in order (each with heading, wording and which
kinds it appears in; partners can move, add or take out sections); **Schedule A** wording for each
service (what we do, what the client provides, deadlines).
3. {firm}, {client} and {date} fill in by themselves; a line starting "- " becomes a bullet.
4. Until a partner saves it, it is starter wording, not legal advice.
### Payment authorization and the CRA authorization email
- **Payment authorization form** (04): a recurring payment authorization (pre-authorized debit or
credit card) with the amount and how often (from the bookkeeping line unless you change it); **Refill
form**, **Print this form only**. Card and bank numbers are never kept in the app: print to PDF, send
it for signing, and file the signed copy.
- **Authorization email** (04): the email asking the client to authorize the firm as their CRA
representative, with the steps for My Account and My Business Account. **Copy to clipboard**; nothing
is sent by itself.
### Scope changes since signing
- Starts once the letter is signed. Lists every assumed fact whose value or "how we know it" changed
("at signing: … -> now: …"), and services added, removed or changed and fee changes, each with a date.
- It shows when to raise the fee or send an updated letter.
## Who sees what
- Fees are partners' business; employees and subcontractors never see a fee.
- Only partners change the letter wording and see the versions kept.
- The client only ever sees their own letter, by its private link.
## Tips
- Fill the Job and the facts first; the letter writes itself from them.
- Check **Scope changes since signing** before year-end billing.
## Demo script (about 3 minutes)
1. Open a client, **Build engagement letter**. *"The letter is written from the Job: services, fees,
and what the fee assumes."*
2. **Preview what they see**, then **Send for signing online**. *"The client signs on their phone."*
3. Show **Scope changes since signing**. *"And if the work grows after signing, we see it, so the fee
follows."*
---
# Getting started: signing in, the side menu, Team
## What it is for
How to get into the app, find your way around the menu on the left, and (partners) give other people
their own sign-in with exactly the clients they should see.
## How to
### Sign in
1. Open the app's address in your browser.
2. Type your **Email** and **Password**, press **Sign in**.
3. **First time?** You must have been invited first (see Team below). Press **First time here? Set a
password**, use the exact email you were invited with, and choose your own password (8 characters
or more). Then sign in as above.
4. **Forgot your password?** Type your email, press **Forgot your password?** under the sign-in box.
An email with a link comes; open it, and the app asks you to choose a new password (twice).
5. Once a day, right after signing in, a pop-up lists **Your actions** that are overdue or due today
(and, for partners, prospect follow-ups). **Open … notes** goes straight to them.
6. Your name and role show at the top of the menu, with **Change password** and **Sign out**. Sign
out when you use a shared computer.
### The side menu
From the top:
- **Client file box**: the open client's name ("No file open" when none is open).
- **Time & Notes**: **Start clock** (time on the open client), **Time** (every entry, fix one, add a
phone call), **Notes** (the open client's notes, or the Notes home).
- **Client file**:
- **Search**: type any part of a name, the contact, an email or a phone number.
- **Business clients** and **Personal clients**: pick one to open their file.
- **New client** and **All clients** (every file, sortable, with phone, email and address;
partners also see **Archived** files, with **Bring back**).
- **Clients & Leads** (every prospect and client, from the first call to the work billed; a
prospect's own page opens from **Open** on its row).
- **Quick quote** (a quote for someone not a client yet).
- Under the line saying which file is open, a small **Refresh**: saves what is typed, then reloads
the client lists and the open file (to see a change someone else made).
- **This client** (only while a file is open): **Open Drive folder** (when the file has one),
**Bank statements filing report**, **Filer test**, **Payees** and **Ask My Client**.
- **The file's sections**: click one to jump to that part of the client file.
- **Backup line**: when the nightly copy of the database last finished and was checked.
- **Buttons at the foot**: Time & Notes again, **Worksheets**, **Tool settings**,
**Payees**, **Receipt Matcher**, **Ask My Client**, **CRA letters**, **Chart of accounts**,
**Team** (partners), **What I need from you**, **Build engagement letter**, **Mark letter signed**,
**Export JSON**, **Print / PDF**, **Archive & dissolve**, **Close file
(client left)** and **Delete this file** (partners; a quote nobody accepted can be deleted, a file with real
work in it is archived instead).
See The client file.
### Help: ask how to do something
1. Press **? Help**, bottom right on every page.
2. Type your question, for example "How do I give an action to someone?", and press **Ask** (or
Enter).
3. The answer comes in a few seconds, from this manual, with the exact button names. It knows which
page you are on, so "what does this button do?" works.
4. **Walk me through it**, under an answer, turns it into steps shown one at a time (every answer with
something to do has it; only one that starts by saying the manual does not cover it has none). The button or box
each step names is outlined in red on the page, with a red arrow from the step to it (if it is not
on the screen, the step says so and there is no arrow). For a heading or a box name, the arrow points
at its words, and it never ends inside the Help box. The arrow follows when you scroll, and goes
when the step changes; clicks go through it. Closing Help (**x** or **? Help**) takes the outline
and the arrow away; open Help again and they come back on the same step.
**Done, next step** moves on, **Back** goes back, **Finished** on the last step, **Stop** ends it. A
question typed during a walkthrough is answered for the step you are on.
5. To show Help your screen (optional): press Windows + Shift + S, pick the part of the screen, then
press Ctrl + V in the Help box (the typing box says so). "Screenshot ready" shows it (**Remove** takes it off); it goes with
your next question, or press **Ask** with the box empty for "What do I press next?". Help may
suggest it when it cannot tell what you see. The picture is read to answer and never kept; the log
only says one came. It may show client details, which Help does not repeat.
6. Help explains how to use the app; it cannot change any client, note or setting, and it does not
answer tax questions. If the manual does not cover something yet, it says so: ask a partner.
7. Your questions are kept for the firm (you see your own, partners see everyone's), so the app and
this manual can be improved where people get stuck. Up to 100 questions a day each (each
walkthrough counts as one).
8. **Suggest an improvement** (under the Help box): the box then takes an idea instead of a question
("What do you wish the app did, or did better?"); **Save idea** keeps it for the partners, with who
wrote it, when and on which page. No AI is asked. **Back to questions** returns to asking. Up to 50
ideas a day each. Ask Claude Code to "review the Help questions and suggestions" for a short list of
where people get stuck and what to fix or add.
9. **Asked so far** (top of the Help box) shows the last 5 questions and ideas, newest first, with who
asked, when and on which page (an idea says **idea**); **Show more** shows 20 more. Clicking a question
there opens it the same way as below.
10. **Your recent questions**: Help opens on your last 5 questions (the same question asked twice,
with or without quote marks, shows once; before your first question it shows one line instead). Click one and the chat shows only that question and its answer, with **Walk me through it**
(if you were walked through it before, it starts at step 1 straight away, from the saved steps).
Ask a follow-up below if you like. **×** at its top right, or the same **×** at its foot (handy
after scrolling down), closes it and brings the chat back.
Partners see everyone's. Everything stays saved. **Back to Help** returns to the chat.
### Team (partners): give someone their own sign-in
1. Press **Team** (partners only).
2. In the top row: their **Email**, their **Name** as it should appear, and their **Role**:
- **Partner**: sees every client and every fee; can manage Team.
- **Employee** or **Subcontractor**: sees only the clients ticked for them, and never a fee.
3. Tick the clients they should see (you can change this any time, even before they sign up).
4. Press **Invite**. Gmail opens with their instructions ready (how to get in the first time, and a
reminder that client information stays in the app). Send it.
5. They open the app, press **First time here? Set a password** with that same email, and pick their
own password. They are now on the **Staff** list.
### Team: change what someone can do
On the **Staff** list, for each person:
- **Role**: change it with the dropdown. The last active partner cannot stop being a partner.
- **Clients they can see**: tick or untick clients (a partner sees everything).
- **Permissions**, beyond reviewing:
- **Save rulings for one client** / **Save rulings for all clients** (payee rulings),
- **Post to QuickBooks** (only someone who has it can give it),
- **Set up new clients** (lets a non-partner use New client; the files they make are given to them;
a partner always can).
- **Switch off** stops someone signing in (their work stays); **Switch on** lets them back in.
- People invited but not yet signed up are listed under **Invited, not yet signed up** until they set
a password.
## Who sees what
- **Partners**: every client, every fee, Prospects, Team.
- **Employees and subcontractors**: only the clients ticked for them on Team, never a fee; all of the
firm's own notes except those marked For partners only.
- Each firm using the app sees only its own clients, notes and staff, and its own name, web address
and CRA representative on its letters, forms and emails.
## Tips
- Invite with the address the person will really sign in with; a different address will not match the
invitation.
- Tick clients before pressing Invite, so they see their work the moment they first sign in.
- Someone leaving: **Switch off**, do not delete. Their notes and time stay with the clients.
- Forgot your password: **Forgot your password?** on the sign-in page emails you a link.
## Demo script (about 2 minutes)
1. *"Everyone has their own sign-in."* Show the sign-in screen, sign in.
2. Point at the pop-up: *"First thing every morning: what's overdue and due today."*
3. Type part of a client's name in **Search**. *"Any client, any detail: name, email, phone."*
4. Open **Team**. *"A partner invites someone, picks their role and ticks the clients they may see.
An employee never sees a fee, and only the files they're given."*
5. Point at a permission tick. *"Posting to QuickBooks or setting up new clients is given person by
person."*
6. Press **? Help**, ask "How do I make a prospect a client?". *"And if anyone is stuck, Help answers
from the manual, with the exact buttons."*
---
# Groups: shareholders, companies and association; salary, dividends and loans
## What it is for
One page for a whole group of people and companies: who owns what, how the shareholders are related,
which companies may be associated, and the salary, dividends and shareholder loans between them.
## How to
### Shareholders, companies and association
1. On a client in a group, press **Shareholders, companies and association** (in the group strip under
the name, or section 07).
2. Work down the sections:
1. **The shareholder we deal with**.
2. **Shareholders**: the people already entered, one row each. **Add shareholder** (under the
list) opens a blank row: name, date of birth, **Over 18**, and what they own; **Save** adds
them, **Cancel** closes the row. **What they own** is a small table, one line per company:
Company, Class (— when the holding was entered as a percentage only) and %. **+ Another
company** adds a holding, and the red **×** takes one off (the same as **Remove** under 4),
for example a company added twice.
3. **All connected companies**: our own companies come in when their file is linked to the group
(**Our files in this group**, **Add to group** / **Remove from group**) or made from a
business card; **Open its file** opens one. A company we don't act for: **Add a company we
don't act for** opens a blank row (name, **Their accountant (optional)**, BN, year end), then
**Add company**; **Cancel** closes it. **Remove** takes a company off. **Who controls it**
shows control by the shares; under it, **De facto control: does anyone control it in
practice, beyond the shares?** stays **No: the shares decide** unless someone runs the
company beyond their shares (s. 256(5.1)), for example the partner left running it alone
when the other leaves.
4. **Who owns what**: share classes first, then shareholdings (percentages); companies owning
each other is allowed. Once a table has rows, its blank row is closed: **Add another class**
or **Add another shareholding** opens it (**Add class** / **Add** saves, **Cancel** closes).
A holding entered as a percentage only, before its company had a class, takes the class
by itself when the company has just one (for example, add **Common** for a company whose
two 50% holdings had no class, and both show **Common**). Under it, **Holding companies: how control passes
through them** explains, with examples, that a holding company does not break the chain
(s. 256(1)(a), look-through under s. 256(1.2)(d)), that it counts for the 25% tests, why
a holding company is still worth having, and how to enter one (owner = the company).
5. **How the shareholders are related**: pick how each pair is related, or **Not related**.
Under it, **Why related matters: the 25% tests** explains, with an example, that the 25%
tests (s. 256(1)(c) to (e)) apply only when the controllers are related, and that
unrelated partners' companies can still be associated through control.
6. **Possibly associated: your ruling**: the page flags companies that may be associated; the
ruling is yours. For a second opinion, type any facts the page cannot see in the box under
the ruling (optional, e.g. one partner left in 2024 and the other runs it alone), then press
**Suggest a ruling (AI)**. In about a minute the suggestion is kept under your ruling, in
grey: **AI suggested: Associated**, **Not associated** or **Not sure: your call**, who asked
and when, a short reason naming the section, and **To check**. It never changes your ruling:
**Use this as my ruling** copies its verdict and reason into your ruling (noted as an AI
suggestion kept by you). When your ruling says otherwise, an amber line says **Your ruling
differs from the AI suggestion: worth a second look by a partner**, so a review can find
it. New facts? Add them to the box and press **Ask the AI again with these facts** (the
button's name once there is a suggestion): the new answer replaces the grey suggestion, and
**Use this as my ruling** updates your ruling too if you agree. Your ruling shows **ruled** with the date and who
ruled. It is sent without names (Person A, Company 1). Partners only. The boxes wrap and
grow to fit. Under it, **Learn more: how companies become associated, with examples** opens a
teaching summary: a worked example (two 50/50 partners, each with a company of their
own), every way two companies are associated (s. 256(1)(a) to (e), 256(2), 256(2.1)) with an
example each, and how control is counted (votes, value, groups, look-through, trusts, minors,
options, control in fact, specified classes, related persons).
