Use cases / Accountants and advisers
The client year
Client records for accountants, filed by client and year
HMRC or a client can ask about a year long after you’ve moved on to the next one. folio will keep each client’s year together, so the answer is one search away, and you’ll be able to show who has opened what.
Where it goes wrong today
A client’s year arrives in pieces, from bank statements, invoices and payroll reports to the signed accounts and a long thread of emails, and it rarely all lands in the same place.
When the question comes, often years later, you need the right version of the right document, and you need to be sure nobody has quietly replaced it since.
What folio will do
Retain
Each client’s year will be filed together and kept until the period you set for that kind of record ends.
Find
You’ll be able to search by client, year or the words inside the documents.
Hold
If HMRC opens an enquiry, you’ll be able to place a hold on that client’s records, and nothing under it will be disposed of until two people release it.
Account
Every view and change will go in your ledger, so you’ll be able to show your reviewer who opened what, and when.
What you’ll set up
- Make a retention class for each kind of record you look after, for example one for accounting records and one for your anti-money-laundering checks.
- Set up a folder for each client, with a subfolder for each year, using the client code you already have.
- File the year’s records as you finish the work, from the web app or straight from your own systems through the API.
- Decide whether opening some clients’ folders should need a reason, for the clients whose affairs you’d rather nobody browsed.
A day with folio
- You’ll file a client’s signed accounts and working papers for last year, and get a receipt for each.
- A client asks about an expense from a few years back. You’ll search their name and the year, and have the invoice in front of you in seconds.
- A letter arrives saying HMRC has opened an enquiry, so you’ll place a hold on that client’s records until it’s settled.
- Your quality reviewer will ask who has opened a sample of files this year, and you’ll export the answer from the ledger.
Where your periods come from
The Companies Act 2006 sets how long a company must retain its accounting records, and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 set the period for your customer due diligence records. Your professional body’s guidance covers much of the rest.
This page is general information, not legal advice. How long each kind of record should stay is your professional judgement, and folio will hold to whatever you set.
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Tell us what you have to keep
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