File sharing for accountants: a client document workflow
A five-step workflow for accountants: request documents with a deadline, keep each client apart, return finished work.
File sharing for accountants works best as a loop with five steps: ask for documents through one upload link, set a deadline, keep each client's files apart, send finished work back on a link that expires, and check what arrived. This article walks through that loop for bookkeepers and small practices who are tired of documents arriving as email attachments. You do not need a practice-management suite to run it. In Tarkle, file requests handle the way in and transfers handle the way out. The Free plan includes file requests, so you can run the loop with real client documents before you choose a paid plan.
For the tax-season version of the first step, read how to collect tax documents from clients securely. This page covers the whole cycle, from the first request to the last delivery.
Why file sharing for accountants breaks down on email
An accountant's year has several peaks: year-end, VAT or sales tax periods, payroll changes, audits. At each one the same thing happens. Clients send half of what you asked for, scans bounce because they are too big, and the files end up in three inboxes with names like scan0042.pdf.
The fix is not a better inbox rule. It is moving the two risky moments, receiving documents and returning them, onto links that you control. A file request handles the first. A transfer handles the second.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
Write down what each client type normally sends before you create anything: bank statements, invoices, receipts, payroll reports. Numbering the list lets a client answer "I'm missing number 4" instead of a paragraph.
Step 1: ask for documents with a file request
A file request is an upload page with its own link. The client opens it, reads your instructions, drops files on the page and enters their first name before sending. They need no account. The job is done by file requests in Tarkle.
To create one, fill in the request form:
Title: the client's name and the period, so the request is easy to find later.
Description: your checklist. The description is shown on the upload page, so the client reads it before uploading.
Folder for uploaded files: the folder where the documents should land. If you pick no folder, the files go into the File requests folder. Each request then gets its own subfolder, named after the request title, inside the folder you pick.
Send email notifications when files are uploaded: this box is ticked by default.
End the description with one sentence: "Upload what you have by the closing date, even if something is missing, and tell me what you could not find." It gets you partial documents early instead of nothing late.
Step 2: set a deadline and a size limit per request
A request with no deadline stays open until you change it. In the create form, the Deadline field takes a calendar date. It is a date only, with no time of day. The earliest date is tomorrow and the latest is three years ahead.
Once the date passes, the request link stops working, and a visitor who opens it sees a page not found. Tell clients the date in the instructions and in your email. Choose a date a few days before your own cutoff. Link expiration covers the same idea for transfers and request links.
The size limit is set on a request that already exists. Enter a Max upload size and it becomes the most a visitor can upload at once. You can change it or clear it later. The details are on the deadlines and size limits for requests page.
Keep two dates. Give clients the first, which is your real closing date. Keep the second, a few days later, for yourself, so one late client does not mean a missed filing.
Step 3: keep each client's files apart
Mixing clients is the mistake that matters most in an accountancy practice. Two habits keep it from happening.
First, make one request per client, titled with the client's name, and pick that client's folder for the uploads. Each request then lands in its own subfolder.
Second, limit a request to one client. Open the request's edit screen and, under the share options, choose Specific organization instead of Public link, then pick the client's organization. Only members of that organization can open the request, and they must be signed in. Anyone else who opens the link sees a not-authorized screen. Organizations are on Pro and Agency.
Clients in an organization can also sign in to the client portal. A client signs in with their email, sees only what you shared with them and sends files back. The fully branded client portal is on Pro and Agency.
Before you send a link, check the recipient's email address character by character. A mistyped address is the most likely way a document reaches the wrong person.
Step 4: send finished work back on a link that expires
A finished return, a set of accounts or a signed engagement letter should not travel as an attachment. Create a transfer instead, and set the access settings before you send.
Password: require a password before anyone can open the transfer, and send that password through a different channel than the link, for example a text message or a phone call. See password protection.
Expiry date: set a date after which the link stops working.
One-time download: a link can stop working after its first download. If the client needs a second go, issue a fresh link. See one-time download links.
Disable: if a link went to the wrong address, you can revoke access instantly and disable it in one click.
For uploads that only one client should reach, use the organization setting from step 3.
Make the expiry long enough for the client to act, but not much longer. A week to ten days suits most deliveries, and a fresh link takes a minute to make.
Step 5: check what arrived, and chase on your own schedule
Set your own reminder dates in your calendar: one when you send the link, one a week before the deadline, one three days before. Then open the folder you picked for the request. Each request has its own subfolder, named after its title, so one client's documents sit together.
If you have branded your workspace, the request page shows your logo and colors, which helps clients trust a page that asks for financial documents. See custom branding.
What this workflow does not replace
This is a way to collect and return files. It is not a practice-management system, it does not file anything for you, and this article makes no claim of certification or regulatory compliance. How long you keep client documents, and which rules apply to them, are questions for your own advisers and local law.
Set this up today
List what each client type sends, and number the items.
Create a folder for the period, then one file request per client with the list in the description and a deadline.
Set a Max upload size on a request if you want to cap what one visitor can upload at once.
On Pro or Agency, edit each request and restrict it to the client's organization.
Return finished work as a transfer with a password and an expiry date.
Put your reminder dates in your calendar.
You can start for free with file requests, or look at everything else under features.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle collects client documents with a file request link that has a deadline, and returns finished work on a transfer with a password and an expiry date. On Pro and Agency you can restrict a request to one client organization. The Free plan includes file requests, so you can try the workflow with real documents first. Start for free.