PingtailDocument chase SOP for bookkeepers
A standard operating procedure your whole team can follow: request, check, remind, escalate, close. With roles and timings.
Most firms have a way of collecting documents, but it is unwritten. It changes with each person and fails when someone is on holiday. A written one can be followed by a new hire on their first day.
This is a document chase SOP for bookkeeping firms: request, check, remind, escalate, close, with a named role and a timing for each step. Copy it, change the names and the days to fit your firm, and run it with email and a shared tracker.
Purpose and scope
Purpose: every document the firm needs is requested once, in clear words, checked on arrival, followed up on fixed days, and received or escalated before the work starts.
Scope: all recurring and one-off document requests to clients: monthly bookkeeping, payroll, sales tax, year-end and onboarding.
One rule sits under everything else: the status of every document is written in one place, and one named person is responsible for it.
Roles
In a small firm one person holds several of these. Write the names down anyway.
| Role | Who it usually is | Responsible for |
|---|---|---|
| Request owner | The bookkeeper for that client | The request, reminders, the call, closing. The only person who writes to the client about documents. |
| Reviewer | The request owner, or a second bookkeeper | Opening each file within one working day: received, or sent back for a fix. |
| Client contact | For example Mira Chen at Bright Dental | Sending the documents. |
| Escalation owner | The firm owner or a manager | Deciding when the call does not work: start without the item, move the date, or pause the engagement. |
Statuses and what they mean
Use the same words in the tracker, in emails and in conversation. Some statuses describe the whole request and some describe one item.
| Status | Applies to | Definition | Who acts next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not opened yet | Request | Sent, and no sign the client has seen it. | Request owner: check the address, then the normal reminders. |
| Waiting for client | Request or item | Required items are open and the due date has not passed. | Client. The request owner keeps the reminder days. |
| To review | Item | A file has arrived and nobody at the firm has opened it. | Reviewer, within one working day. |
| Sent back for a fix | Item | The file was not usable and the client has been told why in writing. | Client. The item appears in the next reminder. |
| Received | Item | Opened and checked: right account, right period, all pages, readable. | Nobody. |
| Not applicable, approved | Item | The client said the item does not exist this period, gave a reason, and the firm agreed. | Nobody. |
| Overdue | Request | The due date has passed and a required item is not received. | Request owner: follow the escalation rule. |
| Complete | Request | Every required item is received, or not applicable and approved. | Nobody. Work can start. |
Firms often skip two of these. "To review" is where wrong files wait unnoticed. "Not applicable, approved" stops you asking every month for a statement on a loan paid off in June.
The document chase SOP, step by step
- Prepare the request (request owner, first working day of the period). Start from the client's saved list. Remove items that are permanently not applicable and add items carried forward. Every item names the document, the account, the period and the format; the monthly document checklist has ready wording.
- Set the due date (request owner). Count back from the day the work must start, and leave room for one fix cycle.
- Send the request (request owner) to the client contact, with one list and one way to send files. Record the send date. The status is "not opened yet".
- Review every file within one working day (reviewer). Check the account, the period, the page count and that it can be read (the bank statement checklist has the detail). Mark the item "received", or go to step 5.
- Send back a wrong file the same day (reviewer) with a note in three parts: what arrived, what is needed, where to find it. Mark the item "sent back for a fix".
- Handle "not applicable" (reviewer). When a client says an item does not exist this period, ask for the reason, then approve or refuse it.
- Send reminders on the fixed days (request owner). The rules are in the next section.
- Escalate (request owner) when the rule says so. Record the result of the call on the request.
- Close the request (request owner) using the closeout check. Carry open items into the next request when work starts without them.
How often do you remind, and when do you escalate?
Three reminders on fixed days, then a call. In full:
- Reminders go out on day 3, 7 and 12 after the send date, on working days, between 8:00 and 21:00 in the client's timezone.
- A reminder thanks the client for what has arrived and lists only what is open.
- Only the request owner sends reminders. A colleague who sees a gap tells the owner.
