Accepting a client's appointment and access level
What happens when a business appoints your firm in Achekam, how you accept and link its books, and what each access level lets your people do there.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
For years the routine has been the same. The client keeps its books in one system, exports a trial balance at year-end, the firm loads it into another, posts adjustments there, and then tries to persuade the client to post the same adjustments back. Next year's opening balances never quite agree, and everyone blames the other side's software.
When a client already keeps its books on Achekam, there is another way: the business appoints your firm, and your people work in its ledger directly. That is convenient, and it also raises questions a partner should answer before accepting: what exactly can our staff do in there, whose rules apply, and what happens when the relationship ends? This article covers each in turn.
The business makes the appointment
The appointment starts on the client's side. A business on Achekam appoints its accounting firm by entering the firm's Achekam address or firm code. It appoints the firm in a particular role, as accountant, auditor, tax practitioner, payroll provider or adviser, and with an access level.
On the business's screens this appears as "Your accountant & appointments". On the firm's side, appointments arrive under Clients, Appointments & Client Books.
A business can only appoint a firm that is already on Achekam. If a client tells you it tried to appoint you and could not, check first that it has your firm's correct Achekam address or firm code.
Accept or decline, then link
The firm can accept or decline the invitation. On accepting, it links the business's books to one of its client records, so the books sit with the right client in the firm's directory.
Treat the invitation as the start of acceptance, not the end of it. The firm's acceptance and conflict procedures still apply, as described in client acceptance and the conflict check. Accept the appointment in Achekam only once the engagement itself has been accepted and the engagement letter is agreed.
Working in the client's own ledger
An appointed firm works directly in the business's own ledger. No copy is made, so what the firm posts appears in the business's own accounting screens.
This removes the export-adjust-repost cycle entirely, and it changes how the firm and client need to coordinate. A journal posted by your senior is visible to the client's bookkeeper straight away. Agree in the engagement letter who posts what: for example, the client's bookkeeper posts day-to-day transactions and your firm posts month-end and year-end adjustments, each with a clear description. Agree too who closes periods, so that your adjustments are not refused by a month the client has already closed, or posted into one the client thought was final.
Access levels decide what your people can do
What the firm's people can do in the business's books depends on the access level the business granted. Bookkeeping access covers the accounting, but not the business's users, settings or payment gateways. Review access is read-only.
Match the access level to the role and the work, and tell the client which level you need and why:
| Role the business appoints | Access that usually fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Accountant preparing monthly or annual figures | Bookkeeping | Your team posts adjustments |
| Auditor | Review | An auditor should not be maintaining the records it audits |
| Tax practitioner | Review, unless also posting tax journals | Most tax work reads the ledger |
| Payroll provider | Bookkeeping, if payroll journals are posted | Agree who posts the wages journal |
| Adviser | Review | Advice does not need posting rights |
The auditor row matters most. A firm that audits a client and also posts its journals has a self-review threat to evaluate under its code of ethics. The IESBA's page on its International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants introduces the Code, including the International Independence Standards and the conceptual framework for addressing threats. Read-only access keeps the line clear.
The client's sign-in rules apply to you
A firm member opening a business's books must meet that business's own IP allowlist and two-factor rules. If the client restricts access to its office network, your staff working from your office, or from home, may be refused until the client adds your addresses. If the client requires two-factor sign-in, your staff need it set up before they start.
Raise this in the onboarding call rather than discovering it on the first day of fieldwork. It is a good sign that the client takes its security seriously, and a nuisance only if nobody planned for it.
Moving between client books
Someone who works in several workspaces switches books from the header, and a coloured bar shows whose books are open. Train staff to look at that bar before posting anything. Posting a journal into the wrong client's books is an easy mistake when two clients have similar charts of accounts, and the bar is there to prevent it.
When the appointment ends
Either the business or the firm can end an appointment. The firm then loses access to the books, and the business keeps them. A reason is asked for, kept on the record and shown to the other side.
Before ending an appointment from your side, make sure your own working papers and any schedules you need are held in your firm's records, because access to the client's ledger stops when the appointment ends. If the client is bringing in a new firm, there is no managed handover pack; the business simply ends one appointment and invites the new firm. How this compares with setting up books for a client that has no workspace of its own is covered in setting up books for a client with no workspace.
Before you accept the next invitation
Write a one-page note for clients that explains which access level your firm needs for each kind of engagement and why, and send it with your engagement letter. Clients appoint firms in Achekam themselves; a clear note means they grant the right access the first time.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
