Trigger
Referral or website inquiry arrives
1
Client Acquisition
Firm Administrator + Owner
This phase begins when a lead reaches the firm, nearly always through referral and occasionally through a website submission; the firm does not run paid ads. The firm administrator sends a templated screening email before discovery so non-fits can be screened out early. Qualified prospects move through a discovery call, books evaluation, tiered quote, and Loom walkthrough. Ends with a Functional handoff from Owner to Firm Administrator. Transferred: the accepted quote plus the Prospective-folder materials. Acceptance criteria: quote accepted and the firm administrator moves the Prospective folder contents into the client's shared drive.
PROCESS 1.1
Lead Intake Process
The master tracker holds three pipeline states: new clients onboarding, potential quoted clients, and expired quotes. The Prospective folder accumulates call transcripts, the service-fee template, the quote, and the books-evaluation document.
End state
Lead tracked with a Prospective folder open
Send the templated initial questions to the new lead. Responses screen out non-fits before any discovery call is booked.
Trigger
Lead captured
End state
Screening responses received or lead disqualified
Forward the email thread to the senior team. A senior team member replies to the prospect and schedules the discovery call.
Trigger
Screening responses fit the firm's criteria
End state
Discovery call scheduled with the prospect
PROCESS 1.2
Sales Discovery Process
Discovery questions are captured in the Client Onboarding Dossier's discovery section, filled by the firm administrator from the sales call. The section records how the prospect heard about the firm, entity type, partners and team count, tax return currency, accounting software, payroll company, current CPA, services requested, pain points, and priorities. Call transcripts are saved to the Prospective folder; the dossier is the formal checklist now identified from Jennifer's folder.
Trigger
Sales call scheduled
End state
Needs scoped and next steps agreed
The prospect grants accountant access so the books can be reviewed before pricing. The client-facing screenshot instruction shows the prospect inviting the firm's shared accountant address, QBO@paxuscpa.com, from QuickBooks.
Trigger
Sales call complete
End state
Firm has working access to the prospect's books
PROCESS 1.3
Pricing and Quote Process
The Potential New Client Review is the books-evaluation record used after QuickBooks access to size cleanup and quote scope. The QBO CleanUp Assessment Template is the report-by-report QBO review, with a weighted rubric that grades cleanup level and feeds estimated cleanup and monthly maintenance hours into the quote. The review takes roughly 45 minutes, depending on book condition.
Trigger
QuickBooks access granted
End state
Books evaluation complete with cleanup and service scope determined
Build the quote from annual revenue, using roughly 1 percent as a guide, average monthly transaction counts hitting bank and credit card accounts over the last three months, complexity layers, payroll fees when payroll exists, bill pay volume when applicable, and advisory-tier pricing. Recent quotes export the QuickBooks general journal to CSV and have Claude compute the numbers against the template. The output is a starting price that gets fine-tuned from the conversations.
Trigger
Scope determined
End state
Priced quote ready with tier recommendation
Record a Loom walkthrough for nearly every quote. The video is occasionally skipped when recording fails.
Trigger
Quote built
End state
Walkthrough video ready to send with the quote
Send the quote as a PDF showing the quoted tiers, Full Service, Premium, and CFO Partner; Basic exists below the quoted ladder for bookkeeping-only clients. The quote PDF shows the tiers, services, one-time fees such as onboarding and cleanup, and subscriptions such as wholesale QuickBooks when the client has none. The example quote says quotes are valid for 30 days, the onboarding-queue slot is held by acceptance plus the onboarding fee, tier upgrades are available any time with a three-month minimum at the higher tier, and there is no contract with 30 days' notice to leave. Billing then runs through Financial Cents: engagement letter, Bank Transfer Authorization Form as the one-time ACH form, onboarding fee at engagement, a cleanup deposit of 50 percent of the quoted range's lower bound at cleanup start, with the balance drafted at completion based on time spent within the disclosed floor and ceiling, and monthly drafts on the 5th. The monthly cycle typically starts a month or two after onboarding and cleanup begin, and the Quote PDF in the Prospective folder is the artifact the onboarding automation picks up.
