Setting up books for a client with no workspace
How a firm sets up and pays for Achekam books for a client without its own workspace, and what happens if the client takes over or the arrangement ends.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Every practice has clients who will never sign up for accounting software. The plumber who hands over a box of slips each month. The small church whose treasurer changes every few years. The family trust that has a handful of transactions and no appetite for learning a new system. For these clients the firm keeps the books, and the question is where.
Keeping them in the firm's own spreadsheets works until someone leaves, or the client asks for its records, or a new accountant takes over. Achekam lets a firm set up proper books for a client that has no workspace of its own. This article explains how that works, what the client can do later, and the points to settle in the engagement letter before the first transaction is entered.
Setting up the books
A firm can set up books in Achekam for a client that has no Achekam workspace. The option is on the Appointments & Client Books page, under Clients. The firm sets up the books and pays for them; the client does not need to sign up for anything.
The result is a proper set of books for that client, separate from the firm's own and from every other client's. If the client's history needs to come across from an old package or a spreadsheet, the firm can bring it in from the client's exported CSV or Excel files through the Migration Centre, as described in bringing a client's ledger across.
Firms in Nigeria and Kenya should know one limit before they start. The ledger screens show every amount in rand, and the chart of accounts is stored in ZAR, even for a Nigerian or Kenyan business. Decide how the team will read and report naira or shilling figures before setting up a client's books.
Moving between clients' books
A bookkeeper who keeps books for many clients spends the day moving between them. In Achekam, someone who works in several workspaces switches books from the header, and a coloured bar shows whose books are open.
Make checking that bar a habit. A familiar error in multi-client bookkeeping is a correct entry in the wrong client's books, and the coloured bar is a simple control against it.
When the client wants to take over
Small clients grow. The plumber hires an office manager, the church appoints a paid administrator, and suddenly the client wants to do its own invoicing. A client can later take over the books the firm set up, on a subscription of its own.
That is a much better outcome than starting again, because the client keeps its history. Agree with the client whether your firm stays on as its accountant afterwards and, if so, what access it will need; how appointments and access levels work for a business that runs its own workspace is covered in accepting a client's appointment and access level.
Plan the handover with the client: the date from which it pays, who will post what from then on, and which access level the firm will need afterwards.
If the firm's subscription lapses
Because the firm pays for these books, the client depends on the firm's subscription. If the firm's subscription lapses, the books turn read-only for the client. The records are still there, but the client can only read them until the position is resolved.
This is worth saying in the engagement letter in plain words, so the client understands what it is relying on, and worth watching in the firm's own administration so that a missed payment does not freeze a client's books in the middle of a VAT period.
Ending the arrangement
Either the business or the firm can end an appointment. When it ends, the firm 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.
If the client is moving to another firm, Achekam has no managed handover pack between an outgoing and an incoming firm. The business ends one appointment and invites the new firm. Before access ends, make sure your own working papers, reconciliations and any schedules you will need later are held in your firm's own records. In South Africa, SARS's record-keeping page sets out who must keep records under the Tax Administration Act, which books of account and documents to keep, and for how long.
What to put in the engagement letter
The software handles the mechanics. The engagement letter should settle the relationship:
- Ownership. The books belong to the client, and the client keeps them if the arrangement ends.
- Cost. The firm pays for the books while it keeps them; say whether and how that cost is recovered in the fee.
- Lapse. If the firm's subscription lapses, the client's books become read-only until it is restored.
- Take-over. The client may take the books over on a subscription of its own, and how the firm's role and fee change when it does.
- Responsibilities. Who supplies source documents, by when, and who approves the monthly figures.
- Ending. Either side may end the arrangement with a reason, and what the firm will hand over to a successor.
Who does what
| Situation | What the firm does | What the client experiences |
|---|---|---|
| Setting up | Sets up and pays for the books | Nothing to sign up for |
| Day-to-day | Keeps the books, switching clients from the header | Receives reports from the firm |
| Client grows | Supports the take-over | Takes over the books on its own subscription |
| Firm's subscription lapses | Restores it | Books are read-only |
| Arrangement ends | Keeps its own records first | Keeps the books |
A sensible first step
Pick a few of your smallest bookkeeping clients, set up their books in Achekam, and send each an updated engagement letter covering the points above. Once the letter is settled, adding the next client is an administrative task rather than a negotiation.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