- Escalation: after the third reminder without the missing items, or after the same item has been sent back twice, the request owner calls the client contact within two working days. Email stops.
- If the call does not produce a date, the request goes to the escalation owner the same day, with one line: what is missing, since when, what was tried.
- A request still "not opened yet" on day 7 is a contact problem: check the address, then call.
Wording for each reminder is in the email templates for missing client documents.
Files that arrive by email
Some clients will reply with attachments whatever channel you ask them to use. Treat this as normal, and never ask them to send the file again another way.
- Whoever receives the email forwards it to the request owner the same day.
- The request owner saves the file in the client's folder, with the standard file name.
- The item is marked "to review" and reviewed like any other file.
- The tracker is updated before the next reminder day, so the client is not asked for something they already sent.
Closeout and quality check
Before a request is marked "complete", the request owner confirms:
- Every required item is "received" or "not applicable, approved".
- No item is still "to review".
- Files are named in the firm's pattern, for example {client}_{period}_{item}, and stored in the client's folder for the period.
- Items carried forward are written into the next request.
The weekly 15-minute audit
Same day and time every week, five questions:
- Which items are "to review" for more than one working day? Review them now.
- Which requests are "not opened yet" after day 7? Check the contact details.
- Which requests are "overdue"? For each: has the call happened, and what was agreed?
- Which requests have no owner, or an owner who is away? Assign a name.
- Which item was sent back most often this week? Rewrite its wording in the saved list today.
Once a month, note three numbers and compare them with your own earlier months: days from send date to complete, the share of files sent back for a fix, and the number of requests that needed a call. A rising share of files sent back means the request wording needs work; the wrong-document problem explains why.
SOP summary to copy
Fill in the brackets and hand it to a new hire.
Document chase SOP, [firm name], version [date]
1. Every request has one request owner. Only the owner writes to the client about documents.
2. Requests go out on [day of month]. Every item names the document, account, period and format. The due date is [number] working days before work starts.
3. Every file is reviewed within one working day: account, period, all pages, readable.
4. A wrong file is sent back the same day with a note: what arrived, what is needed, where to find it.
5. Reminders: day 3, 7 and 12. Working days, client's daytime. Open items only.
6. Escalation: after the third reminder, or the second return of the same item, the owner calls within two working days. No date from the call: hand to [escalation owner] the same day.
7. Closeout: all required items received or not applicable, files named and stored, open items carried into the next request.
8. Weekly audit: [day and time], 15 minutes, five questions.
Questions
Do you need a document chase SOP in a firm of one?
Yes, a short one. A written procedure lets you hand follow-up to your first hire, or to a tool, without explaining everything from memory. It also protects you in a busy week: the reminder days and the escalation rule are decided in advance, so you never have to decide how long to wait.
Should the person who does the books also be the reviewer?
In a small firm, yes, because they know what a usable file looks like and they feel the delay first. What matters is the one-working-day rule: every file opened the day after it arrives. If the bookkeeper cannot manage that in busy weeks, give review to someone who can.
What if a client always sends everything late but complete?
Then the SOP is working and the due date is wrong for that client. Move their request earlier in the month, or agree a later delivery date for their books, and write the agreement on the client record. Do not add reminders: more emails to a client who already sends everything only teaches them to ignore you.
How long should you keep client files after closeout?
That depends on your engagement terms and on the record-keeping rules where you and your client are, which differ by country and by document type. Check the current rules, decide one retention period for the firm, write it in the SOP, and apply it to every client.
Doing this with Pingtail
Pingtail keeps the tracker for you. The dashboard counts open requests, files to review, overdue requests and requests not opened yet. Uploads are checked at once for the wrong period, missing pages, a locked PDF or an unreadable photo, and only a person at your firm can send a file back, always with a note. Reminders follow your schedule and list only what is missing; a file that arrived by email can be marked as received outside the tool. The full list is on the features page. You can try it on yourself first: send a test request to your own email and upload the wrong file on purpose.