How accountants stop chasing clients for documents

It’s the third email about the same bank statements. The first went out weeks ago. The second said “just a reminder”. This one you rewrite twice, so it doesn’t sound cross. The client isn’t ignoring you. They meant to do it on Sunday.

Every file that waits on a client waits on you too. The work can’t start, so it piles into the last two weeks with everyone else’s. And the hours spent chasing clients for documents are hours nobody pays for.

Why do clients take so long to send documents?

Because the ask is vague and the date is yours, not theirs. And nothing reaches them when the file is in their hand. None of that is laziness. It’s a request that’s easy to put off.

“Please send your bank statements” is a small research project. Which bank? Which months? PDF or a photo? A client who isn’t sure does nothing, and then feels bad about doing nothing. The next email makes it worse.

So the fix starts with the first message, not the fifth.

The method, step by step

This works by hand, with a spreadsheet and your own inbox. Nothing below needs software.

• Send the whole list once. Name each item the way the client knows it. “The savings account ending 4412, January to December” beats “all bank statements”. Add one line on why you need it.
• Give them a date, with a reason. “By 1 March, so we have six weeks to do it properly.” A date with a reason gets kept. A bare deadline gets argued with.
• One place for files. Say exactly where to send them, and keep it the same every year. Files that arrive in five inboxes get lost in one of them.
• One channel for reminders. Use the one the client already replies on. If they answer texts and ignore email, chase by text. Don’t rotate through all of them.
• Remind on fixed days, and list only what’s missing. Each reminder names what’s still outstanding and nothing else. A shorter list tells the client they’re nearly done.
• Call on a set day. When the reminders get nothing, a person phones. Put the day in the plan before you start. Then the call isn’t a judgment made at 5 pm on a Friday.

Illustrative — not measured. The count is an example of the shape, not a rule. Set the days around your own year.

The call matters more than it looks. Sometimes the statement doesn’t exist. Sometimes the client can’t find the login, or the ex-partner has the paperwork. A reminder can’t find that out. A two-minute call can.

What should the reminder say?

Thank them for what arrived, name what’s missing, and point to the same place as before. Keep it short enough to read at a red light. Never “as per my last email”. The client already knows they’re late.

The first request:

“Hi Sam, it’s Anna from the practice. For this year’s accounts we need six things. The list is below, with where to send them. Could we have them by 1 March? That gives us six weeks to do it properly.”

A reminder:

“Hi Sam, thanks for the payslips. Two things are still missing: the savings statement and the rental invoice. Same place as before.”

The call:

“I’m calling about the two things still missing. Is one of them hard to get?”

A vague request isn’t a request. It’s homework the client didn’t ask for.

How we take the chasing off your desk

The method works. What breaks it is volume. The reminders fall due in the same weeks as everyone’s files. That’s when you have the least time to send them. So the day-five reminder slips to day nine, and the call never gets made.

That’s the part we set up for you. You already know what to ask for. So we write the request and the list for each kind of client with you, once. After that, Income Mavericks sends it on a schedule. Nobody has to chase.

It gets easier still when the ask gets smaller. Instead of “the savings account ending 4412, January to December” once a year, the client gets a short reminder each month for that month’s statement. One file, while it’s fresh.

The client doesn’t have to find your email address either. The reminder links to a form. They attach the document there and send it, and it arrives with their file.

Reminders go by text or email, on the days you chose. When someone marks the file complete, they stop. And when the last reminder gets nothing, the person you named is told it’s time to call. It’s the same fix as for leads that go cold: follow-up that happens without anyone remembering.

It doesn’t file anything, check a figure or give advice. It asks, it reminds and it tells you. The professional work stays yours.

We set this up for firms alongside the rest of the front desk: new inquiries, first meetings and engagement letters. The page for professional services shows the whole set. It runs on Income Mavericks. Text and email reminders are in the $49 a month package. Each text and email is billed per use on top, and listed on the invoice.

A clear list, a date with a reason, one channel and a call on a set day. The hard part was never knowing what to do. It was remembering to do it in the busiest weeks of the year, and that’s the part a system doesn’t forget.