Trigger
Quote and Loom walkthrough ready
End state
Quote with the prospect and filed in Drive
2
Onboarding
Firm Administrator
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from Owner to Firm Administrator. Transferred: the accepted quote in the Prospective folder. Acceptance criteria: quote terms extractable from the PDF. The full onboarding runs: proposal and signature, Drive and Financial Cents setup, welcome packet, team handoff, kickoff. Ends with a Functional handoff from Firm Administrator to Lead Accountant at the kickoff call, with the client entering cleanup and recurring service. Detailed in the Client Onboarding Workflow map.
PROCESS 2.1
Client Onboarding Process
Summary of onboarding phase 1. Billing setup is bundled with the engagement: the administrator enters billing details, the client enters ACH once, and payments auto-process. Full detail in the Client Onboarding Workflow map.
Trigger
Accepted quote in the Prospective folder
End state
Signed engagement letter returned and payment processing initiated
Summary of onboarding phase 2: Google Shared Drive creation, folder template copy, engagement filing, and Prospective folder graduation.
Trigger
Engagement signed
End state
Google Drive workspace complete with Prospective materials graduated
Summary of onboarding phases 2 and 5: resources, portal, template customization and assignment by tier and services, dashboards, credentials, and recurring schedules.
Trigger
Google Drive workspace complete
End state
Financial Cents workspace complete with tested credentials and recurring schedules
Summary of onboarding phase 3: the pod is assigned against role capacity (the onboarding map's Team Assignment Process, partially documented), then the Canva packet, welcome email, Financial Cents dashboard groups, and client-facing welcome communication go out.
Trigger
Workspace ready and team assigned
End state
Client welcomed with the packet and email
Summary of onboarding phase 4: Sales Onboarding workbook, budgeted hours, and team handoff email.
Trigger
Welcome packet sent
End state
Assigned team formally handed the client
Summary of onboarding phase 6: kickoff prep email, received-items review, outstanding Financial Cents checklist items, and client checklist completion.
Trigger
Kickoff scheduled
End state
Client prepared for kickoff with outstanding items visible
Summary of onboarding phase 7: lead-run kickoff, Financial Cents portal expectations, recap, 90-day call scheduling, and kickoff-driven tool setup (document intake tool, additional portal users).
Trigger
Kickoff date reached
End state
Kickoff held and recapped with a 90-day call scheduled
3
Cleanup and Stabilization
Multiple roles
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from Firm Administrator to Lead Accountant. Transferred: the client workspace, sales onboarding workbook, and outstanding items. Acceptance criteria: kickoff held and credentials confirmed. Cleanup opens with designing the project for the specific client, then coding, reconciliation, tie-out, per-statement financial cleanup, and compliance service setup where sold; the client gets weekly updates. Long-tail follow-up items split into a post-cleanup project so the cleanup project can close cleanly. Ends with a Functional handoff from Lead Accountant to Staff Accountant into recurring service. Transferred: cleaned books and recurring-service context. Acceptance criteria: recurring projects can run against stabilized books.
PROCESS 3.1
Cleanup Design and Coding Process
Tailor the cleanup template per client and create month-and-account subtasks so two people can share state. Design is criteria-driven and client-specific.
Trigger
Kickoff complete and cleanup project opens
End state
Cleanup project tailored with month-and-account subtasks
Work the backlog in the bank feeds from the cleanup start date forward. Review any rules already set up in QuickBooks Online to avoid auto-add issues.
Trigger
Cleanup project tailored
End state
No uncoded transactions in the feeds
Standing weekly status update on cleanup and outstanding items, four weeks scaffolded in the template.
Trigger
Each week during cleanup
End state
Client current on status and outstanding items
PROCESS 3.2
Reconciliation and Tie-Out Process
Reconcile each bank account through the current month after the backlog is coded.
Trigger
Backlog coded
End state
Every bank account reconciled to date
Reconcile every credit card account through the current month. Access issues can make bank and card timing diverge, so card reconciliation is tracked separately.
Trigger
Bank reconciliations complete or card statements become available
End state
Every credit card account reconciled to date
Anchor the cleaned books to the last filed return. Sometimes this is deferred or marked off because the client's return is not done yet.
Trigger
Accounts reconciled
End state
Books tie to the last available tax return or unavailable return is documented
PROCESS 3.3
Financial Statement Cleanup Process
Work an under-10-item checklist scaled to the balance-sheet size, with owner back-and-forth on items like dormant intercompany loans.
Trigger
Accounts reconciled
End state
Balance sheet cleaned and open owner questions documented
Apply profit-and-loss cleanup criteria distinct from the balance sheet, including restructuring expenses so the statement tells the story, such as cost of goods sold placement.