7. **Questions the page cannot answer**: a reminder list, nothing to fill in. When one of them
matters for a pair (for example the date a shareholder left), write the answer in your
ruling's reason under 6, where it is saved and a review can see it.
8. **Our files in this group**: the file you are on first, then the others, each with **Open**;
pick one of our files, then **Add to group** or **Remove from group**.
3. A file not in a group yet: **Start a group with this file only**.
### Deciding whether companies are associated: a walkthrough
An example, start to finish. Sam Brook owns all of 1234567 B.C. Ltd. and half of Harbour Builders
Ltd.; Lee Grant, who is not family, owns the other half of Harbour. Lee has left the business and
Sam runs Harbour alone. Are 1234567 and Harbour associated?
1. **Open the group.** On any of the three files, press **Shareholders, companies and association**
in the group strip (or 07). The buttons in the strip keep you on 07 as you move between the files.
2. **1. The shareholder we deal with:** pick **Sam Brook** and tick **Director**. The **Control:** line
fills in by itself once the shares are in (step 5).
3. **2. Shareholders:** **Add shareholder** for Sam, then again for Lee. Give a date of birth, or tick
**Over 18**: a child's shares count as a parent's.
4. **3. All connected companies:** 1234567 and Harbour are our clients, so they are listed already
(**Open its file**). A company we don't act for goes in with **Add a company we don't act for**.
5. **4. Who owns what:**
1. **Share classes:** for each company, **Common**, 100% of the votes, then **Add class**
(**Add another class** once one is there).
2. **Shareholdings:** Sam 100% of 1234567 Common; Sam 50% and Lee 50% of Harbour Common
(**Add another shareholding**, then **Add**). Section 2 shows the same holdings by person.
3. A holding company in the chain? Enter it under 3, then add a shareholding with the holding
company as the owner. **Holding companies: how control passes through them** explains why.
6. **5. How the shareholders are related:** Sam and Lee, **Not related**. Related owners bring in the
25% tests: see **Why related matters: the 25% tests**.
7. **Back to 3, Who controls it:** 1234567 reads controlled by Sam, 100% of the votes. Harbour reads no
one, 50/50. Sam runs Harbour alone since Lee left, so under Harbour, set **De facto control: does
anyone control it in practice, beyond the shares?** to **Sam Brook**. Leave **No: the shares
decide** wherever the shares already say who controls.
8. **6. Possibly associated: your ruling:** the pair now reads **ASSOCIATED on the shares entered**,
**256(1)(b) met**: both are controlled by Sam.
9. **Decide.** Make up your own mind first. Then, for a second opinion, type what the page cannot
see in the facts box (e.g. "Lee left in March 2025 and is out of contact; Sam runs Harbour alone")
and press **Suggest a ruling (AI)**. The suggestion is kept, in grey, under your ruling: read the
reason and **To check**.
10. **Record it.** If you agree, press **Use this as my ruling**: **Associated** with the reason, noted
as an AI suggestion kept by you. If not, pick **Associated** or **Not associated** yourself and
write why; the AI's suggestion stays beside it, with an amber line saying they differ, for a
partner's review. Under your ruling, **ruled**, the date and who ruled show.
11. **What it means:** associated companies share one small business limit ($500,000 a year), split
between them on Schedule 23, which each files. Association is tested at any time in the tax year,
so a year in which Lee still ran Harbour with Sam may need its own look.
12. **Not sure?** **Learn more: how companies become associated, with examples** under 6, and
**7. Questions the page cannot answer** for what to ask (trusts, options, tax-motivated splits).
### Salary, dividends and shareholder loans
1. Section 08 reads the people and companies from 07.
2. **1. Salary and dividends**: **Add salary or dividend**; **Split it** divides a declared dividend by
shareholding. **Summary by year** shows each person's T1 amounts and each company's T4 and T5 totals.
3. **2. Shareholder loans**: each shareholder's account with each company, by fiscal period.
Repayments clear the oldest balance first, and the page warns about the s. 15(2) deadline.
## Tips
- Fill **Who owns what** first; association and the dividend split both depend on it.
- The association flag is a prompt, not a ruling: record your ruling and why.
## Demo script (about 2 minutes)
1. Open a family group, **Shareholders, companies and association**. *"The whole group on one page."*
2. Show **Possibly associated: your ruling**, then **Suggest a ruling (AI)** and **Use this as my ruling**. *"It
flags association, AI gives a second opinion without names, and we rule."*
3. **Salary, dividends and shareholder loans**, **Split it**. *"Dividends split by shareholding, and
each loan watched for the 15(2) deadline."*
---
# New client
## What it is for
One screen to set up a whole family at once: the client, the spouse, the children and their
businesses. **Create the files** makes every file and links them in one group; nothing is made unless
all of it can be.
## How to
### Start
1. Press **New client** in the side menu. It always opens blank.
2. Drafts you saved show at the top under **Drafts**: **Open** to carry on, **Delete** to throw one away.
A draft is named for the client and every business, shortened to fit: "Sam Brook (Harbour Builders,
1234567 B.C.)"; past two businesses, "+ 1 more".
Drafts are also in the two client lists, in the box of the files they will make: the person under
**Personal clients** ("Drafts, not created yet"), each business we do the return for under
**Business clients** ("Business drafts, not created yet", named for the business and the person).
A draft for an owner marked "Not needed: no personal file" shows only under Business; one with both
shows in both. Picking any of them opens the same draft.
3. **Who fills this in?**, under Drafts: **A. You**: carry on down the page and press **Create the
files** at the bottom. **B. The client**: see **Send the client the form** below.
### Send the client the form (the client fills it in)
1. In **Who fills this in?** at the top, type the client's **First name(s)**, **Last name** and
**Email** (the same boxes as section 1). Nothing else is needed.
2. Press **Send the client the form to fill in**. The client's file is made, then **Open the email to
…** opens a Gmail draft with the "Your Family & Company" form, signed with your own name; read it
and press Send. Or press **Copy the link instead**.
3. If the screen already has a spouse, children or businesses on it, it asks first: sending makes only
the client's file, and the draft is deleted. Cancel and use **Create the files** to keep them.
4. The client's answers save as they type. When they press Send, the form shows on their file under
**Worksheets**, **Came back**. Press **Open on the New client screen**: it fills this screen. Check
it and press **Create the files**. Nothing else is made until you do, so you can link anyone who
already has a file and decide which returns we do.
### Fill it from documents (optional, saves typing)
1. Under **Fill from documents**, press **Upload documents** and pick any document about the client:
last year's return, a Notice of Assessment, a T2, articles of incorporation, a slip. A PDF, or a
photo or scan (JPG, PNG, WEBP), up to 20 MB each. To pick several in one folder, hold Ctrl and click
each. Or drag the documents from your folder onto the **Fill from documents** box (it gets an
orange dashed edge when you can let go). Nothing is read yet: the screen asks **Any more documents to upload?** and lists them. Press
**Add more documents** for files in another folder (**Remove** takes one off), then **Read them
now**. Each takes up to a minute. You can upload more later the same way.
2. It fills what each document shows: the client, the spouse (married or common-law), the children
(name, date of birth, relationship), and each business (legal name, type, BN, year end, address,
phone, email). For a corporation, the shareholders' % and the directors go under **Who owns it**; a
shareholder who is not on the screen yet is added as another owner in that business's box (set how
they are related). On a T2 the officer who signed it fills the client if the
client's name is still empty.
3. **Only empty boxes are filled**; anything you typed, or an earlier document filled, stays. A short
first name counts as the same person (Mat on the T2, Matthew on the T1), and so does one doubled
letter more or less (Mathew and Matthew; Mark and Mary stay two people); the list then points out
the other name, to change it if CRA has it. A name that is not the client on the screen is never
put into the client's boxes; it is listed instead.
A business is matched by its legal name (capitals and punctuation aside). A document for one already
on the screen fills only its empty boxes and never adds a second box: it says "Harbour
Builders Ltd., already on the screen: 2 empty boxes filled" (or "nothing new"). One not on the
screen says "new business …"; it goes into a business box you added and have not typed in yet
("…, in the empty business box"), else a new box. A name written differently ("Limited" for "Ltd.") does make a second
box: press **Remove this business** on one. A business with no name on it (a sole proprietorship
trading under the owner's name) is not added; it is listed, and you press **Add another business**.
4. For each document it shows what it found ("From the T2 corporate return (…)") and a list **Also on
it, to ask about** (for example the incorporation number and date, or a shareholder that is a
corporation). Anything on it that differs from the screen is listed there too ("Harbour
Builders Ltd.: the Business Number on this document is …; the screen's 123 456 789 is kept"):
change the box if the document is right. A document it could not use says **Not read** and why.
Nothing uploaded is kept.
### Fill it in
1. **1. The client** (the person who deals with us): first name(s) as CRA has them, middle name, last
name, date of birth, SIN, phone, email, address. **Already has a file?**: **No: make a new file**
(the usual), an existing file to link instead of making a second one, or **Not needed: no personal
file** for a business owner whose own return we do not do. They are then kept only as the
business's shareholder, with every detail on the screen; if we do their T1 later, on the business's
file open **07 Shareholders & group** and pick **Make a file for …** next to them: their file starts
with those details. The spouse and other owners have the same choice.
2. **2. The spouse or partner**: **Add the spouse or partner**; same boxes, plus **Home address** (same
as the client's, type it, or **Not known / not applicable**, which keeps no address and asks for
none; the children and other owners have the same choice) and **Married or common-law**. **No spouse or partner** takes it off.
3. **3. The children**: **Add a child** for each; name, date of birth, home address, **Relationship to
the client**. Tick **Files own return** to give that child their own file; otherwise they go on the
parents' files as dependants.
4. **4. Their businesses** (none? leave it empty): **Add a business**; **Legal name**, **Entity type**,
**Business Number**, **Fiscal year end**, **We do its tax return**, address, email, phone, and **Who owns it**.
No separate business email? Tick **Same as the client's email (no separate business email)**: the
client's email from section 1 shows and is used.
Each business has its own owners, inside its box:
- **Sam Brook (the client) owns part of this**: tick it, then **% owned** and **Director**. The
spouse has the same tick. A business you add starts with the client ticked; one filled from a
document starts with the owners it names.
- **Add another owner**: their details (name, SIN, address, **How they are related to the client**,
**% owned**, **Director**) go in that business's box.
- **Or add an owner of another business**: a partner in two businesses is typed once, in the first;
the second picks them here and shows "(details under …)".
- **Remove from this business** takes someone off that business; someone else on no business at
all goes from the screen.
5. **5. Owners not on a business yet** shows only when someone (from a returned form or an older
draft) is on no business: put them on one with **Or add an owner of another business**, or press
**Remove**.
6. What you type saves itself as a draft; **Save draft** saves now. **Start over** clears the screen
(the draft stays).
### Create
- **Create the files** (at the bottom, once everything above is checked). It makes files for the client, the spouse, each
other owner, each child who files their own return, and each business you do the return for; links
them all in one group "… family" with who owns what; and adds a T2 line for a corporation. Nothing is
emailed. The screen then shows only **Files made**: each new file with **Open**, **Still missing**,
and **Start another new client** for a blank screen.
- **Still missing**: anything left empty (a date of birth, SIN, address, phone, email, a business's
BN, year end or who owns it) is listed. It is saved as an action on the client's Notes (on the
business's when the client has no file of their own), due in 7 days and given to you, so the usual
reminders come. **Draft the email asking for it** opens a Gmail draft to the client listing the
same things; read it and press Send.
- To have the client fill it in instead, use **Send the client the form** at the top (above).
Checks before creating: the client's first and last name; a legal name for every business; ownership
not over 100%; a name already on the list asks "Make a second file anyway?".
## Who sees what
- **Partners**, and anyone a partner has given **Set up new clients** on Team. The files they create
are given to them. They can also use **Upload documents**. A tick given while they are
signed in counts the next time they press **New client**; no need to sign in again. Without the
tick, **New client** just says so at the bottom; the file that is open stays open.
- Partners see every draft; anyone else only their own. Drafts can hold a SIN.
## Tips
- Upload last year's return first: it fills most of the screen. For a corporation, the T2 and the
articles together fill the business, its shareholders and its directors.
