Seeing everything sent to a client
Where a firm finds the e-mails, requests, shared documents and signing records it sent a client in Achekam, and what "sent" and "opened" really prove.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
"You never told us the return was due." "We never received the request." "Nobody sent us the final statements." Every practice hears sentences like these, usually when a deadline has been missed and a penalty is on the table. The firm is often sure it did send the e-mail, the request and the statements. Being sure is not the same as being able to show it.
The answer to a dispute about communication is a record: what was sent, to whom, when, and what happened next. Achekam keeps several such records, each attached to the kind of communication it describes. This article shows where each one lives and, just as important, what each one does and does not prove.
Why one history matters in a dispute
In a fee dispute, a complaint to a professional body or a claim about a missed deadline, the firm's file is its defence. The strongest file shows a sequence: the request, the reminders, the client's partial answer, the firm's follow-up, the final warning. Fragments in individual staff members' mailboxes rarely add up to that.
Electronic records can carry real weight. In South Africa, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act gives legal recognition to electronic communications, transactions and electronic signatures. That recognition helps only if the firm can produce the communication and show when it went.
Where to start: Client 360
Staff can open any client's Client 360 record, which reads the client's services, contacts, timeline and profile from the server. It is the natural starting point for any question about the relationship, and the place to see who the client's contacts are and what the firm provides.
The detail of each communication, though, sits with that communication. When assembling a history, work through each of the records below for the period in question. The Client 360 record itself is described in the Client 360 record.
Messages kept on the record
From a lead, an opportunity, a client contact or Client 360, staff can have AI draft an e-mail from a preset, edit it and send it with attachments, and the message is kept on the record it was sent from. That makes the firm's correspondence part of the client's record rather than something in one person's sent folder.
The habit that makes this useful is sending client e-mails from Achekam in the first place. An important message sent from a personal mailbox, outside the record, is invisible to the colleague who takes over the client and to the partner preparing a response to a complaint.
Request timelines
For each request sent through the RFI console, staff see a timeline of e-mails, opens, clicks, uploads and answers. A request is flagged 'Delivery failed' when the mail provider refused it or when no mail provider is set up.
A request timeline is often the best evidence a firm has that it asked for something. It shows when the request went, each reminder, whether the client appeared to open it, and exactly when they uploaded or answered. If a client says they never received a request for their bank statements, the timeline either supports that, with a delivery failure, or shows the reminders and the clicks.
Views and downloads of shared documents
When staff share a vault document with a named person by an e-mailed link, every view and download is recorded. The link can block downloading, require a code and be revoked.
For documents such as final statements, tax computations or a letter setting out what the client must do by a deadline, sharing by link creates a stronger record than an attachment. The firm can show not only that the document was sent, but that it was viewed or downloaded, and when.
Signed documents
When everyone has signed an e-signing envelope, Achekam produces the signed PDF with a completion certificate listing each signer's e-mail, the times, IP address and browser, and the document's fingerprint, and files it in the client's 'Signed documents' folder. For an engagement letter, a representation letter or a client's approval of a tax return, that certificate is the record of agreement.
| Communication | Where the record is | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| E-mail from Achekam | On the lead, opportunity, contact or Client 360 it was sent from | The message, attachments and send status |
| Request for documents or answers | The request's timeline in the RFI console | Sends, reminders, opens, clicks, uploads, answers, delivery failures |
| Shared document | The share's record | Each view and download |
| Signed document | Completion certificate in 'Signed documents' | Each signer's e-mail, times, IP address, browser and document fingerprint |
'Sent' means the mail provider accepted it
This is the limit to understand before relying on any of these records. For e-mails sent from Achekam, 'sent' means only that the mail provider accepted the message. It does not mean the message reached the client's inbox, avoided their spam filter or was read.
Opens on requests are detected with a tracking image, so they are only an indication: some mail programs block the image, and some security systems open every link automatically, which can make a message look opened when no person saw it. Views and downloads of shared documents, uploads and answers on requests, and signatures are stronger, because they record something the recipient did on the firm's own page.
So, in descending order of strength: a signature or an upload; a recorded view or download; a click; an open; a send. When a client disputes receiving something important, look for the strongest record available, and when a matter is important enough, ask for an action, such as an acknowledgement or a signature, rather than relying on delivery. Honest delivery states in CRM e-mail are covered further in CRM e-mail and honest delivery status.
A worked example in words: a client complains about a late-filing penalty and says the firm never asked for its documents. The manager opens the request in the RFI console: the timeline shows the request sent, five reminders, two opens and no upload. She also finds, on the client's record, the e-mail warning of the deadline. The partner's reply to the client cites both, with dates.
A practice to adopt
Send anything that matters through Achekam, by request, share or envelope, rather than as an attachment from a personal mailbox. When the dispute comes, the record is already there.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