Trigger
Balance sheet cleanup complete
End state
Profit and loss statement cleaned for management readability
Remove duplicate accounts and fix chart structure, including cleanup-template chart-of-accounts tasks.
Trigger
Profit and loss cleanup complete
End state
Chart of accounts cleaned and ready for recurring service
PROCESS 3.4
Compliance Service Setup Process
Completing the payroll task auto-creates the Payroll Setup template. Includes gaining access to the client's payroll company, confirming access to payroll reports, and posting the adjusting journal entry that reconciles payroll liabilities and accounts to reports. OESC number, rate, and credentials go to the client vault.
Trigger
Cleanup surfaces a payroll need
End state
Payroll setup template created and required credentials identified
Completing the sales-tax task auto-creates the sales tax setup template, and filing credentials are vaulted.
Trigger
Cleanup surfaces a sales tax need
End state
Sales tax setup template created and filing credentials vaulted
Template-traced to Financial Cents template 5082775. Request company data, employee data, client answers, and prior-provider payroll information; connect the bank, configure payroll settings, sign tax forms, and capture the 941 Schedule B deposit schedule. This is distinct from from-scratch payroll setup.
Trigger
Cleanup surfaces payroll already running at another provider
End state
Payroll running in QuickBooks with prior-provider history captured
PROCESS 3.5
Cleanup Completion Process
Review notes prepared with Claude assistance; recorded video commentary where the client's tier includes it.
Trigger
Cleanup books complete
End state
Review notes and commentary ready
External handoff: financials plus the completion email go through the Financial Cents portal. The controller also sends a team chat including the firm administrator.
Trigger
Review notes ready
End state
Client has the cleanup-complete package and the firm administrator is notified
PROCESS 3.6
Post-Cleanup Billing Process
Determine the final cleanup amount, run the remaining cleanup draft, and email the client the payment details with the survey link. Per the engagement and welcome-email examples, the deposit drafted at cleanup start is 50 percent of the quoted range's lower bound, and the final draft depends on time spent within the engagement's disclosed floor and ceiling.
Trigger
Firm administrator notified that cleanup is complete
End state
Final cleanup payment drafted and client notified
The folder's only client survey is the Client Onboarding Survey Google Form; whether it is the survey sent at cleanup completion is unconfirmed, because TGF evidence shows it sent at onboarding close while cleanup remained open. The client form asks five satisfaction questions about clarity, communication, confidence, overall satisfaction, and improvements. Send the Team of 3 - Post-Cleanup Project Survey to the team within two weeks of cleanup completion; the retro covers hours versus expectation, challenges, learnings, records quality, and process suggestions that feed future quote calibration and process improvement.
Trigger
Final cleanup payment details sent
End state
Client and team surveys sent
PROCESS 3.7
Post-Cleanup Follow-Up Process
The stabilization checkpoint scheduled at kickoff. TGF also shows a 45-day check-in; whether that was a one-off remains an operator question.
Trigger
90 days from kickoff
End state
Check-in held and relationship confirmed healthy
Complete the client intro sheet from the Post Cleanup template. The Client Overview Questionnaire in Jennifer's folder matches this sheet's purpose: a video introduction link plus per-client operating context such as entity type, accounting method for financials versus tax, software beyond QBO, main point of contact, services provided, recurring issues, known challenges, payroll provider, classes or projects, receipts policy, deposit pre-entry requirements, and intercompany loans to watch. Identification with the Post Cleanup template's intro sheet still needs team confirmation.
Trigger
Post-cleanup project opens
End state
Client intro sheet complete or contents question logged
One of the long-tail items moved out of cleanup in the workshop; who writes it is unconfirmed. The owner receives referral details at onboarding.
Trigger
Referral source details available after cleanup
End state
Referral source thanked or ownership question logged
4
Recurring Service Delivery
Multiple roles
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from Lead Accountant to Staff Accountant. Transferred: stabilized books and the recurring project schedule. Acceptance criteria: recurring projects live in Financial Cents with correct dates. The engine of the business: weekly bookkeeping feeds month-end close feeds monthly review and delivery, repeating for the life of the client. Bill pay and invoicing run inside the weekly bookkeeping workflow; payroll administration, sales tax, and mixed beverage filings run as their own recurring projects in Process 4.4; standing service administration, including bill pay setup, point-of-contact changes, and periodic client audits, runs alongside the loops in Process 4.5. Add-ons are deliberately activated 30 to 90 days after onboarding. Ends only when the client moves toward offboarding; the annual compliance phase runs alongside every year.