- Use **Already has a file?** for anyone already a client, so the family links to their file instead of
duplicating it.
## Demo script (about 3 minutes)
1. **New client**, **Upload documents**, add the T2 and the articles, **Read them now**. *"Last year's
return, a T2 or the articles fill the family in."*
2. Show the spouse, children and the business filled in; tick **Files own return** for a teenager.
3. **Create the files**. *"Every file made and linked in one group, with who owns what."*
---
# Notes
## What it is for
The work log of every client, prospect and the firm itself, in one place: what happened, what was
said, screenshots from CRA, PDFs, and the actions still to do, with reminders so nothing is missed.
## How to
### Open Notes
- Press **Notes** (in the side menu, or in the client box at the top of the page).
- With a client open, you get **that client's notes**.
- With a prospect open (its page, from Clients & Leads), you get **that prospect's notes**.
- With nothing open, you get the **Notes home**.
- On every Notes page, the row at the top has four tabs and **Notes for:**
- **All notes**: every note you may see, newest first, each marked with whose it is: the
client's name with **(personal)** or **(business)** after it, a prospect's with **(prospect)**.
- **My actions**: every open action given to you, soonest first, with **Done** right there.
- **Assigned by me**: open actions on notes you wrote that are given to someone else, so you can
see what is still waiting.
- **Firm notes**: the firm's own notes (procedures, checklists, CRA policy changes, meetings,
reminders).
- **Notes for:** pick a business, a person or (partners) a prospect to go straight to their
notes. Click a box and type any part of the name; any client can be picked, notes or not.
### Write a note
1. Open the client's, prospect's or the firm's notes. At the top of the note box, **New note for
client:** (or **prospect:**) shows whose note it will be, with (personal) or (business), so you
can see it is the right one. Each saved card shows the same in its **Client:** line, the first
line on the card.
2. **Subject** (optional): the note's title, like an email subject.
3. Write the note. The buttons above the box: **B** (bold), **U** (underline), **H** (heading),
**List**, **Numb** (numbered), **Letter** (a., b., c.), **Checklist** (tick boxes), **Toggle**
(a line that folds open), **Columns**, and four **Colours**. Or type **/** for the same menu.
4. Paste a screenshot straight in (Ctrl+V or right-click Paste), or press **Add a file (picture or
PDF)**. Up to 20 per note; pictures are shrunk, PDFs up to 10 MB.
5. **Type** (General, CRA, Client contact, Bookkeeping, Tax return, GST/PST, Payroll, Firm admin,
Procedure, Meeting) and **Tax year** (the year the fiscal period ends), both optional.
6. Press **Save note**.
### Make it an action
1. Pick a **Due date**: the note becomes an action. Until there is a date, the action boxes are
greyed out.
2. **Who is doing it**: anyone who can see that client (for a prospect: a partner).
3. **Repeats**: monthly, quarterly or yearly. When it is marked **Done**, the next one is made.
4. **Also remind (email)**: any other address, even a client's. That address gets its own short
reminder for this note (subject or first line, whose it is, due date, who is doing it, no link
into the app), **as well as** the usual reminder to the person doing it. Overdue, it is told once.
5. **Days before**: when that extra address is reminded: 14, 7, 3, 1 and/or on the day.
6. **Clear date** turns it back into an ordinary note.
7. When the work is done, press **Done** (on the card, in My actions, or in the list).
### Reminder emails (your own)
- The bar **My reminder emails** (on a client's, prospect's or Firm notes page, under the note box).
Click it to set **Email me at**, **Days before** (e.g. 7, 3, 0) and **Email me reminders** on/off.
- One email at 7 a.m. on any day one of your actions is that many days from due, plus anything
overdue. Nothing is sent on days with nothing due.
- At sign-in, a pop-up lists your actions that are overdue or due today, once a day.
### Find and look at notes
- **View**: **Gallery** (cards, each with its date; pinned notes first) or **List** (a table).
**Sort**: **Newest first**, **Oldest first**, **Due date** (open actions soonest first, then the
rest) or **Type**. **Cards across**: 1 to 4. Your choices are remembered in this browser.
Both are remembered on your computer.
- In **List**, click a heading to sort by it (again to reverse); drag the gold edge of a heading to
make the column wider or narrower. **Written** shows the date; hold the mouse over it for the time.
- Filters: **Search the notes** (any word, a name, a file name, a client), **Show** (a type, or
open actions only), **Tax year**, and on All notes also **Client** and **Written from / To**
(on My actions and Assigned by me: due dates).
- Click anywhere on a card to read the note whole; **Open** does the same. Its buttons, ticks and
attachments still do their own job. Click a screenshot to see it large
(+ and - to zoom).
### On each note
- **Pin**: keeps the note at the top of that client's notes.
- **Edit**: anyone who can see the note; the card shows who edited it last.
- **Delete**: a partner any note; anyone else only their own.
- **For partners only** (firm notes, partners): hides the note from everyone who is not a partner;
**For all staff** undoes it.
- **Use for a client** (firm notes of type Procedure): pick a client and tax year; the procedure is
copied onto their notes with every tick cleared, to work through there.
### AI summary
- The bar **AI summary of the notes** on a client's, prospect's or Firm notes page, and **AI summary
of all your notes** on All notes, My actions and Assigned by me.
- Press **Summarize with AI**. In about a minute it writes where things stand: open actions, what we
are waiting on, key facts, recent contact (for all notes: overdue and due soon, waiting on clients,
a line per active client, the firm).
- It only reads the notes. Check anything that matters.
## Who sees what
- **Client notes**: whoever can see that client (partners: all; employees and subcontractors: the
clients ticked for them on Team).
- **Prospect notes**: partners only.
- **Firm notes**: all staff of the firm, including subcontractors, except notes marked **For
partners only**. The firm notes' AI summary leaves out partners-only notes.
- **AI summary of all your notes**: only the person who asked, built only from notes they may see.
- Each firm's notes are its own; no other firm using the app can see them.
## Tips
- Put the standing facts of a client in a pinned note (year-end, who to call, where the books are).
- Write each recurring job once as a firm **Procedure** with a checklist, then **Use for a client**
each year.
- Give an action to someone and check **Assigned by me** on Fridays.
## Demo script (about 4 minutes)
1. *"Every client has a work log."* Open a client, press **Notes**.
2. Paste a screenshot of a CRA screen into a new note, type **CRA**, subject "Notice of assessment
2025", **Save note**. *"Screenshots and PDFs live with the note, and the backup keeps them."*
3. Write "Ask Bob for the T4s", pick a **Due date** next week, give it to a colleague, type Bob's
email in **Also remind**. *"The person doing it gets a reminder, and so does Bob."*
4. Press **Notes for:** and type another client's name. *"Any client, in two keystrokes."*
5. Open **Firm notes**, show the T1 **Procedure**, press **Use for a client**, pick the client.
*"The firm's way of doing it becomes this client's checklist."*
6. Open **All notes**, switch **View** to **List**, sort by **Client**, then **My actions**.
*"What's due, for everyone, in one place."*
7. Press **Summarize with AI** on All notes. *"And a summary of where everything stands."*
---
# Time
## What it is for
The time each person spends on each client, kept by running a clock or typed in, so the work can be
reported to the client and (partners) turned into a QuickBooks invoice.
## How to
### Run the clock
1. Open the client, press **Start clock** (top of the side menu, or at the foot). It reads **Stop clock**
while that client's clock runs. Starting another client's clock stops the first.
2. A banner at the top shows the client, the time running and when it started, with **Stop** and
**Time page**.
3. **Stop**: choose the **Type of work** (it starts with the last one you used on that client), leave
**Billable** ticked unless it should not be billed, write **What you worked on** (it shows on the
client report), press **Save**. **Keep it running** goes back; **Delete, don't keep this time**
throws it away.
4. After 2 hours it asks **Still on …?**: **Yes, still on it**, or say when you stopped (**No, I
stopped at this time**), **Stop now**, or **Ask me in 15 minutes**. The browser tab shows the
question too.
5. A clock left on overnight asks **How long did you really work on …?**: type the **Hours worked**,
**Save and stop the clock** (or **Ask me later**).
Types of work: GST Work, PST Work, Bookkeeping, T1 Work, T2 Work, Workers Comp, File Review, Client
Meeting, Payroll and T4s, Year-end and financial statements, CRA letters and audits, Tax planning and
advice, Admin and setup, Other.
### The Time page
1. Press **Time**. It opens on the open client, this week, your own time.
2. Filters: **From** / **To**, or **Today**, **This week**, **This month**, **Last month**; **Client**;
**Type of work**; **Billing** (All, Not billed yet, Billed); **Whose time** (Mine, Everyone's).
3. The table: **Date**, **Client**, **Type**, **Start**, **End**, **Hours**, **Billable**, **Billed**,
**What was worked on**, **Who**, **Warning**, **Edit**, with totals (worked, billable, to bill) and
tables of totals by client and by type of work.
4. **Warnings** to look at: not answered "still on it?", ran overnight or from an earlier day, ran past
the 2-hour check, overlaps another entry, typed in or fixed by hand.
5. **+ Add time** (a phone call, work done away from the app): date, client, type, start, end,
Billable, note, **Add**. **Edit** on a line changes it (**Save**, **Delete**). At most 24 hours; never
in the future. You can change your own entries; a partner anyone's.
6. Tick lines to act on them: **Client report (PDF)**, **Delete picked**, **Clear picks** (and for
partners **Make invoice**, **Mark picked billed**, **Mark picked not billed**).
7. **Ask AI about the time shown**: a question about the dates, client and people shown; the answer
comes in about a minute. Check anything that matters.
### Client report
1. Pick one client (the dates shown, or only the ticked lines), press **Client report (PDF)**.
2. Untick any line to leave it off (lines not billable start unticked). **Write it up with AI** adds a
summary you can edit.
3. **Print / Save as PDF**. Staff names and warnings never appear on it.
### Bill it (partners)
1. Tick one client's finished, billable, not-yet-billed lines, press **Make invoice**. (A fixed fee is
invoiced from The Job instead, under its total: **Create invoice**; the draft is the same from step 3 on.)
2. Check each person's **Hourly rate** (their saved rate, else the firm's rate for their role) and the
**Invoice date**.
3. The invoice has one line per type of work and person: **What the client sees**, **Service in
QuickBooks**, **Hours**, **Rate**, **Amount** (type over an amount; **Hours x rate** puts it back).
**+ Add a line** for anything else; **Remove** takes a line off. **View PDF** shows the invoice in a new
tab as it will look; **Save as PDF** saves it.
4. **Make invoice in QuickBooks**, confirm. Within about a minute the invoice is in the firm's
QuickBooks with its next number (no GST, Net 30). It is **not emailed** to the client. The time is
marked billed with the invoice number, and **View the QuickBooks PDF** and **Download the QuickBooks
PDF** appear.
5. Billed some other way: tick **Billed** on a line, or **Mark picked billed** (with an optional invoice
number). A running clock is never marked billed.
## Who sees what
- Everyone keeps and sees their own time; **Everyone's** shows the team's.
- **Partners only**: making invoices, the billing marks, the rates and the list of invoices made from
time.
## Tips
- Start the clock when you open the file; the 2-hour check catches the clock you forgot.
- Write **What you worked on** for the client: it is what they read on the report.
## Demo script (about 3 minutes)
1. Open a client, **Start clock**. *"Every minute on a client is counted."*
2. **Stop**: Bookkeeping, "Reconciled September", **Save**.
3. **Time**: show the week, the warnings, the totals by client.
4. Tick the client's lines, **Client report (PDF)**, **Write it up with AI**. *"What we did, in plain
words, for the client."*
5. **Make invoice** (partner): rates filled in, **Make invoice in QuickBooks**. *"From the clock to the
invoice in QuickBooks, without retyping anything."*
---
# Tools: bank statements, payees, chart of accounts, Receipt Matcher, filing report
## What it is for
The practice's bookkeeping tools: bank statements read and posted to QuickBooks, payee rulings, the
chart of accounts, and (coming) the Receipt Matcher. Each client has its tools switched on or off.
## How to
### Tool settings
1. Open the client, press **Tool settings**.
2. **Tool settings for this client**: **Payees for this client**; then a card for each
tool (**Bank statements to QuickBooks**, **Receipt Matcher**, **Chase missing statements**) with its
**Status** (Off or Active), its settings, and **Where it is up to, by fiscal year** (the tools move
this). Changes save by themselves. Only a partner changes these.
3. **What each tool does**: every tool the practice has, where it runs, what is done and what is left
(**Open all** / **Close all**). The **Get a quote web form** card (under Clients) shows the firm's
form link for the website, with **Copy** and **Open the form**; partners also get **Set it up: Web
form on Clients & Leads**.
