Challenge
As a busy accounting firm based in Orange, NSW, Madden Partners often faced the challenge of onboarding more than 20 clients a day during peak periods — while still managing a high baseline of work throughout the year. Practice Manager Renee Atkinson, who has been with the firm for over six years, knew the existing onboarding process was slowing the team down and creating unnecessary risk.
They had tried using Typeform and reviewed other online onboarding tools, but the same issues kept coming up. After clients submitted their details, staff still had to manually re-enter the information into Xero Practice Manager (XPM). This created the risk of typos — especially in critical areas like TFNs — and was particularly overwhelming during busy seasons.
There were also compliance and privacy concerns. With platforms like Typeform, some client data was processed offshore, and collecting ID documents meant staff had to take extra steps to ensure secure disposal. The TPB and ATO recommend that ID documents not be stored, which added complexity and stress to the process. Renee and her team were spending too much time following up on missing information, double-checking records, and managing risk manually — all of which added up to a frustrating and tedious experience for both staff and clients.
Solution
IdentityCheck was introduced to streamline the entire onboarding and verification process — and reduce the workload for the team.
The new setup allowed the team to:
- Send a smart onboarding form that automatically detects whether a client is new or existing.
- Collect TFN, ID documents, and client details securely — with zero manual data entry.
- Automatically create and update client records in XPM, eliminating the need to re-type anything.
- Trigger ID verification as part of the flow, without needing to remember or manually process it.
- Avoid storing sensitive ID documents by securely disposing of them after the check is complete, while still linking the verification result in XPM for audit or review if needed.
The ID check process takes clients around one minute to complete and requires no data entry, which greatly reduces errors and client confusion. The system also ensures only approved staff can access sensitive information, aligning with best-practice privacy and compliance standards.
Ongoing support from the IdentityCheck team meant Renee could easily refine or adjust workflows over time — keeping things running smoothly as the practice continued to grow. Examples include updated handling of existing client information for repeat tax return customers, and the modification of name handling to support ATO portal formatting requirements.
Results
With IdentityCheck in place, Madden Partners now enjoys a fast, secure, and scalable way to bring clients into the practice — without the friction of manual work.
- ~1 hour saved per new client onboarded
- 10X+ ROI through time savings and reduced error risk
- Improved client experience with fast, frustration-free ID checks
- Clear separation between new and existing workflows, eliminating guesswork
- Greater compliance confidence, especially around handling of TFNs and ID documents
“It’s been a well-oiled machine, so we’re loving it!”
— Renee Atkinson, Practice Manager