PROCESS 4.1
Weekly Bookkeeping Process
Summary: Dext publish, point-of-sale pulls, bill pay, invoicing, categorization, accounts payable cleanup, and weekly report send for subscribed clients. Full detail in the Weekly Bookkeeping Workflow map.
Trigger
Weekly recurring project opens
End state
Week's books, add-ons, and weekly reporting current where applicable
Summary: questionable transactions are coded to Ask My Accountant, the lead is tagged in Financial Cents, the lead resolves known items, and unresolved items push to the client through Financial Cents.
Trigger
Unknown items remain after categorization
End state
Unknowns in front of someone who can resolve them
PROCESS 4.2
Month-End Close Process
Summary: statements, feeds, reconciliations, recurring journal entries, report refresh with disclaimer. Full detail in the Month-End Close Workflow map.
Trigger
Month-end recurring project opens
End state
Reconciled month with current reports
Summary: contractor payment list to the lead, review project signaled.
Trigger
Close tasks complete
End state
Review project signaled ready
PROCESS 4.3
Monthly Review Process
Summary: adjusting entries, lead review, internal notes, controller final review. Full detail in the Monthly Client Review Workflow map.
Trigger
Review project signaled
End state
Financials approved for delivery
Summary: AI-drafted external narrative, portal delivery, Drive archive. The client-facing goal is delivery by the 20th of the month or the per-client agreed date, per the welcome packet.
Trigger
Financials approved
End state
Client has the month's package
PROCESS 4.4
Recurring Compliance Process
Run payroll administration through QuickBooks for clients whose engagement includes payroll. The firm only administers payroll through QuickBooks except rare legacy outliers.
Trigger
Payroll period opens for a payroll-administration client
End state
Payroll submitted and summary shared with the client
Prepare and file the recurring Oklahoma sales tax return from point-of-sale and QuickBooks information, schedule payment, save confirmations, and notify the client and controller.
Trigger
Sales tax filing period opens
End state
Sales tax return filed and payment scheduled
Prepare and file the mixed beverage return from POS alcohol sales detail. This is template-traced but was not discussed in the workshop.
Trigger
Mixed beverage filing period opens
End state
Mixed beverage return filed and archived
PROCESS 4.5
Client Service Administration Process
Template-traced to Financial Cents templates 10002792 and 7333884. Stand up the bill pay rail when the add-on activates 30 to 90 days after onboarding. Depending on client platform, configure QBO Bill Pay verification, bank, vendor, bill entry, payment approval, and payment monitoring, or assign Bill.com users and connect the bank through Plaid.
Trigger
Bill pay add-on activates for the client
End state
Bill pay platform live and ready for the weekly loop
Template-traced to Financial Cents template 10323646. On a contact change, the client rotates login credentials for banks, cards, and loans, then the departing contact is removed from Dext, Financial Cents, and payroll when the firm administers it.
Trigger
Client notifies the firm of a point-of-contact change
End state
Departing contact holds no access and the new contact is live everywhere
Template-traced to Financial Cents template 13564745. Verify team assignment, Financial Cents groups, About-section data, pricing on the client tracker against recent invoices, project hygiene, and profitability-dashboard fields including quote date, budgeted hours, and QBO rules count.
Trigger
Periodic client-audit cycle, cadence unconfirmed
End state
Client records verified accurate or corrections queued
Per the engagement terms, accounting fees increase each August by CPI-U, never less than 3.5 percent, excluding Intuit subscription fees. How the increase is executed and communicated has not been discussed with the team.
Trigger
August fee review window opens
End state
Monthly fees updated per the engagement escalator
5
Annual Compliance
Multiple roles
This phase begins as the annual compliance cycle opens around year end. Transferred: the year's contractor payment lists, the reconciled December close, and prior-year tax-return materials. Acceptance criteria: December close complete enough to start the staged year-end review and 1099 package eligibility identified. For 1099s, the workshop recorded Basic-tier clients as excluded, while the team handoff example offers Basic clients 1099 prep available for an additional fee; working state is that 1099 filing is not included in Basic and runs only where the package includes it or the client buys it as an add-on. W-9 collection also happens opportunistically through the year. Year-end work is split between a staged multi-role review and a close-out process: lead pre-work and tie-out, staff review, lead review, controller final review, then client delivery, book lock, accountant handoff, and new-year payroll rate setup. Ends when 1099s are filed where included, year-end review is complete, the package is delivered, and the accountant AJE loop and new-year rate setup are open or complete as applicable.
