Describe your clients and required records. Makeform creates a structured onboarding form for business details, bookkeeping history, systems, accounts, contacts, and documents.
Route new-client details to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a starting point, tailor the prompt, and send it to the Makeform builder.
Audience
Small businesses starting recurring bookkeeping
Format
Sectioned onboarding form with document uploads
Prompt size
309 chars
Example form structure
Sectioned onboarding form with document uploads
Business profile and primary contacts
Accounting platform and last reconciled month
Bank, credit card, and payment accounts
Payroll and sales tax workflow
Upload recent statements and reports
Suggested routing tags
Ready for review
Access needed
Cleanup required
Ask for each account's statement frequency and last reconciled month to establish a clear starting point.
Step 1
Profile
business, owners, contacts, and reporting calendar
Step 2
Systems
ledger, banks, payroll, sales, and payment tools
Step 3
Records
statements, reports, open periods, and known gaps
Step 4
Handoff
access owners, missing items, priorities, and next steps
Why structured intake matters
Map the client's business, systems, accounts, and reporting expectations before the first close.
Keep contacts, entity details, accounts, systems, and requested documents together.
Prompt for conditional sections so ecommerce processors, payroll, inventory, loans, or sales tax questions appear only when they apply.
Use response tags for ready to review, access needed, or cleanup required, then route each submission to the right onboarding step.
Adapt the intake
Start with the closest engagement, then tailor fields and documents to your practice.
Capture the close calendar, normal transaction flow, reconciliations, reporting package, and contacts responsible for recurring inputs.
Identify incomplete periods, unreconciled accounts, missing statements, mixed spending, and the dates driving the project.
Map storefronts, processors, payouts, inventory systems, refunds, currencies, and sales tax contacts without forcing every client through irrelevant fields.
Document project tracking, invoices, collections, contractor payments, payroll, reimbursements, and the people who own each workflow.
Build the onboarding flow
Describe the engagement, review the sections, and publish a consistent intake.
Name the clients, services, systems, and information needed before kickoff.
Require essential details and show specialized sections only when relevant.
Explain which records to upload and request platform access separately, without collecting passwords.
Flag missing periods, documents, and access, then send a kickoff checklist.
Form vs document vs email
A generated form structures answers, adapts follow-ups, and keeps the handoff together.
Field guide
These six sections create a practical handoff and review path.
Business profile
Capture the identity, structure, calendar, and contacts that frame the books.
Ledger and history
Locate the accounting records and define the starting period.
Accounts and money flow
List each account and ask who can grant access after intake, never for credentials.
Operating workflows
Identify the system, owner, and handoff cadence for each workflow.
Documents and access
Request specific periods and separate document uploads from access tasks.
Close and reporting
Define the reporting audience, package, close date, and open questions.
Related tools
Continue onboarding, invoice, expense, and receivables workflows.
Gather broader accounting discovery details beyond recurring bookkeeping.
Open toolCollect general contacts, goals, approvals, and kickoff details.
Open toolGather client-provided tax preparation details in a separate, purpose-specific questionnaire.
Open toolStandardize the information staff submit before a client invoice is prepared.
Open toolCollect expense purpose, amount, category, approval details, and receipt uploads.
Open toolRoute customer receivables questions and requests to the team handling open balances.
Open toolFAQ
Answers for bookkeepers building a consistent client handoff.
It collects a new client's business profile, contacts, accounting system, accounts, workflows, record status, reporting needs, and available documents before bookkeeping begins.
Include business details, fiscal year end, contacts, accounting platform, last reconciled period, financial accounts, sales, expenses, payroll, reporting expectations, access owners, and requested documents. Use conditional questions for specialized workflows.
No. Ask which systems exist and who can grant access through each provider's supported invitation process. Track the owner and status without collecting passwords.
Yes. Route clients by engagement type. Monthly service needs cadence, workflow, and reporting details; cleanup needs incomplete periods, last reconciliations, missing records, known issues, and deadlines.
Prompt the builder to add upload fields for named records and periods. Organize them by document type and handle platform access separately.
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and reuse the intake without a response cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Collect factual registrations, filing frequencies, contacts, prior reports, and reporting needs. Keep intake to information gathering and involve a qualified professional for advice outside your engagement.
Check for missing periods, accounts, documents, owners, and access. Confirm the starting month and deliverables, assign a readiness status, and send a missing-item checklist. Submission does not prove the books are complete or accurate.
Make the first handoff count.