### Payees: rule the account and tax for each payee
1. Press **Payees**. At the top: **Statements and posting**, then the bank and card accounts table
(Show, Account, Goes into QuickBooks, Statements tied, Payees waiting) and **Statements by
year**. Tick **Show** on an account to work on that account alone: Statements by year, New
payees and All transactions all follow it; untick for every account. Under those, the tabs
**New payees**, **Mapped payees** and **All transactions** (with **Excel copy in Drive**) switch
what is below them.
2. **New payees**: colours show orange (AI unsure), blue (AI sure), purple (one store, several
wordings), green (reviewed). For each: **Suggested name**, **Account**, **Tax**, and **For** (All
clients or This client only). Nothing is ruled until you save: **Save ticked** / **Save reviewed**.
The **Account** list is the open client's own chart (the accounts ticked on its **Chart of
accounts** page, which is what is in its QuickBooks). An account shown with an orange edge is not
on that chart: pick another. An All clients ruling always keeps a corporation account number, so
one ruling works for every client: on a sole proprietor's file, picking 8710 Bank charges saves it
as the corporation's 8715; an account with no single corporation match (3510, 9270) must be This
client only. A client with no chart yet gets the firm's standard corporation or sole proprietor
list, with a note above the tabs saying so.
3. **Mapped payees**: the saved rulings, locked; **Confirm ticked** turns Confirm into Ruled; **Edit
ticked** sends rulings back to New payees; **Download CSV**. Beside an account the client does not
have, in orange: "posts as 9220-1 Telephone and cell for this client" (a sole proprietor: the
corporation account's match), or "not in this client's QuickBooks: goes to 9900 Ask My Client".
The **Tax** column shows the client's own QuickBooks code for its province: GST/PST BC in BC, HST
ON in Ontario, GST in Alberta. Rulings keep the BC names as the kind of tax ("GST/PST BC" = full
sales tax, "GST" = GST only); the client's province (on the client's file) decides the code when
posting.
4. **All transactions**: every line of one month's statements, with where it goes and why. Three
tabs sort them as QuickBooks' bank feed does: **For review** (nobody has said where the line goes
yet: a new payee waiting, no name printed and no plan, or Ask My Client), **Categorized** (it has
an account: posted, or ready to post) and **Excluded** (not posted: the other side of a transfer
already posted, a card payment already posted from the bank, a cancellation that nets to
nothing, or a line you excluded). Once a plan is prepared, the plan's answer shows. **Every
line** shows them all; the **Show** filter narrows further. The first column, **Actions**, holds
the buttons for every line not posted (a dash on a posted one). **Exclude** asks why and leaves
that line out of every plan from then on, with your name and reason in **Why**; on an excluded
line the column holds **Undo**, which brings it back. **Move** sends this one line to another
account without touching the payee's ruling: type to search the account, pick it, done (× leaves
the line as it is); the plan then says "line moved on the Payees page", and on a moved line the
column holds **Back**, which puts it on the payee's account again. Only a partner or someone with the Post
permission (Team page) sees these; a line already posted cannot be excluded (undo the posting
first).
5. Who may save rulings is set on Team (**Save rulings for one client** / **for all clients**).
### Bank statements and posting to QuickBooks
Under the bank and card accounts table on Payees, **Statements by year** opens or closes a summary,
one account at a time: tick **Show** on the account in the table above (with one account it shows
by itself). A tab for every fiscal year of the client, oldest first, from its first fiscal year
(Tool settings) or its earliest statement to the current one, by its own year end (**FY2021 (3)** = 3
statements of that account read in it). It opens on the year of the account's next month to read.
Each month is a row, a checklist with a green ✓ for each stage done:
- **In folder**: ✓ (read, or the statement filer has filed it), **Missing** (not in the folder at
the filer's last run: ask the client, or upload it), **Not yet** (after that run), or **-**
(before the account's first statement, or the filer has no report for the account).
- **Read**: ✓ read and tied, or **✗ not tied** (the statement does not tie to its balances).
Hover for the file and when it was read. Statements the app can read today: BMO business
accounts, RBC business chequing, and RBC Visa, Capital One, CIBC Mastercard and MBNA cards (an
MBNA statement carries every card on the account, so it is one account in the app). RBC chequing statements end on
the 2nd, so a month's plan also reads the next statement for its last days.
- **Payees done**: ✓ every payee on the month ruled, or **3 waiting**.
- **Posted**: ✓ posted to QuickBooks, or **Ready** (read, tied, payees done). An account that does
not go into QuickBooks shows **-** in Payees done and Posted.
- **Read and parse** (right after Posted): on the next month to read (the month after its latest
statement read; months are read in order), navy **Read** takes it from the Drive folder (tied,
every line saved, new payees on the list), or orange **Upload** (when it is missing) sends its
PDF, filed and read. It then says **Reading...** and the table updates by itself, usually within
two minutes. A month already read shows its ✓ here, and a month posted shows ✓ under **Post**.
- **Post**: amber **Rule payees** on a month with payees waiting opens **New payees** for the
account; green **Post** on a month ready to post opens **Post to QuickBooks** with the account
and the months (from the first not posted to that month) filled in: press **Prepare plan**, read
it, then **Post**.
- **Statement balance**: the closing balance printed on the statement.
- **QBO balance**: once the month is posted, the server reads the account's QuickBooks balance on
the statement end date (within a minute or two): ✓ when it is the same as the statement, or
**off $1,000.00** in red (hover for both figures). A card statement spans two calendar months:
both must be posted before they can agree.
- **Lines in QBO**: the server also reads back every line of the posted month from QuickBooks and
matches it one for one with the statement (date and amount; a card's line may be a few days apart):
✓ when every line is there and nothing else is in the period. Otherwise **170 of 178** in red (a line
missing from QuickBooks) or **178 of 178 +1** (something in QuickBooks that is not on the statement,
such as an opening journal entry); hover for each date, amount and description. A card statement
that starts before the first posted month reads back only the posted month's lines.
- **Reconciled**: ✓ once QuickBooks has every transaction of the statement period reconciled, or
**12 of 35** part way. Until then a posted month has a purple **Reconcile** button here: it shows
the statement ending date and ending balance to type into QuickBooks' Reconcile screen and opens
QuickBooks in a new tab (QuickBooks lets no program reconcile; every line was posted from that
statement, so they all tick off). The server looks again every 15 minutes until it is done.
Every row is the same height at any **Row height** setting.
Drag the handle (two short lines) at the right edge of any column heading to widen or narrow it;
a column never goes narrower than its heading needs, and the widths are kept in your browser.
Double-click a handle to go back to the natural widths.
### The Bank statements to QuickBooks card, box by box
On the client's **Tool settings** (partners change it; each box saves as you leave it):
1. **Status**: **Off** leaves the client alone. **Active** lets the server work for this client: the
7 a.m. check of the client's emails (it names new statements and reports them, files nothing),
the morning re-read of **Client emails** (once it has been read by hand once), and the client's
card on the morning brief's **Client status** tab. **Dry run** and **Read client emails** work
either way, and nothing goes into Drive until a partner presses **File them**.
2. **Client sends from (email)**: the client's main address. The filer takes statements from its
emails; Client emails reads everything from and to it.
3. **Secondary email**: any other address that sends the client's papers (a spouse, a bookkeeper),
several separated by commas. Read the same way.
4. **Read emails from**: a date you type; no email older than it is read, by the filer or by Client
emails, so finished years are left alone.
5. **Corporation or Sole proprietor**: how the statements and accounts are named and which chart is used.
6. **Year-end month**: decides which fiscal year each statement is filed under.
7. **First fiscal year of the engagement**: the first year worked on, named by the year it ends in.
**Missing months** counts from the start of that year.
8. **Business started**: the date the business began, filled from the business card's **Incorporation
date** when it has one (type it for a sole proprietor). When it is after the start of the first fiscal
year, **Missing months** counts from it instead, so a business that began mid-year is not asked for
months before it existed. Leave it empty if the business was running before the first year.
9. **Drive folder label** and **File name label**: the client's name in the folder names and the file
names (e.g. "Armada Trading" and "Armada").
10. **Client's Drive folder**: where **File them** puts the statements, in a folder per fiscal year and
account. **Open** opens it.
11. **Shared Drive folders the client put statements in**: one link per line; each **Dry run** reads
every PDF in them and their subfolders. **Add to shared folders** under Client emails puts a link
found in the client's emails here.
12. **Old card numbers and the account they belong to**: a reissued card's old number and the account
it belongs to (e.g. `0429 = 0414`), so its statements file with that account.
13. **Rules for writing to this client**: one per line; printed before anything is drafted to the client
(**Ask the client**).
14. **Client's Payee map** and **Client's ledger words**: links to the client's own payee rulings and
words-to-accounts sheets, kept here for reference; no tool reads them yet.
15. **Accounts found in the client's statements**: how many; which go into QuickBooks is set on the
**Chart of accounts** page (**Open Chart of accounts**), the accounts themselves on **09 Bank & card
accounts**.
16. **Client emails**: **Read client emails** and what it found (below, under Statement filer).
### Statement filer
On Payees, **Statement filer** shows how the client's statements would be filed, before anything is.
It reads two places: the emails the client sent (from the addresses on the client's settings, and the
firm's documents inbox), and the **shared Drive folders** the client put statements in.
1. Set it up once on the client's page, **Tool settings**, **Bank statements to QuickBooks**: **Client sends
from (email)** (and **Secondary email**), **Shared Drive folders the client put statements in** (paste
each folder's link, one per line), **Year-end month**, **Drive folder label**, **File name label**
and **Client's Drive folder**. If a card was reissued, list each old number and the account it
belongs to under **Old card numbers and the account they belong to** (one per line, e.g. `0429 = 0414`):
its statements are filed with that account. When the card opens, any empty box the client's file
already answers fills itself and saves, marked "from the client's file": **Client sends from** (the
business's email, else the client's), **Corporation or Sole proprietor** and **Year-end month** (the
business's Entity type and Fiscal year end), **First fiscal year** (the year the Job's first
bookkeeping period ends in, else its first return), **Business started** (the business's
Incorporation date, when it has one), **Drive folder label** (the business name
without Ltd.), **File name label** (its first word) and **Client's Drive folder** (Client folder on
the file). A box with anything in it is never changed. The shared folders are never known: paste
them. **Read emails from** is never filled in for you: type the date yourself. No email older than
it is read, by the filer or by Client emails, so finished years are left alone; pick a date before
the emails that carried the statements still needed.
**Rules for writing to this client** (one per line) are
printed before anything is drafted to the client. The box lists what is set. These settings are the
only ones: the daily check and Atlas read them from here too, for every client.
**Client emails**, at the bottom of the card (partners): **Read client emails** reads every email
from and to the client's addresses (**Client sends from** and **Secondary email**) since **Read
emails from**, with or without attachments, and puts a summary on the client's **Notes** as a
Client contact note headed "Client emails, <from> to <to>": **In short**, **What they sent** (each
attachment and Drive link, by date), **What they said or asked**, **Waiting on us**, **Waiting on
them**. It takes a few minutes; the line under the button updates by itself, then **Open Notes**.
The next read starts after the newest email already read, and each morning after 7 the server
reads the new ones by itself for every Active client read once before (no new emails, no note).
A Drive folder link found in the emails that is not in the shared folders yet is listed with **Add
to shared folders**, so the filer reads it at the next **Dry run**. Read-only: nothing is sent,
moved or marked in Gmail.
2. Press **Dry run**. The server reads every email and every PDF in the shared folders (and their
subfolders); it can take a few minutes, and the box updates by itself.
3. The result: how many statements were found, how many are named and ready, how many to look at,
duplicates (the same statement both emailed and in a folder), and other files left alone
(spreadsheets, Excel exports). Below it, one row per statement: where it came from, the bank,
account and period end read off its first page, and the folder and name it would be filed under.
**Show**: **Statements** (the default), **To look at** (a statement with a real problem: a bank it
does not know yet, an account of another client, a scan, a month it could not read), **Other files,
left alone** (receipts, invoices, spreadsheets and reports that are not bank statements) or
**Everything**. "Account 3704 is new for this client" is news, not a problem.
Nothing is filed, moved or renamed by a dry run; the originals stay in the emails and the client's
folders.
4. **File them** (a partner only; it shows after a finished dry run) files what that dry run showed
into the client's Drive folder: each statement it said "would file", in its tax-year and account
folder, under the name shown. Statements already in Drive and duplicates are left out; the emails
and the shared folders are not changed. A box asks first and says how many are marked **To look
at**. If the settings changed since the dry run, it asks you to run the dry run again. When it
finishes, the result lists each statement with **Filed in**, **Named** and **Result**, and the
client's **Bank statements filing report** (and **Statements by year**) is made again.