PROCESS 5.1
1099 Filing Process
Clean vendor records using the 1099 Vendor Cleanup template. TGF's open 1099 projects were a template-assignment error because it is a Basic-tier client and should not have had 1099 tasks assigned at onboarding.
Trigger
Year-end 1099 cycle opens
End state
Vendor records accurate for filing
Pull vendor reports from QuickBooks per client and record who qualifies and whether a W-9 is on file in the large all-clients Google Sheet. The 1099 workbook uses a 600 dollar vendor-payment threshold and sweeps W-9-relevant categories including contractors, equipment rental, advertising and marketing, legal and professional fees including attorney fees, repairs, interest to individuals, rent, leasehold improvements, WIP or construction in process, lease commissions, and prepaid rent. Eligibility is worked per vendor through a gated chain: W-9 received gates marking 1099 required, with standard disqualifiers recorded for S or C corporations except attorneys, credit-card-paid vendors, supplies or materials only, and employees. The process notes direct staff and leads to check vendor files for an existing W-9 before requesting one; the Oklahoma SOS lookup resource is recorded, but that reminder was deliberately left out of the template.
Trigger
Vendor cleanup complete
End state
Vendor eligibility and W-9 status recorded in the tracking sheet
Collect vendor email addresses from the client for eligible vendors that lack W-9s. High-volume clients are sent the Tax1099 import template so they maintain vendor data in the correct format through the year.
Trigger
Eligible vendors lack W-9s
End state
Vendor emails recorded for the request run
Enter vendor emails into Tax1099, which sends the request link. The firm separately emails vendors a heads-up that the Tax1099 email is legitimate.
Trigger
Vendor emails recorded
End state
W-9 request links sent through the filing software
Review and submit the 1099 filings through Tax1099; copies are saved to the archive. In January, amounts are entered by leads only, loan amounts are tied out to statements before filing, attorneys are marked as attorney fees because attorneys receive a 1099 even when incorporated, and each filing passes "submitted for review" before final IRS submission. The workbook's filed-forms column reads "Filed in Dropbox," which is carried as an operator question.
Trigger
W-9 request run complete and vendor data ready
End state
1099s filed and archived
Record billing details on the filings master tab of the 1099 tracker and bill clients for completed 1099 filings. Clients are billed a 70 dollar base covering federal and state filing and five forms, plus 10 dollars per additional form. The tracker records the firm's own Tax1099 cost under "Amount billed to Paxus" against the client bill, plus pass-throughs such as state reconciliation filings and corrected forms. The improvement notes ask that each client be listed once on the master filing tab because duplicate entries make billing difficult; the live tab still carries duplicates. A summary tab tracks per-client staff, lead, and controller assignments plus stage completion through the season.
Trigger
Filings submitted
End state
1099 billing recorded and invoiced
PROCESS 5.2
Year-End Review Process
Confirm the books agree with the last filed return before closing the year, using the Tax Return Tie out Google Sheet. Prior-year balances are never adjusted during year-end review because that breaks the completed tie-out. Chase the tax accountant if no return has been received.
Trigger
December close complete
End state
Prior-year tie-out confirmed
Lead pre-work continues with client confirmations. When prior-year adjusting entries are missing, the tax return is requested from the client and the entries are made. The lead contacts the client for end-of-year expenses and uncleared checks, 12/31 petty cash, AR aging, ending inventory, AP confirmation, and credit-card and loan statements where the firm lacks access. Petty cash and inventory confirmations become adjusting entries with the client's email attached, inventory posts against COGS, accrual clients write off bad debt, cash-basis clients void or credit-memo, and the controller is consulted before write-offs.
Trigger
Year-end review opens after the December close
End state
Client confirmations and statements in hand
Staff perform the checklist review using the tax-return-basis "Yearly" report set, with bank and card reconciliations, stale item cleanup, P&L reasonability, Uncategorized, unapplied, and Suspense balances, other-income accuracy, and class coding checked against the template. The Year End Checklist remains the SOP home for the full item list. Staff document exceptions in the comment column and check the Financial Cents box to signal the lead.
