You did the books, someone else does the accounts
Many of your clients use a separate accountant for year-end accounts and tax. At year end, you give that firm access to the Xero file and send an email saying the books are done. A week later the questions begin. What is this loan? Where is the fixed asset register? Can you send the bank statement for the savings account? Why does the director's loan look like that?
They arrive one or two at a time, by email, to whichever person the accountant has in their address book. Some are answered twice by different people, some not at all. The client, stuck in the middle, feels they are paying two firms to talk to each other.
Why handovers generate so many questions
The accountant needs a standard set of supporting information to prepare accounts, but the bookkeeping firm usually hands over only the ledger. The schedules that answer most questions, balance sheet reconciliations, loan schedules, fixed asset additions, accruals and prepayments, either do not exist or live in individual bookkeepers' spreadsheets.
There is also no shared place for questions. Email threads split, and nobody on either side can see what is still open.
What a poor handover costs
Your team spends time answering questions one by one, often weeks after the year closed, when memory has faded. The accountant's work is delayed, which can push against filing deadlines. The client may be charged more by the accountant for the extra time. And your firm's reputation with accountants, who are a common source of referrals, depends on how clean your handovers are.
| Accountant usually asks for | Handover pack includes |
|---|---|
| Bank and card reconciliations at year end | Generated from the ledger with statement balances |
| Loan and hire purchase schedules | Balances and movements per agreement |
| Fixed asset additions | Listed with invoices attached |
| Director's loan account movements | Transaction list with notes |
| Debtors and creditors | Aged lists at the year-end date |
| Unusual items | Flagged with the bookkeeper's explanation |
How we build year-end handover packs
- We agree with you a standard pack, drawing on what accountants most often ask for, with room for client-specific extras.
- At year end, the pack is generated from the client's ledger through the Xero or QuickBooks API: reconciliations, balance sheet schedules, aged lists and transaction listings for the key accounts.
- Supporting documents already attached in the ledger or your document store are linked in, so the accountant does not have to ask for invoices you already hold.
- A check marks anything incomplete, such as an unreconciled account or an unexplained suspense balance, so it is sorted before the pack goes.
- The pack goes to the accountant as a single link, with a shared query log where they post questions. Each question is assigned to the right person at your firm and tracked to an answer.
- Questions that recur across clients feed back into the standard pack for next year.
The pack presents the books. It does not make year-end adjustments or tax judgements; those are the accountant's.
A handover that answers the questions first
The accountant opens one link and finds most of what they need. Questions that do come are in one place, answered once, visible to both firms. Your staff stop being pulled back into last year's books months later. And accountants start to recognise your firm as the one whose handovers are clean.
Is year-end handover painful for you?
- Accountants' questions trickle in for weeks after year end.
- The same question gets answered by two different people.
- Balance sheet schedules are kept in individual spreadsheets.
- Clients complain that the two firms keep contacting them.
- You do not know which accountant queries are still open.