Once a dry run or filing has found statements, "Bank and credit card statements" drops off
**What I need from you**; after that, **Missing months** says what is still to ask for.
5. **Missing months**, under the result of every dry run and filing: per account, the months with no
statement, from the start of the first fiscal year (or **Business started**, if later) to the end of
the latest fiscal year (months that have ended only), counting everything filed so far, not just the
latest batch. So a missing first month is listed too. Without **First fiscal year of the
engagement** it checks the latest year only. An account opened later shows the months before it.
6. **Ask the client** (a partner only) makes a Gmail draft to the client for those months: to the
address on the tool (**Client sends from**), or the client's email. The draft asks the client to say
when an account was opened if it was after the first month listed. It is never sent: read it in
Gmail's **Drafts**, change what you like and send it from there. The box says when it is made.
On Payees, **Statements and posting** (the first upload switches Bank statements to QuickBooks to
Active by itself; anyone who can see the client can upload):
1. **Upload statements**: **Choose statements** (PDFs), **Upload**; or **Read from Drive** for statements
already filed in the client's Drive. The first time, the server sets the client up for filing
from its file: it needs the **Drive folder** under the client's name and, for a business, its
**Fiscal year end**. If either is missing, the upload is kept and says what to fill in.
In the lists under each, **Stop** stops a read or upload the server has not started yet, and
**Undo** takes back a finished one: the statement, its lines and its new payees not yet ruled
are removed, as if never read (refused while any line is posted to QuickBooks: undo that
first). Only the person who asked for it, or a partner, sees these buttons. Drive is untouched.
**Read** for a month already read (or posted) does not go straight through: a warning names
the months, says that reading again replaces the saved statement and its lines (rulings and
QuickBooks untouched), and offers **Cancel** or **Read again anyway**.
2. **Post to QuickBooks**: pick the **Account**, **From** and **To**, **Prepare plan** (changes nothing),
**Show every line** to see where each line goes and why. One plan can cover up to 12 months
and posts them together. The **Post … lines to QuickBooks** button sits at the top of the
plan's entry, under its one-line result, so a long plan needs no scrolling to post. Under it,
the totals by account: press an account's ▸ to see the lines that make up its total (date,
amount, bank wording, goes as, tax, why), ▾ to close; **Expand all accounts** opens them all.
The list of plans and posts has the same fiscal-year tabs as Statements by year across the top
(**FY2021 (3)** = 3 entries; **(0)** = nothing planned in that year yet), one page each, opening
on the newest year with something; pick a year in either place and both show it. Above it,
**Find a line in every plan** takes part of a
name or an amount ("ikea", "3,439.65") and lists every matching line across all years, with
the plan it is in; clear the box for the year's list. The list shows the newest plan for any months; an older plan for the
same months drops out, since only the newest can be posted.
3. **Post N lines to QuickBooks** (needs **Post to QuickBooks** on Team). A plan older than a day must
be prepared again. **Undo this month** takes posted lines back out. It first deletes any journal entry
that Ask My Client or the Receipt Matcher posted for those lines (one approved but not yet posted is
simply withdrawn); if an entry cannot be deleted, the bank lines are left alone and the reason
shows. If an entry is being posted that minute, press Undo again a minute later. Lines with no ruling go to 9900,
for Ask My Client.
4. **Bank statements filing report** (side menu): the statement filer's report for the client,
refreshed after every run.
### Client status in the morning brief
Every morning before the brief, each client marked **Active** on **Bank statements to QuickBooks** gets its card
on the brief's **Client status** tab, written from this app: **Statements filed** (or the months missing),
**Read and tied**, **Payees ruled**, **Posted to QuickBooks**, **QuickBooks agrees and reconciled** and **Ask My
Client**, each done, working, blocked or to do. Nothing on the card is typed by hand: change the work here and
the next morning's card follows.
### Chart of accounts (partners)
1. In QuickBooks, switch on account numbers.
2. Press **Chart of accounts**, pick the **Business** and the **Chart** (T2 corporation, or T2125 sole
proprietor or partnership).
3. Tick the accounts, **Start the chart with the ticked accounts**; rename or **+ add**, **Save ticks
and names**.
4. **Download QuickBooks CSV**, import it in QuickBooks, number the accounts QuickBooks made itself
(checklist on the page), then **Mark imported** (locks the chart).
**Edit the standard charts (partners)**, at the bottom of the page: pick **T2 corporation** or **T2125 sole
proprietor or partnership** to see the firm's standard. Change an account's name, section, QuickBooks type
and detail type, **Core (ticked)** or **Optional**, **Default tax** or note, then **Save** on its row. **Add an
account**: its four-digit GIFI code (or T2125 line), name, core or optional, tax and note, then **Add**: it is
numbered by the rule (1002, then 1002-1, 1002-2) and its section and QuickBooks types are copied from the
account nearest it, to check in its row. **Retire** hides an account from charts started from now on;
**Show retired accounts** and **Bring back** undo it. Nothing is deleted, and a chart already started, or
what is in QuickBooks, is never changed by an edit here.
**A mostly-personal account** (an owner's card used for some business purchases): mark it **Business
Transactions Only** on this page. It gets no account of its own in QuickBooks. Its payees go to **New
payees** like any other: rule a business payee to its expense account, and a personal one to the
shareholder account (Shareholder Loans; Owner's Distributions for a sole proprietor). On **Post to
QuickBooks** the account shows as **(business lines only)**: **Prepare plan** lists every line, with
personal, unruled and payment lines marked **left out**, and **Post** puts the business lines in as one
journal entry a month (document number BL-, last four, month) against the shareholder account, each read
back. A line counts as business only when a ruling **for this client** put it on a business account: the
payee ruled **This client only** (Mapped payees), the line moved on **All transactions**, or your ruling for
that line. A ruling for **All clients** does not count on a personal card: such a line is left out, saying so,
until you rule the payee for this client. **Undo this month**
removes the entry. **Statements by year** shows **-** in the QuickBooks balance, Lines in QBO and
Reconciled columns for such an account: it is not in QuickBooks to reconcile.
### Receipt Matcher (coming; posting not live yet)
0. To get the Amazon file, press **Ask for the Amazon orders**: Gmail opens an email to the client with the
steps (amazon.ca, **Manage your data**, **Request your data**, **Your Orders**). Nothing is sent until you
press Send in Gmail. **Copy the steps** copies them to paste into a text or another email. Ask early:
Amazon can take a few days. The client sends a zip; open it and upload the **Retail.OrderHistory** file.
1. Press **Receipt Matcher**, choose the **Fiscal year**, upload the client's order export (Amazon order
history, or the plain template for other sellers), **Match the 9900 lines**.
2. Items the matcher could not place show **unresolved**. **Suggest accounts (AI)** asks the AI to pick an
account from this client's chart for each of them; the line under the buttons says when it is done, and
each suggestion shows **ai suggestion** with its reason. An item that looks personal, or fits no account,
stays unresolved. Nothing is approved by itself. Partners set the model under **AI model for
suggestions** (blank: claude-haiku-5-5, the cheaper one).
3. Check each match, change the account if needed, **Approve** (needs Post) or **Ask my client**.
**Download working paper (CSV)**.
## Who sees what
- Partners switch tools on and off and build charts. Saving rulings and posting to QuickBooks are given
person by person on Team.
## Tips
- Prepare the plan and read **Show every line** before posting; posting can be undone by month.
## Demo script (about 3 minutes)
1. **Payees**, **New payees**: the AI's suggestions in colour. Rule two, **Save ticked**.
2. **Statements and posting**, **Prepare plan**, **Show every line**. *"Where every line goes, and
why."*
3. **Post to QuickBooks**. *"Bank statement to QuickBooks without retyping."*
HelpAsk how to do something in the app
CLIENT FILE RECORD / INTERNAL / NEVER SHOWN TO THE CLIENT
New client file
No client is open. Find one in the search box on the left, or press New client to start one.
Open this while you are on with them and fill it as they talk. Every fact carries how you know it, so when the file changes shape later you can point at when it changed and why.
seen 0told 0not yet 0letter not signed
Still open
Every fact nobody has established yet. This is the agenda for the next call. Click one to go to it.
Scope changes since signing
Anything that was not yet when the letter was signed, and has changed since. This is the list you point at when the file doubles.
Nothing yet. The log starts once the letter is marked signed.
Worksheets
The sheets a client fills in. Each one opens in the browser, saves as they type, and comes back by email.
Tick the ones this client needs and they go on the request list with a line saying why.
CAME BACK
Tools
First, each tool's settings for the open client; then what every tool the practice has does,
where it runs, and what is done and left. Last checked 2026-10-28.
TOOL SETTINGS FOR THIS CLIENT
Open a client to see which tools it uses.
WHAT EACH TOOL DOES
BANK STATEMENTS TO QUICKBOOKS
Statement filer
Step 1 of 4: filing and renaming
Reads the statements a client emails, works out the bank, account and month from the page, names each one, and files it in Drive in the right tax-year folder. Lists which months are missing.
Runs on: The server (Atlas can run it)
DONE
Client A: all 364 statements filed
New F01 naming for year ends not in December; Client A's files renamed
Handles a client's second batch: reads only new emails
Reads documents@iobtax.ca as well as the client's own address (switched on 25 Sep)
Reads photos and scanned statements (switched on 25 Sep)
Keeps each client's settings and run records in the private GitHub copy
Needs your review: listed at the top of the Client status page, new items emailed and sent to your Atlas DM
Missing-statement list, with your rules for writing to each client printed first
Account folders named for the bank, and the card read off the statement (BMO, RBC VISA, Capital One Mastercard); Client A's 32 folders renamed 7 Oct
31 Oct: RBC business chequing recognised and named "RBC Business", never mistaken for the RBC Visa (Client B's statements checked)
31 Oct: CIBC Mastercard and MBNA recognised and filed as cards (Client B's statements checked)
31 Oct: an RBC Visa with a second card printed after a slash ("4177 / 4185") is one account, not a clash for review
31 Oct, Stage 1: Statement filer in the app (Payees, Statement filer, Dry run): settings from the client's Bank statements tool, reads the emails and the shared Drive folders the client put statements in, shows how each would be named and filed; nothing filed. Proven: Client A 364 statements from emails; a shared folder test read 56 statements and set 223 other files aside
31 Oct, Stage 2: File them (a partner, after a dry run) files what the dry run showed and makes the Bank statements filing report again; Missing months under every run; Ask the client makes a Gmail draft for them, never sent
31 Oct, Stage 3: every client's filer settings come from the app (two new boxes on the Bank statements tool: old card numbers, rules for writing to the client); the server writes its settings file from them before every run; the two clients' hand-kept files retired
LEFT TO DO
Stage 2 to prove on a real client (Client B first)
The daily check (2 pm, every Active client) reports new emails; switch it to filing them on your yes
Loan documents and e-transfer lists: not tested yet
A real test of the documents@iobtax.ca inbox (send it a Client A statement from another address)
Statement reader and tie-out
Step 2 of 4: read and prove it ties
Turns each statement into one line per transaction and proves every statement ties to its opening and closing balances. Flags the line where a balance breaks.
Runs on: The server (also runs on the laptop)
DONE
BMO business accounts
Client A 2021 ties to the penny on both accounts
Orders statements by the date printed on them
RBC Visa and Capital One cards (Oct)
31 Oct: RBC business chequing, read by where each amount sits on the page and checked at every balance RBC prints: Client B Sep 2025 to Jun 2026, 9 of 9 statements tie, 814 lines; BMO reads exactly as before
31 Oct: CIBC Mastercard: Client B's card Sep 2025 to Sep 2026, 12 of 12 statements tie, 655 lines; RBC Visa and Capital One read exactly as before
31 Oct: MBNA (every card on the account in one statement, foreign purchases, payment plans): Client B's account Sep 2025 to Sep 2026, 12 of 12 statements tie, 882 lines
31 Oct: Client B's two RBC Visas read by the existing reader with no change: Visa Infinite 4318 12 of 12 tie, Visa CreditLine 4177 (two cards) 11 of 11 tie (January 2026 not supplied)
31 Oct: Client B's RBC operating line of credit is a year's online history, not statements: not posted (its draws, repayments and interest reach QuickBooks through the chequing account), used as a check instead. All 182 lines read and its running balance holds; Oct 2025 to Jun 2026 it matches chequing to the penny (draws 205,250.00, repayments 220,000.00, interest 324.69). Owing 14,750.00 at 1 Oct 2025, 12,250.00 at 30 Sep 2026
31 Oct: a transfer between the client's own accounts at any bank: RBC prints a reference number, not the other account, so it is paired by amount and date (3 days) with the other account's line in the app and posted once as a Transfer; no match, no change. Client B's test statements: 11 of 12 chequing transfers pair with Visa 4177 payments (the 12th's month is missing). The poster no longer has Client A's account numbers in its code; Client A's plans unchanged
31 Oct: a mostly-personal account (Business Transactions Only): its payees ruled on New payees; Post puts only its business lines in (a ruling for this client put them on a business account; an all-clients ruling does not count on a personal card, Richard's choice), one journal entry a month against the shareholder account, read back; personal, unruled and payment lines left out; Undo removes the entry. Dry run on Client A's joint 8494, Nov 2020: 10 business lines, 10 ruled for all clients only (left out), 39 personal, 33 not ruled, 4 transfers; nothing sent
LEFT TO DO
Other banks as clients need them (each one: a reader, proven month by month, then the filer's entry)
Prove the business lines of a mostly-personal account on a real client (Client B's CIBC 8236 and MBNA 8762 once read in; Client A's joint 8494)
Payee rulings
Step 3 of 4: category and tax code for each payee
One firm-wide list of your payee rulings, kept in this app. The engine reads each statement and puts only payees nobody has ruled on the New payees list, once each, with a suggestion. You tick and Save; Mapped payees are locked, with Unlock to fix a mistake.