Trigger
Client confirmations and statements in hand
End state
Staff review complete and lead signaled
The lead reviews balance-sheet and payroll areas against the Year End Checklist, using the no-prior-year-adjustment rule after tie-out, the 500 dollar or 2,500 dollar capitalization threshold, QBO-payroll-only scoping for payroll tax-liability tie-outs, and loan-statement support saved to the client's Drive loans folder. Undeposited funds are reviewed, explained, and routed for resolution where old items remain. The lead records exceptions in the comment column and signals the controller in Financial Cents.
Trigger
Staff review complete
End state
Lead review complete and controller signaled
The controller reviews material balances, including accrued income closed before the December sales-tax filing and sales-tax payable and payroll liabilities set to the amounts actually paid in January. Review exceptions are resolved or documented before close-out begins.
Trigger
Lead review complete and controller signaled
End state
Material balances tax-ready and review complete
PROCESS 5.3
Year-End Close-Out Process
Send the year-end financials and analysis to the client after controller final review and confirmed tie-out. This is the external close-out package that precedes locking the books.
Trigger
Controller final review complete and tie-out confirmed
End state
Year-end package delivered
Mark the books closed in QuickBooks Online after the controller's final review. The firm's explicit rule is not to set a password.
Trigger
Year-end package delivered
End state
Year locked in QuickBooks Online
Confirm the tax accountant has QuickBooks Online access and invite them if not. Email that year-end is complete and request the adjusting journal entries back once the return is filed. The Financial Cents project closes when the transfer is done.
Trigger
Year locked in QuickBooks Online
End state
Accountant notified and AJE-return loop open
Use the EOY - OESC Rate template for payroll clients. The client uploads the OESC rate letter, and the firm updates the rate in QuickBooks Online and sends the related W-2 handling email.
Trigger
New OESC rate letter received for a payroll client
End state
OESC rate updated for the new year
6
Advisory Services
Controller
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from the lead accounting function into the advisory function. Transferred: delivered monthly financials for clients whose tier includes advisory. Acceptance criteria: monthly package delivered and the client ready for scheduling. In the confirmed ladder, Basic and Full Service sit below the controller advisory entitlement; the controller advisory call is Premium and above. CFO Partner adds a quarterly forward-looking CFO call and an annual budget and cash-flow forecast. A separate fractional-CFO engagement, sold on its own quote with 2 to 3 meetings a month, remains distinct and is not mapped here. Ends as a standing rhythm that continues for the life of the advisory engagement.
PROCESS 6.1
Advisory Call Process
Summary of the canonical Advisory Call Process in the Monthly Client Review Workflow. The scheduling link and three-month skip check-in are described there.
Trigger
Advisory-tier package delivered and call booked
End state
Advisory agenda ready for the call
Summary of the canonical Advisory Call Process in the Monthly Client Review Workflow. The scheduling link and three-month skip check-in are described there.
Trigger
Advisory agenda ready
End state
Advisory call held or skip pattern escalated
7
Offboarding
Firm Administrator + Lead Accountant
Functional handoff in
This phase begins with a Functional handoff from the service team to Firm Administrator. Transferred: the decision that service is ending and the last service date. Acceptance criteria: administrator notified after final financials are sent. Billing stops, recurring work stops, access unwinds everywhere, and records archive. The firm deliberately keeps offboarding human-led with minimal AI involvement because terminations are sensitive. This phase ends the workflow when the final survey is out, the QuickBooks subscription is transferred, and the client folder is in Inactive.
PROCESS 7.1
Service Termination Process
Cancel the recurring monthly sales receipt charge.
Trigger
Offboarding decision made
End state
No further recurring charges
Remove recurring projects in Financial Cents, stop recurring tasks and communications, and update the bookkeeper on the status change.
Trigger
Billing canceled
End state
No recurring work scheduled
Update the client on payroll services and schedules during offboarding, including billable training when needed.
Trigger
Recurring work stopped for a client with payroll service
End state
Client has payroll transition expectations and training path
Ensure every open billable is invoiced before access unwinds.
Trigger
Recurring work stopped
End state
All billable work invoiced
Hide the client from the client tracker and remove them from the Tax Return Tie out Google Sheet.
