How your team handles the work
In an accounting firm, the valuable records are seldom the returns. What matters is the paperwork showing how a careful team arrives at a finished file:
- Checklists for engagements and templates for workpapers
- Month end and year end close procedures, in the order they really run
- Notes from review and how each one gets resolved
- Internal guides that walk your staff through standards and positions
- Your request, staffing and billing routines
You hold on to your methods
The original files stay where they are, and credentials are never requested. License Your Data prepares the copy, and buyers license only what you approved. If a template, checklist or folder is part of what makes your firm distinctive, you can keep it out.
Placeholders replace identifiers
Whatever stays in scope has clients, individuals and companies renamed with placeholders, as well as addresses and account numbers. Your partners and staff are included in that. You review a sample of the copy and approve it before it goes anywhere, so your firm sees the outcome before anyone else.
Taxpayer data and client files can stay out
Tax return information carries strict confidentiality rules. Taxpayer data and client files can stay out of the copy completely, and many firms choose to leave their tax software out of scope from the start. The firm decides with counsel whether tax related items have a place in scope. Legal advice on this is not something we give.
A common starting point
The estimate takes about a minute and needs no documents. On the first short call, it helps to say up front which systems are off the table, such as tax software or client portals, so the conversation stays on internal procedures and templates. Plan time into the schedule if one of the partners or counsel would like to review the sample. Busy season works well for getting a range, and just as well for holding off on the next steps. Nothing moves until you approve.
Questions we hear from partners
Must client work be part of it?
No. You choose what is in scope, and client files can stay out entirely.
What will the firm pay?
Nothing. There is no cost to you.
Who sees our records before we approve?
The work is done under NDA, and sharing waits until you have approved a sample.
See my firm's range.
Your range is set by firm size and how long you have operated. You need about a minute.
How many employees does your company have?
Indicative estimate based on your answers. Not an offer or guarantee.