Runs on: This app (Payees button); the engine that finds new payees runs on the laptop for now, Atlas later
DONE
Rulings moved into the app 30 Sep: 94 accounts, 47 master rulings and Client A's 19, every field checked against the Excel files
Payees page: New payees with ticks, Tick all shown, Shift-click, Save; Mapped payees locked, with Unlock
Engine run on Client A Nov 2020 BMO 0135: 29 new payees, 84 lines; a second run added nothing
AI suggestions for each new payee (Claude Opus 5.5, with a web look-up of stores it does not know)
Excel copy of the rulings written to Drive as a backup (0-IOBTax Practice Admin; 148 rulings checked 30 Oct); from 30 Oct the laptop writes it every night at 11 pm when the rulings changed
30 Oct: every account list on the page is the open client's own chart (what is in its QuickBooks); an account not on it shows orange; an All clients ruling keeps a firm standard account
31 Oct: everything in use reads the rulings from the app (Poster, payee engine, review file); the old laptop tools that read the Excel files are retired
31 Oct: one ruling, the right account and tax for each client: a sole proprietor posts to the corporation account's match (9225 -> 9220-1), the client's province picks the tax code (HST ON, GST ...), and an account the client does not have goes to 9900 Ask My Client
LEFT TO DO
Prove it on the first sole proprietor and the first client outside BC (code names in their QuickBooks)
Poster
Step 4 of 4: post into QuickBooks
Puts each bank line from a tied statement straight into QuickBooks as its own transaction: the payee ruling's account and tax code, deposits to revenue, anything unruled to 9900 for Ask My Client. Dry run first (plan), then Post. Every line posted is recorded so nothing goes in twice, and a month can be undone.
Runs on: The server (also runs on the laptop)
DONE
Client A Nov 2020 BMO 0135 posted 7 Oct: 178 lines, the bank account in QuickBooks ties to the statement (48,070.58); three separate checks passed
Sends the before-tax amount so QuickBooks lands on the bank amount
Two identical lines on one day are both posted, never merged
Move a posted line to another account in place; same-day sent-and-cancelled pairs go to the bank clearing account
A page in this app: plan, report, Post and Undo this month
Self-check with no AI, 31 Oct: every posted month's statement lines read back from QuickBooks one for one (date and amount), as well as the balance; Lines in QBO on Statements by year. Client A's five posted months: every line in
Undo this month, 30 Oct: first deletes any journal entry Ask My Client or the Receipt Matcher posted for those lines (an approved one not yet posted is withdrawn); if one cannot be deleted, the bank lines are left alone and the reason shows
LEFT TO DO
Client A's card statements (RBC VISA 9045, Capital One 0414) and BMO 1154 for November, then December onward
Receipt Matcher
After step 4: clears 9900 Ask My Client
Clears Amazon, Costco, PayPal and similar charges out of 9900. Matches each charge to the order export the client downloads and sends us (never their login), proposes an account and tax for each item, and splits a charge by item. You approve each one; the Poster posts it as an Adjusting Journal Entry. Anything it cannot match goes on the Ask My Client list.
Runs on: This app (Receipt Matcher button); posting by the Poster on the server (context-repo order_poster.py, connector post-journal.mjs)
DONE
31 Oct: Suggest accounts (AI): for each item still unresolved, the cheaper AI model (Haiku; a firm setting) picks an account from the client's own chart, marked ai suggestion with its reason; nothing approved by itself. Tested on made-up items: ink to Office expenses, a LEGO set left out as personal
Plan agreed 12 Oct: matching rules, working-paper columns
Your rulings 12 Oct: US-dollar orders match within 3% of the Bank of Canada rate; AI suggests an item's account when no ruling covers it; GST and PST taken whenever the item was charged them
Matching engine 12 Oct: the seven rules, split by item with tax per line, the account order (ruling, chart, last period, else Unresolved), the working-paper CSV; 31 test cases (with the export reader) run before every deploy and a failing one stops it
Database tables applied 12 Oct (your yes): approving checks the lines add to the bank amount to the cent, every account is on the client's chart, and no shipment is used twice
Page 12 Oct (renamed from Order matcher 16 Oct): fiscal year, upload the export (Amazon order history, or a plain template for other sellers), Match, change an account, pick the order on a tie, Approve one line at a time, Ask my client, download the working paper
Poster side built 12 Oct: each approved line becomes one Adjusting Journal Entry (items with their tax codes against 9900), read back and checked; tried as a dry run on Client A's books, nothing sent
LEFT TO DO
The poster is on the server, switched off. It shares the journal tool Ask My Client proved on 30 Oct (tax lines sent, GST/PST BC split)
Post the first real entry by hand on your yes, check it in QuickBooks, then switch the poster on
Check the Amazon reader on Client B's real export
First client: Client B, year ending 30 Sep 2026, once its statements are through the app
QuickBooks import file
Manual fallback for step 4
Builds the bank feed import file for QuickBooks. MoneyThumb stays as the manual fallback.
Runs on: Claude skill: qbo-bank-csv-processor
DONE
Skill exists and has been used
LEFT TO DO
Update it to your current rules (one line per transaction, payee rulings, tax codes)
QUICKBOOKS
Chart of accounts
The firm's two standard charts of accounts, kept in the app: flat, no sub-accounts, every number its tax line, client detail as a suffix (8716-1). T2 for corporations (GIFI codes), T2125 for sole proprietors and partnerships (T2125 lines). Each business gets its own copy: pick the chart, tick what it needs, add accounts for that client with why, who asked and when, download the QuickBooks import CSV, then Mark imported to lock it.
Runs on: This app (Chart of accounts button)
DONE
31 Oct: Edit the standard charts (partners), on the Chart of accounts page: change an account's name, section, QuickBooks types, core or optional, default tax and note; Add under a GIFI code (numbered 1002, 1002-1 ... by the rule); Retire or Bring back. Only charts started afterwards follow; nothing deleted
T2 standard remapped from the QuickBooks template 1 Oct: 89 of 111 accounts kept, 16 added, every GIFI code checked against CRA RC4088
T2125 standard 2 Oct: 80 accounts on the T2125's own line numbers, with vehicle (Chart A, 9281-x), home office (Part 7, 9945-x) and owner's equity (3510 distributions, 3520 contributions: T2125 Part 9 lines 9932 and 9933, moved to the 3000s on 8 Oct)
Chart of accounts page: Chart dropdown picked from the entity type, ticks before Start, sections that fold, renames, add (also where there is no base account, e.g. a second partner), remove, Download QuickBooks CSV, Mark imported; partners only
LEFT TO DO
Year-end checklist: close 3510 and 3520 into 3500; move the personal part of 9945-x and 9281-x to distributions
Save the first imported company as the QuickBooks Online Accountant template
QuickBooks connector
Lets Claude read QuickBooks and post entries, with GST and PST tax codes and your chart of accounts template.
Runs on: Laptop (QuickBooks connection for Claude)
DONE
GST and PST tax codes on expenses, bills and invoices, tested
Duplicate-entry guard
Connected to six QuickBooks companies
Client A: corrected chart in (116 accounts), opening balance at 31 Oct 2020 in and balanced, prepaid written off 1 Nov 2020
LEFT TO DO
Client A: build fiscal 2021 (Nov 2020 - Oct 2021) from the bank statements
Nothing posts without your approval
CHASING CLIENTS
Missing-statement report
A page per client: what arrived, a month-by-month grid for each account, and what to ask the client for.
Runs on: The server
DONE
Built and working for Client A
31 Oct: starts at the client's First fiscal year; the same months under every run in the app's Statement filer, with Ask the client
LEFT TO DO
Atlas, chief of staff
Does the standing chores on its own: checks for new statements, drafts reminders to clients for your yes, watches for replies.
Runs on: The server, reached in Mattermost
DONE
Passed its first test 23 Sep: its missing-statement list matched line for line
Chase skill built 25 Sep: puts the request and reminders in your Gmail Drafts, for clients whose Chase switch is Active
Cannot send email: it can only make drafts in your mailbox
LEFT TO DO
First real chase run (Client A)
Daily check for new statements: runs every day at 2 pm for every client Active on Bank statements to QuickBooks (dry run: it reports new emails); since 31 Oct it reads each client's settings from the app. Switch it to filing on your yes
CLIENTS
Client file (this app)
The client record: quote, onboarding facts, engagement letter, worksheets, team access.
Runs on: The server: srv1844477.hstgr.cloud
DONE
Client records, engagement letter, worksheets by email, team and backups
This Tools list
Tools panel per client (25 Sep): Off / Active (four choices cut to two, 26 Sep), where it is up to, its settings; partners only
Atlas can ask which clients a tool is Active for: /home/campagent/tools/client-tools/active <tool>
New client screen (12 Oct): the business (optional), shareholders, spouse and children set up at once; the address typed once; every file, the group, shareholdings and relations made in one step
Your Family & Company form (12 Oct): the same screen for the client to fill in, sent from the Worksheets list; it comes back to the New client screen for you to check and Create
All clients (19 Oct): every client file in one table, Business or Personal, who we deal with, phone, email and address; sort by any column, search, Open
31 Oct: the statement filer reads each client's settings from here (no copy kept on the server by hand)
LEFT TO DO
Client status in the morning brief
Each client's status in your morning brief, and the filer's 'Needs your review' box at the top.
Runs on: Morning brief site, Client status tab
DONE
The tab exists
The filer posts its review list there after every run (25 Sep)
31 Oct: every client Active on Bank statements to QuickBooks gets its card written each morning (10:00 UTC, before the brief), from the client app: statements filed and missing months, read and tied, payees waiting, posted through, QuickBooks agrees and reconciled through, Ask My Client lines open
LEFT TO DO
Other tools' steps on the card when they are used for a client (engagement letter, the job's returns)
Client notes
A dated work log per client, like your Notion pages: write a note, paste a screenshot straight in (Ctrl+V or right-click Paste), save. Each day folds open and shut, newest first, with who wrote each note and when. Screenshots are kept privately under the client and covered by the nightly backup. Only the writer can edit or delete a note.
Runs on: This app: the Notes button on each client's file
DONE
Summarize with AI (Notes page, Summarize; since 15 Oct): a short where-this-client-stands summary, on the best model (about 2 cents CAD for a few notes)
Built 14 Oct: notes, pasted screenshots (shrunk in the page; click one to read it large with + and - zoom), days that fold, edits refused if someone changed the note meanwhile
Note types (General, CRA, Client contact, Bookkeeping, Tax return, GST/PST, Payroll) and actions: due date, who is doing it, Done
Open actions only filter on each client's notes; the To do page was tried and dropped (Richard, 14 Oct)
Anyone edits any note (shows who edited); a partner deletes any note, others only their own
Reminder email at 7 a.m. (7, 3 and 0 days before, plus overdue) to the address under My reminders on the Notes page; a pop-up at sign-in for overdue and due today
Prospects have Notes too (22 Oct): the same Notes page for a prospect, partners only; they move onto the client file when the prospect becomes a client
LEFT TO DO
Two-person test once a second login exists
CRA letters
Step 1 of 3 of CRA audit defence (master plan 7.1): the letter reader
Upload a CRA letter and Claude reads what CRA wants, the office, the years, the officer and how to answer. The code, not Claude, works out the deadline from the letter's own words and sets the risk from your rules. A partner checks every box against the letter beside it, confirms the deadline and saves; saving makes a CRA note due on the deadline for whoever handles it. A SIN is kept as its last 3 digits only.
