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A client onboarding checklist lists every step between a signed agreement and the start of the work, so nothing depends on someone remembering it. Use the same checklist for every new client and the first weeks of each engagement look the same: the right people named, the right inputs requested and the work ready to start.

The checklist tracks the process. To collect the client’s answers, pair it with the client onboarding questionnaire, and run the first meeting with the kickoff meeting agenda.

Details

• Client: [Company name]
• Engagement: [Project or service]
• Onboarding owner: [Name]
• Agreement signed: [Date]
• Target kickoff: [Date]

1. Handover from sales

• ☐ Signed proposal, engagement letter or statement of work filed where the team can find it
• ☐ Deliverables, exclusions and client responsibilities confirmed against the signed document
• ☐ Fees, billing schedule and payment terms set up; deposit or first invoice sent if agreed
• ☐ Anything promised during the sale passed on to the delivery team
• ☐ Client set up in your own systems: CRM, project tool, time tracking, file storage

2. People and communication

• ☐ Day-to-day client contact named
• ☐ Final approver named, if different
• ☐ Billing contact named
• ☐ Your account lead and delivery team assigned and introduced
• ☐ Update cadence and channel agreed (for example, a weekly written update)
• ☐ Review window for feedback and approvals agreed
• ☐ How urgent issues are raised, and to whom, agreed

3. Information and documents

• ☐ List of required inputs written, each with a reason, an owner and a due date
• ☐ Requests sent to the client with instructions and the format you need
• ☐ Received items checked for completeness and the right version
• ☐ Missing items recorded with the work they block
• ☐ Sensitive files collected through a secure upload, not email attachments

4. Access to tools and accounts

• ☐ List of the services you need access to
• ☐ Client has invited your team as named users in each service
• ☐ Access tested by the person who needs it
• ☐ Record kept of who has access to what, to remove at the end
• ☐ No passwords, API keys or recovery codes shared by email or form

5. Kickoff

• ☐ Kickoff agenda sent in advance
• ☐ Goals and success measures agreed
• ☐ Plan, milestones and first deliverable confirmed
• ☐ Open questions and blockers recorded with owners
• ☐ Kickoff notes and decisions sent to the client in writing within a day

6. First 30 days

• ☐ First progress update sent on the agreed cadence
• ☐ First deliverable or milestone reviewed with the approver
• ☐ Outstanding inputs chased against their due dates
• ☐ Check-in with the client on how onboarding went
• ☐ Lessons added to this checklist for the next client

Add for accounting and bookkeeping clients

• ☐ Engagement letter signed, covering the services, period and fees
• ☐ Identity and anti-money-laundering checks completed where your rules require them
• ☐ Prior-year accounts, returns and working papers received
• ☐ Bank, card and loan statements, or read-only feed access, set up
• ☐ Invited as a user to the client’s accounting and payroll software
• ☐ Authority to act with the tax authority set up, where needed
• ☐ Key deadlines (year end, filing and payment dates) added to your calendar

1. Copy the checklist for each new client and fill in the details at the top.
2. Delete the items that don’t apply to the engagement, and the accounting section if you don’t need it.
3. Give one person on your team ownership of the whole checklist.
4. Add an owner and a due date to every item still open.
5. Review it at kickoff: open items become actions in the kickoff notes.
6. After 30 days, add anything you missed so the next onboarding is smoother.

Microsoft Word

1. Download the Word (.docx) file and open it. If Word opens it in Protected View, select Enable Editing.
2. Use Find (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and search for “[” to jump between the placeholders you need to replace.
3. Save a clean copy as a Word template (File → Save As → Word Template) so every new document starts from it.

Google Docs

1. Upload the .docx file to Google Drive.
2. Right-click it and choose Open with → Google Docs, then File → Save as Google Docs to keep an editable copy.
3. Use File → Make a copy for each new client so your master stays clean.

PDF

Use Print or save as PDF in the template section above to print just the template, or fill it in Word or Google Docs first and export it (File → Save As → PDF in Word, File → Download → PDF document in Google Docs).

A filled-in extract for a fictional client, two weeks after signing.

Details

• Client: Harbour Lane Bakery Ltd
• Engagement: Monthly bookkeeping and year-end accounts
• Onboarding owner: Sam Okafor
• Agreement signed: 3 November
• Target kickoff: 17 November

Progress

• Send one complete list of requests, not a new email every time you remember something.
• Separate received from reviewed: a file that arrived isn’t always the file you need.
• Start the work when the checklist says you’re ready, not when the calendar does.
• Ask the client after the first month what would have made onboarding easier, and update the checklist.

Angelwood turns questions like these into an onboarding plan: requests with instructions, owners and dates that clients answer in their portal, reviewed by your team before kickoff.

Browse all forms & questionnaires templates or the full template library.