Trigger
All billable work invoiced
End state
Client removed from active operational tracking
Remove the client logo from the website.
Trigger
Operational trackers updated
End state
No client presence on firm surfaces
PROCESS 7.2
Access Removal Process
Clean the client's QBO file of firm-created automation before handback.
Trigger
Last service date passed
End state
Client QBO file clean of firm automation
Make the client admin, transfer billing, and follow up so the client removes the firm's user from their account.
Trigger
QBO file cleaned
End state
Client owns their subscription with firm access removed
Passwords, app access, Financial Cents assignments, bank statement project membership, and bookkeeper file access all revoke.
Trigger
Subscription transferred
End state
No team member retains client access
PROCESS 7.3
Archive and Exit Process
Google Drive folder relocates to Inactive; the Revenue Growth tracker updates and the client leaves the mailing list after the last client service date. Per the engagement terms, records are retained at least seven years after the engagement ends, and clients are responsible for keeping their own copies.
Trigger
Access removal complete
End state
Client records archived
The Client Offboarding Survey Google Form closes the relationship. It captures tenure, a satisfaction matrix on accuracy, timeliness, communication, expertise, and value, the primary offboarding reason, and free-text feedback. The survey may remain anonymous and doubles as a review-generation touchpoint because it closes with a Google review ask.
Trigger
Records archived
End state
Survey sent and relationship closed
WORKFLOW MAP REVIEW
Notes & Assumptions
Sources and confidence
- Phase 1 is now validated by the 2026-07-07 workshop and is no longer a one-call reconstruction.
- Phase 3 was restructured per the workshop and the Client - Cleanup and Client - Post Cleanup templates.
- Phase 6 is grounded in workshop testimony: advisory-tier service is part of the standard quote, while fractional CFO is a separate workflow.
- Phases 2 through 5 and 7 trace to Financial Cents templates: Client Onboarding, Kick-Off Call, Cleanup, Post Cleanup, recurring loop templates, 1099 End of Year, Tax Returns, and Client Offboarding.
- Setup, conversion, and client-admin template family folded in 2026-07-08: Adding QBO Subscription, QBD/Sage conversions, Bill Pay Set-up (QBO and Bill.com), Payroll Conversion, Point of Contact Change, Client Audit. These are client-conditional projects TGF never carried.
- TGF Holdings validates the chain end to end: created March 13, onboarding closed May 11, cleanup opened March and still open, roughly ten weekly instances, three month-end closes, three reviews, plus open Tax Returns, 1099s, and two Vendor Cleanup projects.
- The whole map is marked DRAFT pending the follow-up review session (~2026-07-14).
Structure notes
- Processes 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 6.1 are reusable process references; their canonical definitions live in the detailed workflow maps. Activities shown here are summaries, not re-definitions.
- Process 2.1 intentionally carries seven summary activities. That is acceptable here because the canonical onboarding map carries the detailed seven-phase process.
- Phase 4 runs continuously and phase 5 annually; the linear phase order flattens what is really a loop with an annual overlay.
- Old advisory draft activities for separate reporting, strategy, and quarterly CFO calls were removed. The monthly advisory call is canonical in the Monthly Client Review Workflow; CFO cadence belongs to a separate future workflow.
Role notes
- Phase 1 screening is owned by the firm administrator; discovery and pricing are owned by senior/owner roles. A second senior accountant also runs discovery calls.
- Pods equal staff, lead, and controller, with a CFO added when sold. People float across roles by client complexity.
- Controller ownership of the Financial Statement Cleanup Process is tentative: the cleanup template assigns chart-of-accounts cleanup to the Lead Accountant while the workshop described statement cleanup as controller-level judgment; both positions logged.
- Process 4.4 role follows the FC template roles: Payroll Administration, OK Sales Tax Filing, and Mixed Beverage Return all carry Lead Accountant; staff involvement unconfirmed.
- Thirteen users exist in Financial Cents; the definitive user-to-role mapping remains a session question.
Assumptions to verify
- Function split applied (2026-07-07 workshop): staff accounting, lead accounting, controller accounting, CFO, and advisory are mapped as distinct functions, so handoffs between them are typed Functional. The full split was confirmed by the operator on 2026-07-08 (staff accounting and lead accounting are their own functions); the earlier decision-record wording that kept staff/lead role-level is superseded.
