Client file handover checklist for bookkeepers and BAS agents
Forty-six steps for moving a file between practitioners in either direction — what to request, what to verify before you rely on it, what to check in the payroll, and how to close the access down cleanly.
Client handover checklist
Excel (.xlsx) · 46 steps · no signup
General information only, not tax or accounting advice.
This template is general information for Australian businesses. GST treatment, account coding, reporting obligations and deduction eligibility depend on your circumstances — confirm them with your accountant, a registered BAS agent or the ATO. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.
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What's in the handover checklist
Six stages that establish exactly what was true on the handover date.
1. Authority and notification
Written client authority, notify the outgoing practitioner, agree the effective date and who completes the period in progress.
2. Records to request
Eleven documents, from financial statements and BAS lodgements to STP history and ATO correspondence.
3. Verify before you rely on it
Reconcile the banks, agree the trial balance, agree GST to the last BAS, confirm payroll liabilities.
4. Payroll and award check
Award coverage, classifications, rates, penalties, super on OTE, and signs of historic underpayment.
5. Access and security
Transfer ownership, confirm the outgoing practitioner is removed everywhere, change shared passwords.
6. Close it out
Document what you could not verify, scope any remediation separately, and retain the working papers.
The verification steps that decide whose problem it is
Each one ties a balance you are inheriting to an external record.
| Verify | Against | If it does not agree |
|---|---|---|
| Bank balances | Closing bank statements | Unrecorded transactions |
| Opening trial balance | Last financial statements | Missing year-end journals |
| GST control account | Last lodged BAS | A BAS error, or unposted journal |
| PAYG withholding payable | Lodged STP data | Reporting and ledger have diverged |
| Superannuation payable | Fund payment records | Possible unpaid quarters |
| Leave provisions | Employee entitlements | Provisions never maintained |
Anything that does not agree gets documented and sent to the client in writing before you start processing. That single email is what separates a known inherited issue from an argument about whose period it belonged to.
Handovers are where liability blurs
The point of documenting one is that both sides know exactly what was true on the date.
Professional obligations
Registered agents have obligations around client records and responding to an incoming agent. Follow the Code of Professional Conduct that applies to your registration.
A fee dispute does not suspend them
Whether any lien applies to client records is a legal question, not an assumption. Get advice rather than withholding records on instinct.
Verify, do not accept
A trial balance handed to you is a starting point. Reconcile and agree it to external records before you build on it.
Access is security, not admin
Confirm the outgoing practitioner is removed from every system and any shared password is changed. This is the step most often skipped.
Agree who is completing the period in progress
The single most common handover dispute is about the period straddling the change — who reconciles it, who lodges the BAS, who makes the STP finalisation declaration.
Agree it in writing with all three parties at the start, along with the effective handover date. It takes one email and prevents a period going unlodged because each side assumed the other had it.
Inheriting a client with rostered staff?
The payroll stage of a handover is where the risk sits — inherited award classifications and rates that nobody has checked since setup. Bookkeepers who move those clients onto RosterElf get award interpretation handled automatically, and earn recurring monthly income per employee managed.
Recurring monthly income
$1.00–$2.00 per active employee
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$100 per new client business
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Learn moreClient handover questions
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Two years of financial statements, the last four BAS lodgements and their working papers, the trial balance at handover date, the current chart of accounts, the fixed asset register and depreciation schedules, loan and lease agreements, recent bank reconciliations, payroll reports with YTD figures and STP history, employee records, any accountant year-end journals, and ATO correspondence including payment arrangements.
Request them all at once with the client written authority attached, rather than in instalments.
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Agree it in writing before anything moves. Name who reconciles the period, who prepares and lodges the BAS, and — if it is near year end — who makes the STP finalisation declaration.
This is the most common handover dispute and it is entirely preventable with one email.
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Registered agents have professional obligations around client records and around responding to a request from an incoming agent. Start by putting the request in writing with the client authority attached.
Whether a lien applies over records in a fee dispute is a legal question rather than something to assume either way. Take advice rather than escalating on instinct.
Before you download
General information only — not legal advice
This document is a general HR template provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and may not reflect the latest changes in legislation or apply to every workplace situation. RosterElf Pty Ltd and the template provider accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this document. Users should seek independent legal advice and customise the template to ensure it complies with all relevant laws, awards and workplace requirements.