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Automate monthly bookkeeping workflows

Firm owners, practice managers, and senior bookkeepers can automate recurring monthly bookkeeping workflows — requesting monthly statements, reconciling accounts, delivering financial reports, and billing clients.

Overview of the bookkeeping automation chain

Section titled “Overview of the bookkeeping automation chain”

A complete bookkeeping automation chain connects five setup steps in Assisterp:

  1. Service template & tag: Defines the monthly bookkeeping service structure and links it to a service tag (such as BK-MONTHLY or BK-QUARTERLY).
  2. Job template: Defines the recurring monthly job structure, period start/end offsets, checklist tasks, and invoice templates.
  3. Pipeline & stage automations: Defines the workflow board and attaches automated emails, tasks, and stage auto-move rules.
  4. Pipeline trigger: Listens for On Service Update and launches recurring bookkeeping jobs when a bookkeeping service tag is attached to a client.
  5. Client service: Attaching the bookkeeping service to a client record to start the automated schedule.

Example real-life monthly bookkeeping pipeline stages

Section titled “Example real-life monthly bookkeeping pipeline stages”

Below is a typical 6-stage pipeline layout used by accounting practices for monthly client bookkeeping:

[ Stage 1: Statement Request ] ──► [ Stage 2: Reconciliation ] ──► [ Stage 3: Manager Review ]
           │                               │                              │
   Auto-email client for           Auto-generate bank &            Auto-create manager
   monthly bank statements         credit card reconciliation      quality review task
                                           │
                                   (Auto-move on task completion)
                                           │
[ Stage 6: Completed & Archived ] ◄── [ Stage 5: Financial Delivery ] ◄── [ Stage 4: Client Queries ]
           │                               │                              │
   Finalize period &               Auto-email financial package   Auto-email client with
   archive completed job           & generate billing invoice     uncategorized items

Stage 1: Statement request (entry stage)

Section titled “Stage 1: Statement request (entry stage)”
  • Goal: Collect monthly bank statements, credit card statements, and merchant summaries following month-end close.
  • Stage Condition: None (first stage on the pipeline serves as entry for all new bookkeeping jobs).
  • Automations:
    • Email: Automatically emails the client’s bookkeeping contact requesting period statements (Monthly Statement Request).
    • Task: Automatically creates the intake task Collect Bank Statements & Merchant Summaries.

Stage 2: Bank reconciliation & categorization

Section titled “Stage 2: Bank reconciliation & categorization”
  • Goal: Staff reconciles bank accounts, credit cards, sales receipts, and payroll entries.
  • Automations:
    • Task: Automatically creates reconciliation tasks: Reconcile Operating Bank Account, Reconcile Credit Cards, and Categorize Unprocessed Expenses.
    • Auto-move: On. Once staff checks off all reconciliation tasks, the job automatically advances to Stage 3.

Stage 3: Manager quality review

Section titled “Stage 3: Manager quality review”
  • Goal: Senior bookkeeper or manager reviews trial balance, clearing accounts, and working papers.
  • Automations:
    • Task: Automatically creates the review task Manager Quality Review & Trial Balance Signoff.

Stage 4: Client query resolution

Section titled “Stage 4: Client query resolution”
  • Goal: Contact client regarding uncategorized transactions or missing receipts.
  • Automations:
    • Email: Automatically emails the client a summary of uncategorized transactions (Uncategorized Expense Queries).

Stage 5: Financial statement delivery & billing

Section titled “Stage 5: Financial statement delivery & billing”
  • Goal: Deliver monthly P&L and Balance Sheet financial packages to the client and bill monthly fee.
  • Automations:
    • Email: Automatically emails the compiled financial report package to the client (Monthly Financial Statements Package).
    • Invoice: Automatically generates the monthly bookkeeping service fee invoice (Invoice).

Stage 6: Completed & archived

Section titled “Stage 6: Completed & archived”
  • Goal: Finalize period records and archive completed job.
  • Automations: None required (serves as terminal stage for completed monthly jobs).

Segment special bookkeeping clients using tags

Section titled “Segment special bookkeeping clients using tags”

You can use ONE single Bookkeeping Pipeline and use Client Tags to route special client categories:

  • E-Commerce Clients (E-Commerce Tag): On Stage 2 (Reconciliation), add a Task action tagged E-Commerce that generates extra tasks: Reconcile Shopify/Amazon Merchant Clearing Accounts and Verify Sales Tax Settlements across Provinces.
  • Multi-Currency Clients (Multi-Currency Tag): On Stage 2, add a Task action tagged Multi-Currency that generates Reconcile Foreign Currency Gains/Losses.
  • VIP Accounts (VIP-Client Tag): Add an optional stage Partner Signoff with a Stage Condition Tag set to VIP-Client. Standard client jobs bypass this stage automatically.

Step 1: Verify your bookkeeping service template and tag

Section titled “Step 1: Verify your bookkeeping service template and tag”
  1. Open Settings > Templates > Service templates.
  2. Confirm you have a Bookkeeping Services template with reporting periods enabled for Monthly and Quarterly.
  3. Under Settings > Organization > Service Settings, verify your service tags (BK-MONTHLY, BK-QUARTERLY).

Step 2: Create a bookkeeping job template

Section titled “Step 2: Create a bookkeeping job template”

Define what work gets created when a bookkeeping period opens:

  1. Open Settings > WorkFlow Setting > Job Templates.
  2. Select the Service Templates tab and select Add (the plus icon).
  3. Enter a Template Name (such as Monthly Bookkeeping Processing Job).
  4. In Job Name, use shortcodes (such as Bookkeeping - [Client Name] - [Period]).
  5. Set Job Start On (Days) (such as 1 day after month end) and Job Due On (Days) (such as 15 days after month end).
  6. Under Task, attach standard bookkeeping tasks.
  7. Under Invoice, attach your standard monthly bookkeeping invoice template.
  8. Select Save.

Step 3: Configure bookkeeping pipeline stage automations

Section titled “Step 3: Configure bookkeeping pipeline stage automations”
  1. Open Settings > WorkFlow Setting > Pipelines.
  2. Select your Bookkeeping Pipeline (or select Add to build one).
  3. Create the 6 stages described in the workflow example above.
  4. On each stage, select Add Automation to attach Task, Invoice, and Email actions.
  5. Turn on Auto-move on Bank Reconciliation & Categorization so jobs advance automatically when tasks complete.

Step 4: Build the bookkeeping pipeline trigger

Section titled “Step 4: Build the bookkeeping pipeline trigger”
  1. Open Settings > WorkFlow Setting > Pipeline Trigger.
  2. Select Add (the plus icon).
  3. In Trigger When Start, select On Service Update.
  4. In Pipeline, select your Bookkeeping Pipeline.
  5. In Job Template, select your Monthly Bookkeeping Processing Job template.
  6. In Tags, select your bookkeeping service tag (BK-MONTHLY).
  7. Select Save.

Step 5: Assign the bookkeeping service to a client

Section titled “Step 5: Assign the bookkeeping service to a client”
  1. Open Clients, select a client, and go to the Services tab.
  2. Select Add New Service.
  3. In Choose a service template, select Bookkeeping Services.
  4. Set the Service Start Date for the first month.
  5. Select Frequency (Monthly) and tag (BK-MONTHLY).
  6. Select Add Service.

Assisterp creates the recurring monthly bookkeeping schedule and opens workflow jobs on your pipeline board as each month ends.