- Cleanup to recurring service was originally described by the team as a role handoff within the pod, but the full function split makes Lead Accountant to Staff Accountant a Functional handoff in this map.
- Stale Financial Cents projects are expected: open projects can be long-tail follow-ups, not remaining work. Any agent consuming Financial Cents state needs explicit staleness rules.
- Capacity management runs through an internal capacity app pulling QuickBooks Time against expected role utilization and budgeted hours per client. The workshop placed budgets in the master tracker, while the team handoff email example draws budgeted hours from the per-client Service Fee Template refined by the lead after kickoff; the relationship between those two homes remains open in Q7. The app is being rebuilt as a Claude-designed dashboard; the platform name was unintelligible in the transcript, possibly Base44. A Capacity App Hours Update template exists. This is a firm-internal workflow and out of scope for the client lifecycle map.
- Fractional CFO services are a separate workflow to map later.
- The recurring service loop is assumed identical across tiers except for the advisory call and client-conditional add-ons; tier differences may run deeper.
- Future idea, not a constraint: replace email-reply screening with an intake form that auto-creates the Prospective folder and tracker entry (workshop; explicitly not current-state).
- 1099 improvement direction (future-state): move the current spreadsheet work into dedicated Financial Cents W-9 and 1099 projects, with year-round collection and AI support for client emails and W-9 chase.
- Engagement-level: every activity AI will assist requires explicit exit/validation criteria before automation (Claude-does / Codex-reviews pattern).
- The 2026 Paxus 1099 workbook is the current source for Process 5.1; no separate step-by-step training documents arrived in the folder.
- Cleanup-template tasks "Add Paxus' monthly draft recurring expense to QBO" and "Add internal notes template to FC Notes" are SOP-level detail inside 3.1.1/3.1.2, not separate activities.
- TGF sits in three different staff client groups simultaneously (and one named person is absent from the user list), so pod assignment conventions need explaining.
FOR THE MAPPING SESSION
All open questions (12)
Phase 1: Client Acquisition
Jump to phase ↑- Q7
Budgeted hours appear in both the workshop's master tracker position and the handoff-email Service Fee Template example refined by the lead after kickoff. Which is canonical, is the capacity app platform Base44, and should budgeted hours move there long-term?
The transcript rendered the platform name unintelligibly; Base44 is the best guess.
Phase 3: Cleanup and Stabilization
Jump to phase ↑- Q9
Confirm the "Client Overview Questionnaire" (video intro + per-client operating context) is the client intro sheet the Post Cleanup template refers to.
Phase 4: Recurring Service Delivery
Jump to phase ↑- Q12
Who runs the client setup audit (template 13564745) and on what cadence?
Phase 5: Annual Compliance
Jump to phase ↑- Q8
The 1099 filing platform is confirmed as Tax1099. Does Tax1099's API cover the vendor W-9 request step (the automation candidate from the workshop)?
- Q10
The 1099 workbook archives filed forms to Dropbox ("1099's Filed in Dropbox") while everything else lives in Google Drive - is Dropbox an active archive or legacy naming?
- Q11
Walk the Tax Returns template (7959692): what does the firm actually do for client tax returns versus the outside tax accountant?
Phase 6: Advisory Services
Jump to phase ↑- Q4
Map the fractional CFO workflow as its own engagement (separate quote, 2 to 3 meetings a month, cross-function participation). When?
Workflow-wide
- Q1
Tier ladder confirmed from the July 2026 quote and handoff examples: Basic -> Full Service -> Premium -> CFO Partner. Where does the "Platinum" label in the review template fit (legacy name or live tier), and is the cleanup assessment's "Tier 1 (Simple)" vocabulary a separate cleanup-complexity scale?
- Q2
Map the thirteen Financial Cents users to roles: the role map is known from the session, but the definitive user-to-role roster is still needed.
- Q3
Who is TGF's pod today?
The client sits in three different staff groups and one group's name matches no current user.
- Q5
Multi-entity relationships: the quote example prices two entities on one quote with one team ("monthly financial statements (both entities)"), and 1099 billing consolidates related entities ("Billed with apartments"). How are the relationships structured in Financial Cents and QuickBooks?
- Q6
The Client Overview Questionnaire captures most per-client variables (method, software, payroll provider, classes, receipts policy, deposit rules, intercompany). Is it the canonical capture doc, and what does the team track that it misses (billing rail, bank account counts, tier, pod)?