What is client onboarding? Steps and templates
Client onboarding is the process that takes a new client from signed contract to their first result with your service. It covers collecting details, verifying identity, agreeing scope, setting up access and delivering an early win. For a regulated service in Australia, it includes the customer checks the AML/CTF Act requires first.
Client onboarding takes a new client from signed contract to their first result with your service. You collect their details, verify who they are, agree the scope, set up access and deliver an early win. In regulated professions such as accounting and law, it also includes the identity checks the AML/CTF Act requires.
What does client onboarding include?
Onboarding has two sides. The operational side is documents, identity checks, account setup, payment and the signed service agreement.
The relationship side is introducing your team, explaining how you will work together and setting response times. A structured onboarding process cuts repeat questions and late information.
From 1 July 2026, accountants, lawyers and other professionals who provide a designated service have anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations. Examples are holding client money for a transaction or creating a company or trust. Giving general advice is not enough on its own.
Key point
Under Australia’s AML/CTF Act, a business providing a designated service must complete initial customer due diligence before it starts providing that service.
AUSTRAC’s initial CDD guidance sets out what to collect. Our CDD checklist turns it into steps.
How do you map the client journey?
Write down what happens from signature to first result: every step, who owns it and how long it takes. Without a map, each client gets a different experience. Common milestones for a professional services firm:
- Contract signed and first payment received
- Identity verified, where the law requires it
- Client information collected and checked
- System or portal access set up
- Kickoff meeting held
- First deliverable sent
- First review or feedback session
Work backwards from the result the client wants. Each milestone should change something the client can see; if it does not, it is internal admin.
For each milestone, record the touchpoint, its owner, what the client must do and the timeframe you aim for:
| Stage | Touchpoint | Owner | Client action | Aim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract signed | Welcome email | Sales | None | Within 1 hour |
| Identity verification | Secure ID link | Compliance | Upload documents | Within 24 hours |
| Information collection | Intake form | Operations | Complete form | Within 48 hours |
| System setup | Access email | IT | Log in | Within 24 hours |
| Kickoff | Calendar invitation | Account manager | Attend | Within 5 business days |
Tasks get dropped at handoffs, where work moves from one person to another. Name the trigger for each handoff and who is told. Base each timeframe on how long the step takes now, with room for client replies.
What should you collect, and when do you verify identity?
Five workflows, one record per client
The compliance spine of onboarding, kept against the client record
Sources: StackGo workflow definitions; AUSTRAC, Overview of initial customer due diligence Reviewed
Ask only for what you need to deliver the service, meet the law or tailor the client experience. Every extra field lowers completion. Essential fields:
- Full legal name and any trading names
- Email, phone and physical address
- Business structure, Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number (ACN)
- Authorised signatories and decision makers
- The service needed and its initial scope
- Preferred contact method
- Identity documents, uploaded securely
Use conditional questions: a client who picks "individual" never sees the company questions.
Verify identity straight after intake, not weeks later. The intake form can trigger the request, send the client a secure link and write the result back to their record. Madden Partners, an accounting firm in Orange, NSW, works this way.
Where AML/CTF rules apply, verification is one step in a longer chain. Intake and Verify apply to every client; Screen, Assess and Monitor add on when the law calls for them.
How do you set scope and expectations?
Your service agreement should say what the client gets and what sits outside it. "Ongoing support" is open-ended; a dated, countable deliverable is not. An accounting firm’s scope might read:
Included:
- Monthly financial reports by the 15th of each month
- Quarterly business review, 60 minutes by video
- Business activity statement (BAS) preparation and lodgement each quarter
- Email replies within 2 business days
Not included:
- Ad hoc analysis or custom reports
- Bookkeeping or data entry
- Same-day or urgent requests
- Contact outside 9am to 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), Monday to Friday
Say which channel to use for what. Email might mean a reply in 2 business days, and a phone call is for urgent matters such as a lodgement deadline.
After the kickoff, send a written summary: scope, milestones and dates, contacts, pricing, how to request extra work and exit terms. Ask the client to reply to confirm, and keep that reply with their onboarding record.
How do you deliver first value in the first week?
An example first week, from signature to first result
Owner in brackets. Adapt the days to your own service.
- Day 0
Send the welcome email and intake form
Within an hour of signing (Sales).
- Day 1
Process the intake and start verification
Where AML/CTF rules apply, verify before you start the service (Operations, Compliance).
- Day 2
Set up system access
Portal, folders or software connection (IT).
- Days 3 and 4
Book the kickoff and prepare the workspace
Templates loaded before the first login (Account manager, Service team).
- Day 5
Hold the kickoff meeting
45 minutes on a fixed agenda (Account manager).
- Day 7
Deliver the first result
Something the client values, not internal admin (Service team).
Sources: StackGo, example onboarding checklist; AUSTRAC, Overview of initial customer due diligence Reviewed
Set up access before the first login: portal accounts, shared folders or a connection to the client’s accounting software. Load templates so the client never sees a blank screen.
Train in short pieces, not a three-hour session. Five to ten minute videos, a one-page quick start guide and a 30 to 45 minute live walkthrough cover most needs.
Aim for a result the client values within seven days of signing. Set the first deliverable date before you book the kickoff, then work back from it. For an accountant, that might be the first month’s reconciliation; for a law firm, an initial case assessment.
The team checklist above keeps every step on time, however busy the week.
What templates help?
Send a welcome email within one hour of signing. It tells the client what to do and when they will see results:
Subject: Welcome to [Your Company Name]
Hi [Client Name],
Your contract is active and we're ready to start.
What happens next:
1. Complete your client information form (15 minutes): [link]
2. Upload identity documents through the secure link we send
3. Join your kickoff meeting on [date] at [time]
4. Receive your first deliverable by [date]
Your main contact is [Name], [email], [phone].
[Your name]
Run a 45-minute kickoff on a fixed agenda, and paste it into the calendar invitation so the client arrives with questions:
- Welcome and introductions (5 minutes)
- Scope and deliverables, from the signed agreement (15 minutes)
- Portal, reports and document upload (15 minutes)
- Contact methods, response times and escalation (5 minutes)
- Deadlines, action items and the next check-in (5 minutes)
Where should you start?
Start with the journey map and the intake form. If identity checks are where onboarding stalls, automate them next. StackGo’s IdentityCheck runs verification from inside your customer relationship management (CRM) or practice software and writes the result back to the client record.
Sources
- AUSTRAC, Professional designated services, checked 21 October 2026
- AUSTRAC, Overview of initial customer due diligence, checked 21 October 2026