Runs on: This app: the CRA letters button on each client's file; the reader is the Edge Function read-cra-letter
DONE
Plan and design agreed 21 Oct: master plan 7, item 7.1
Table cra_letters (your yes, 21 Oct), tested in a rolled-back transaction first
Reader read-cra-letter: deadline, risk and SIN rules checked by logic-selftest.ts
CRA letters page: upload, the letter beside the readings, the deadline box, risk, what we are doing, who handles it, Save
LEFT TO DO
Test on about 5 past letters from you and your partners
CRA deadlines in the Next deadline column of Clients & Leads
The client's own page with the four boxes (later)
7.2 evidence collector and 7.3 defence package
Client timer
Press Start clock on a client and the clock runs while you work anywhere: Excel, Gmail, QuickBooks. Starting another client stops the first. After 2 hours it asks if you are still on that client; a clock left running overnight asks how long you really worked. The Time page lists every entry with start, end, hours, what was worked on and warnings, with Edit on each row, + Add time for a phone call, totals by client, and a Client report to print or save as PDF.
Runs on: This app: Start clock and Time under the Client file box; Time in the side buttons
DONE
Agreed with Richard 2026-10-14: rough time is fine
Built 15 Oct: clock bar on every screen, 2-hour check, overnight question, Time page with Edit, warnings (not answered, ran overnight, ran past the 2-hour check, overlaps, fixed by hand), totals by client, Client report
Round 2, 15 Oct: type of work on every entry (14 types), Type filter and totals by type; AI writes up the client report and answers questions about the time shown
Billable tick, 15 Oct: on every entry (ticked by default), hours worked and hours billable side by side; the client report leaves non-billable lines off
Pick and Billed, 15 Oct: Pick tick on each line (client report from picked lines), Mark picked billed with an invoice number (partners), Billed column, Billing filter, still-to-bill totals
LEFT TO DO
Hours into Smarter quoting
Two-person test once a second login exists
Prospects and Clients & Leads
Lead to billed in one app
Prospects: everyone who is not a client yet, added in one line: where they came from, how we met, email consent (CASL), a Do not contact tick (our own do-not-call list), the stage (lead, contacted, quoted, won, lost), the next follow-up and a call log. Follow up today shows who is due, and the Prospects button counts them. A quick quote from a prospect fills in the name and email; emailing it moves the prospect to Quoted, Make it a client to Won. Clients & Leads: every prospect and client in one list with its stage and what comes next, filled in from what the app keeps: quotes, the engagement letter sent and signed, time to bill and billed.
Runs on: This app: Clients & Leads, under Quick quote at the top of the side panel (partners only); Open on a prospect's row opens its own page
DONE
Agreed with Richard 2026-10-19: start small, on top of Quick quote, not a full CRM; then lead to billed in one app
Built 19 Oct: Prospects (tables prospects and prospect_calls, partners only, by firm; prospect_calls removed 23 Oct, calls are prospect notes since 22 Oct), call log with next follow-up picks, CASL and Do Not Call reminders, quick quotes linked (quick_quotes.prospect_id), Make it a client from a prospect or its quote marks it Won
Lead to billed, 19 Oct: Lead, Contacted, Quoted, Letter to send, Letter out, Signed, To bill, Billed, with counts and an Open on each row
20 Oct: Prospects and Clients tabs; letter, stage and follow-up changed in the row; tick clients to set their letters at once; Last note and + Note on each row; Delete for partners; a prospect's notes and call log go onto the client's Notes when they become a client
20 Oct: + Add a prospect, Import prospects (CSV from a spreadsheet or a Notion export; duplicates skipped) and Download prospects (CSV) on the Prospects tab; each stage explained; Make it a client on each prospect row
20 Oct: Follow-up by on each prospect (giving it to someone else emails them within 5 minutes); follow-ups due today or overdue in the 7 a.m. reminder email and the sign-in pop-up; Email on each row (ready-made follow-up, quote and letter reminder messages open in Gmail and are logged; CASL check). Server: note_reminders.py and new prospect_notices.py (every 5 minutes), copies in server/
20 Oct: a numbers strip on Lead to billed (follow-ups due, quotes out, won this month, share of quotes won, letters out over 7 days, hours to bill); letters out over 7 days in red with Send a reminder; the quote amount on prospect rows; sort by a heading and search; tick prospects to set the stage, follow-up or who follows up at once, or delete them
20 Oct: Referred by (a client) on each prospect; the client's own file shows who referred them and whom they have referred; it goes onto the client's Notes when they become a client
20 Oct: Next deadline on each client row of Lead to billed, from the services on the Job (T1 April 30 or June 15 if self-employed; T2 6 months after the year end; T3 90 days; GST 1 month after the period, annual 3 months or June 15; BC PST end of the next month; payroll remittances the 15th and T4s end of February), red within 14 days, and a count of the next 30 days in the numbers strip (deadlines.mjs, checked by deadlines-selftest.mjs on every deploy)
20 Oct: Filed date on each yearly Job line (T1, T2, T3, WCB, annual GST): a filed year drops off and the next year shows; a year not filed whose date has passed shows Late in red
20 Oct: the Lead to billed screen renamed Clients & Leads (Richard); Lead to billed in one app stays the selling line
22 Oct: one Notes system for clients and prospects: a prospect has the same Notes as a client file (types, actions and reminders, screenshots, pinning, search, AI summary); Log a call, + Note and Email write to it; the side panel's Notes opens the prospect when one is open; when a prospect becomes a client its notes move onto the new file (migration 20261022093507)
25 Oct: Lost asks why (too expensive, went elsewhere, no reply, not a fit, other with a note) wherever a prospect is marked Lost; shown as Lost: no reply, in the CSV, and counted on Clients & Leads (migration 20261025120000)
25 Oct: one screen (Richard: a lead is a prospect): the Prospects button is gone; the Prospects tab of Clients & Leads lists every prospect (All open, Lead, Contacted, Quoted, Won, Lost, Do not contact) with the add row, Import, Download and Web form; Open on a row opens the prospect's page
LEFT TO DO
Move the leads across from Notion, then stop keeping leads there
Try it live: add a prospect, log a call, quote, Make it a client
First real assignment email: give a follow-up to a second partner once there is one
Put the Filed date on Job lines already filed, so they stop showing as late
Get a quote web form
Lead to billed: the first step, a lead from the website
A page anyone can fill in without signing in, at the firm's own link: name, business, email, phone, which services they need, a message and an email-consent tick. A request lands on Prospects as a Lead marked Website, with a follow-up today and a note of what they asked for, and is given to the partner the firm chose, who gets an email within 5 minutes. A hidden box catches robots and a daily cap stops a flood. The link, the wording, the services listed and who gets the email are set under Web form on the Prospects tab of Clients & Leads; the link is below for the website.
Runs on: The server (/quote/ beside this app) and this app: Web form on the Prospects tab of Clients & Leads (partners)
DONE
Built 25 Oct (Richard's yes): the page quote/index.html, the database functions (the link's token picks the firm, so every firm rule applies: migrations 20261025121000 and 20261025130000), Web form on Prospects, the server email worded New lead from your website
Tried live 25 Oct with a dummy lead: it landed on Prospects with its note and was deleted
LEFT TO DO
Put the link on the firm's website when the site is ready
Switch reminder emails on under My reminder emails (Notes) so the partner's email arrives
The first real lead
Archive & dissolve
The end of the cycle: a dissolved company's records kept with its file
Copy from QuickBooks reads a client's whole QuickBooks company, read-only: every fiscal year's reports (trial balance, balance sheet, profit and loss, general ledger, every transaction, tax summary, AR and AP aging, bank reconciliations) in one Excel file a year, the lists, a PDF of every sales invoice issued, every attached receipt and bill, every bank statement filed in the client's Drive folder, the raw data and an Audit pack index, into the client's file. The Dissolution part (BC, Alberta, Ontario, federal) takes you through each step that applies, explains why each matters with Copy for the client, and puts every due date from the three dates on Notes. Mark dissolved and archive the file sets the dissolution date and archives the file. A partner deletes a copy when they want; nothing is deleted by itself. Partners archive and mark; anyone who sees the client opens the files.
Runs on: This app: the Archive & dissolve button on each client's file; the reading is done on the server (context-repo client_archive.py, connector archive-pull.mjs), files in private Supabase storage
DONE
Agreed with Richard 2026-10-28: archive, not delete; keep 7 years after dissolution; everything stays with the client file in Supabase (paid plan at go-live)
Built 28 Oct: Archive & dissolve screen, tables client_archives and client_archive_files, private bucket client-archive (your yes, migration applied), upload function archive-upload, manual section
Server part installed 29 Oct (connector, job client_archive.py, every-minute check, log logs/client-archive.log)
Dissolution reviewed with Richard 29 Oct, all 43 steps (docs/dissolution/steps-for-review.md); part 1 built 29 Oct: About this company, the three dates with due dates on Notes, tabs, Stage 1 Checks (Steps 1 to 7), Why this matters with Copy for the client, Delete this copy; Keep until removed
Part 2 built 29 Oct: Zero out: balance sheet read from QuickBooks on the date the business stopped, a way to clear each line, the journal entry shown in full, review package, working paper, Approve and post to QuickBooks (server job client_dissolution.py); tested on Client A's real balances (every line zero, balanced) and in dry-run against its QuickBooks (nothing sent)
Part 3 built 29 Oct: Close accounts (GST/HST, payroll, BC PST, workers' comp by province), Clearance (default No; TX19 checklist), Dissolve (resolution and BC affidavit to print, registry filing by jurisdiction; Filed on sets Dissolved), After (final T2 summary, AT1 for Alberta, every CRA account closed, Copy reminder, closing letter in Gmail with the client's 30-day download link, invoice); client download page forms/client-download.html
Tested 29 Oct on Client A: 7 fiscal years FY2020 to FY2026, 343 of 343 filed bank statements, lists, raw data, Audit pack index; 355 files, 73 MB, about 8 minutes
LEFT TO DO
Bank reconciliation reports: QuickBooks refuses them to the connection (Permission Denied); keep them another way
GST: QuickBooks' tax summary comes back empty for Canadian books; the GST lines are in the general ledger
Not in use on any client until Richard says so
Richard to try the Dissolution page on a real company (a client company being wound up); check the resolution and BC affidavit wording before first real use
COMING SOON
Ask My Client
All 3 pieces built; the Poster is on (30 Oct)
Bank lines no payee rule recognises go to AMC - Ask My Client (9900). The client gets a list of those lines, explains each one in batches, and uploads a receipt only where you ask for one. You approve each answer before the line moves out of AMC, and every approved answer becomes a payee rule. Modelled on Uncat.
Runs on: This app (Ask My Client button); the client answers on a phone-friendly web page (forms/ask-my-client.html) reached by a private link
DONE
Plan agreed and recorded (29 Sep): master plan 7b item 3
Uncat reference and your rulings: docs/ask-my-client/UNCAT-REFERENCE.md
Plan agreed 16 Oct: a phone-friendly web app (no App Store app for now), built in three pieces
Piece 1, 16 Oct: table amc_questions (your yes); the Ask My Client page lists every line in 9900, you tick lines to ask, edit the question, tick Receipt wanted, and see what the Receipt Matcher is doing with each line
Decided 16 Oct: IOBTax keeps a copy of each receipt (in the database, so the nightly backup covers it); no text messages, email only
Piece 2, 16 Oct: Send the list to the client opens a Gmail email with their private link (its own token, runs out 30 days after the last send, End the link stops it); the client sees one card per line, answers in words or with a quick button, adds a receipt photo where asked; answers and receipts show on your page
Piece 3, 30 Oct: pick the Account and Tax code and Approve (Post permission), Take back before the Poster takes it; the Poster (amc_poster.py) clears the line out of 9900 with one Adjusting Journal Entry. Answers never change payee rulings (your call, 30 Oct). A line is cleared once: Ask My Client and the Receipt Matcher each refuse a line the other has
30 Oct: undoing a month of bank postings deletes the journal entries posted for those lines first
LEFT TO DO
First real entry proven 30 Oct on Client A: journal entry 514 (Amazon 42.99: 38.38 + 2.69 PST to 8811, 1.92 GST to 2680-1, 42.99 out of 9900). The Poster was switched on 30 Oct: an approved line posts within about a minute. Check the first GST-only, no-tax and money-in entries in QuickBooks
Money in with tax built 30 Oct (a sale: GST/HST collected; a refund: the tax claimed taken back), dry run right on Client A's books; check the first real one in QuickBooks (likely Client B). A sale with GST/PST BC is still posted by hand
Whether to build receipt matching for a CRA audit
Smarter quoting
Coming soon: planned (3 of 3)
The quote's facts fill themselves: transactions a month and number of accounts from the client's real statements, marked seen. For a new prospect, a Read the prospect's statements button has the AI count transactions and accounts and note what makes the work harder, as an AI estimate for you to check. Later, with hours from the Client timer, it suggests a price from similar clients and warns when a quote is below cost.
Runs on: Planned: the Job page of this app
DONE
Agreed with Richard 2026-10-14
LEFT TO DO
Fill from real statements first, then the prospect reader, then price suggestions
Other firms (subscriptions)
Coming soon: after the whole build is finished and tested on IOBTax's clients
Letting other accounting firms subscribe to the app. Each firm's records are already kept apart (checked on every deploy and every night). What is left is everything around the records: the server jobs working for every firm, a Connect to QuickBooks button, each firm's own Drive or uploads, emails and AI use per firm, and a New firm set-up.
Runs on: Planned: the whole app; the running list is docs/other-firms.md in the app's code
DONE
Agreed with Richard 2026-09-29: IOBTax is firm number one, never the only firm; nothing IOBTax-specific hard-wired
Firm separation built and checked on every deploy and every night (22-23 Oct)
Order agreed 2026-10-29: finish the build, test it on IOBTax's clients, then plan this as one project
Running list started 29 Oct of what works for IOBTax only (9 items)
LEFT TO DO
Server jobs: a key per firm, each job going through every firm
Connect to QuickBooks button in the app; sign-ins kept per firm
Bank statements: each firm's own Drive, or uploads into the app
Emails and AI use per firm; a proper app address and server size; paid storage
New firm set-up: the firm's record, first partner, settings
Shareholders, companies and association
One page for the whole group: the shareholder we deal with, the shareholders, every connected
company (ours and not ours), who owns what, how the shareholders are related, and the companies
that may be associated. The page only flags: whether they are associated is your ruling.
Salary, dividends and shareholder loans
What each company in the group paid out, by year: salaries, dividends, and each shareholder's loan account.
It reads the shareholders and companies from 07 Shareholders & group.
Bank and card accounts
Every bank and card account the client has, open or closed, and which months' statements are in hand
for a fiscal year. Statements the app has read tick themselves; anything received another way is ticked by hand.
Payees
New payees the engine found on the statements, with a suggestion for each. Tick the ones that are right
(or change them first), then press Save: only then are they ruled. Orange rows are ones the AI is
unsure about; they need their own tick. Mapped payees are your rulings, locked.
Open a client first: search for them in the box at the top of the page and open their file, then press Payees. The page works on that one client; a ruling set to All clients in the For column still applies to every client.
Orange AI unsureBlue AI surePurple one store, several wordingsGreen reviewedNothing is ruled until Save
No new payees waiting. They come from this client's bank and card statements once those are uploaded and read.
New client
Everything about a new client at once, in this order: the client, the spouse or partner, the children, then
their businesses with who owns each. Type the client's address once; everyone else picks "same as". Create makes
a file for each business we do and each person, links them in one group with who owns what and how they are
related, and puts the children on their parents' files. A person who already has a file: pick it under
"Already has a file?" and it is linked, not made twice. Nothing is created unless all of it is.
Receipt Matcher
Clears Amazon and similar charges out of 9900 Ask My Client. Upload the order export the client sent us,
press Match, and read each line: the order it matched, the items, the tax and the account proposed.
Change an account if it is wrong, then Approve one line at a time; the Poster posts each approved line
as an Adjusting Journal Entry against 9900. Lines it cannot match go on the Ask My Client list.
Ask My Client
Every line still sitting in 9900 Ask My Client for the open client. Tick the lines to ask the client about
(tick one, hold Shift and tick another to tick every line in between),
change the question if "What was this for?" is not enough, tick Receipt wanted only where you need one,
then press Put ticked on the list. Send the list to the client opens an email in your Gmail with their private
link; nothing goes until you press Send there. The client answers on their phone, and each answer shows here.
To clear a line, answered or not, choose its Account and Tax code and press Approve (needs Post): the Poster
moves it out of 9900 with an Adjusting Journal Entry. Take back undoes an approval the Poster has not taken yet.
An answer never changes a payee ruling; rulings change on the Payees page.
CRA letters
Upload a letter from CRA and the reader pulls out what CRA wants, the deadline and who to answer. Nothing
is final until a partner checks it: open the letter, compare each box with the letter beside it, confirm
the deadline and press Save. Saving makes a CRA note, due on the deadline, for whoever handles it.
Archive & dissolve
Keep a dissolved company's records with its file, so it can be deleted from QuickBooks and still be
answered for if CRA audits. First press Copy from QuickBooks and open a few of the files to check them.
Then mark the company dissolved: its file is archived (it leaves every list and tool, and keeps everything
in it) and kept until the date you set, 7 years on unless you change it. Nothing is ever deleted by itself.
Notes
The work log of a client, a prospect or the firm itself. Write a note and paste a screenshot straight in (Ctrl+V or right-click Paste),
for example from CRA. Each day folds open and shut, newest first. Only people who can see this client
see its notes. Anyone can edit a note (it shows who edited it last); a partner can delete any note,
an employee or subcontractor only their own.
Time
Every clock run and every entry typed in. Press Start clock on a client (top left) and it runs while you
work anywhere: Excel, Gmail, QuickBooks. Starting another client stops the first. After 2 hours it asks if
you are still on that client; a clock left running overnight asks how long you really worked. Edit fixes an
entry: you change your own, a partner anyone's. Client report prints one client's time for the dates shown.
EDIT A LINE
LINES NOT BILLED
Tick the lines to bill, then press Make invoice above (or Make invoice for this client).
LINES BILLED
To move a billed line back to not billed, press Edit on it.
Totals by client and by type of work · click to open or close
TOTALS BY CLIENT, MOST TIME FIRST
TOTALS BY TYPE OF WORK
Chart of accounts
The firm's standard charts: flat, no sub-accounts, every number its tax line. The T2 chart uses GIFI codes for
corporations; the T2125 chart uses the T2125's own lines for sole proprietors and partnerships. Core accounts
are ticked; optional ones you tick on. An account added for this client carries why, who asked and when.
Download gives the QuickBooks import file; Mark imported locks what went in.
How to get this chart into QuickBooks
In QuickBooks first: switch on account numbers (gear icon, Account and settings, Advanced,
Chart of accounts, Enable account numbers). Use a new company, or one whose old chart is cleared:
the import adds accounts, it never replaces them.
Here: pick the client and the business, check the Chart (T2 or T2125), tick what the
business needs, untick what it does not, then press Start.
Rename accounts and use + add for anything this client needs, then press
Save ticks and names.
Press Download QuickBooks CSV.
In QuickBooks: gear icon, Import data, Chart of accounts. Upload the file, match the four
columns (Account Number, Account Name, Type, Detail Type), check the review screen for any detail type it
flags, then Import.
In QuickBooks: number the accounts QuickBooks made itself, from the checklist that appears
under the table after Download: A/R 1062, A/P 2621, GST/HST 2680-1 and 2680-2, Retained earnings 3600
(on a T2125 chart, rename it 3500 Owner's capital).
Back here: press Mark imported. The chart is locked; anything added later
shows "add in QuickBooks by hand".
Edit the standard charts (partners)
Bank statements filing report
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Team
Who can sign in, what they are, and which files they can see. Partners see everything.
An employee or subcontractor sees only the clients ticked for them, and never a fee.
You can tick clients for someone you have only invited; they get them the moment they sign up.
Set up new clients lets one of them use New client; the files they create are given to them.
STAFF
Who
Role
Clients they can see
Permissions
Status
INVITED, NOT YET SIGNED UP
What I need from you
Built from the facts nobody has established yet — only the ones the client actually has to supply.
Anything the CRA will give us once we are authorised is left off, because chasing a client for it wastes their time and ours.
Written from this record. Read it before it goes anywhere, then copy it into your mail.
Recurring payment authorization
Print it, have them complete and sign it, and keep the signed copy in the client folder. Enter the details into the processor once; the card or account number never goes into this record.
Print to PDF, then upload it to DocHub and send it for signature. File the signed PDF in the client folder and record the date below.
Recurring Payment Authorization
Date:
Client
Business
Address
Email
Phone
Amount
, plus GST where applicable
1. Method — tick one
☐ Pre-authorized debit (PAD) from the account below ☐ Credit card — details below
2. If pre-authorized debit
This is a ☐ Personal PAD ☐ Business PAD
Financial institution
Branch address
Institution no. (3)
Transit no. (5)
Account no.
Name(s) on account
Please attach a cheque marked VOID, or a bank-issued direct deposit form.
3. If credit card
Cardholder name
Card number
Expiry
Billing postal code
4. What you are agreeing to
may debit the account or charge the card above for the amount shown, on the stated frequency, until this authorization is cancelled.
Where the amount varies, you waive the right to receive advance notice of the amount and timing of each debit. will still give you at least ten days' notice in writing before any change to the regular amount.
You may cancel this authorization at any time by giving thirty days' notice in writing. Cancelling does not end your obligation to pay for work already done. For a sample cancellation form or more information, contact your financial institution or visit payments.ca.
You have certain recourse rights if any debit does not comply with this agreement. For example, you have the right to receive reimbursement for any debit that is not authorized or is not consistent with this agreement. To obtain more information on your recourse rights, contact your financial institution or visit payments.ca.
You confirm that all persons required to authorize payments on this account have signed below.
Signature
Date
Print name
Title
· ·
Engagement letter
Built from this record. The Job decides which letter: ongoing work (bookkeeping, GST, PST, payroll) gets the full letter, a project gets a letter with its scope, and annual returns alone get a one-page terms of service. Schedule A is written from the Job's lines; Schedule B, what the fee assumes, from whatever is still not yet right now, so each assumption that later turns out false is a documented scope change rather than an argument.
Send for signing online opens an email to the client with their link. They read the letter and sign by typing their name; the signed copy comes back to this file's returned forms, and the signed date fills in by itself, with the assumptions kept as the letter stated them. On paper instead: print to PDF and send it from DocHub, then use Mark letter signed when it comes back.
Letter wording
The firm's standard engagement letter: the letterhead, the fixed terms in sections, and each service's wording for Schedule A. Every client's letter is built from this; how often and the fee come from the Job. {firm}, {client} and {date} are filled in for each letter. A line starting with "- " is a bullet.
Quick quote
A price on paper before anyone is a client, two ways: someone asking for a price (a phone call, to
compare; nothing goes on the Prospects list unless you press Add to Prospects to follow up), or a prospect
on our list we are in talks with (the quote is linked to them; emailing it marks them Quoted). A client's
real quote is on their file (01 The Job) and the engagement letter. Leave a Quote empty and the rate card prices
it. Saved as you type, once there is a name.
Prospect
One prospect: who they are, where they came from, email consent, the stage, the next follow-up and who does it, their notes and their quotes.
The whole list lives on Clients & Leads (the Prospects tab); Open on a row brings you here.
A quote from here fills in their name and email; emailing it moves them to Quoted, and Make it a client moves them to Won.
Saved as you type.
Clients & Leads
Every prospect and client in one list, with where each one stands and what comes next: from the first call,
through the quote and the engagement letter, to the work billed. The stages fill themselves in from what the app
already keeps. Prospects, business clients and personal clients each have their own tab; click a stage to see only those
(Won, Lost and Do not contact have their own buttons on the Prospects tab). Change a client's
engagement letter, or a prospect's stage and follow-up, right in the row, or tick several and set them at once.
Open on a prospect opens its page; + Add a prospect, Import, Download and
Web form are on the Prospects tab. + Note adds to their notes; a prospect's notes go onto the client file when they become a client.
All clients
Every client file, business and personal, with who we deal with and how to reach them. Click a column heading to sort by it;
click it again to sort the other way. Open opens the file.
The job
01 / 04
what we are engaged to do, and how much of it we are doing ourselves
THE WHOLE JOB applies to every service below
Fact
Value
How I know it
When
—
—
—
—
—
—
Not a client yet?
a quote without a client file; Make it a client puts its services here
SERVICES ENGAGED assumptionone section per service: pick it, tick its years, answer its assumptions
Services for this engagement
The client
02 / 04
the person. Always. This is the root of the file and it feeds the Personal database
Form AUT-01 gives phone and mail access only, never online, and must reach the CRA within six months of signing. Use Represent a Client and have them confirm.
Card clients can sign online instead. The form never asks for the card number: once it comes back signed, put the card straight into QuickBooks Payments (on the phone with them, or by a secure QuickBooks link) and set up the recurring charge. Never write the number down.
Fact
Value
How I know it
When
—
—
—
—
—
Our proof the client agreed to the recurring charges: needed before the first charge, and what we show if a charge is ever disputed. Fills in by itself when they sign online.
—
—
—
—
The day the client signed. Picking it marks the letter signed, the same as the Mark letter signed button: the assumptions are kept as they stand, so anything that changes later shows as a scope change.