The Handoff · For clients of retiring accountants
The goodbye letter is not a plan. This is.
Every year, thousands of small businesses get a letter that says their accountant is retiring, merging, or closing. Most of those letters explain what happens to the firm. Almost none explain what happens to you. This page does.
What actually happens when a firm winds down
Your records do not disappear, but they do scatter. Working files sit in the firm's software. Prior returns sit in an archive. Institutional memory, the reason your books made sense, walks out the door with the person who kept them.
Professional standards require your written consent before your files transfer to anyone (AICPA ethics rules), which means you, not the firm, decide where your books go next. Industry research puts client attrition after a firm transition at 15 to 30% within two years, mostly people who were never given a plan (succession studies).
So here is a plan.
The 30-day handoff
| Week | What happens | The detail |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Records & access | Consent letter signed. We collect returns, statements, and software access, directly from your retiring accountant if you prefer. You forward one email; we chase the rest. |
| Week 2 | Rebuild & verify | We reconcile what we received against bank records, map your chart of accounts, and flag anything behind or broken, with a flat quote for any catch-up work before it starts. |
| Week 3 | Parallel close | We run your first month while the old books are still warm: categorize, reconcile, and produce statements you compare against what you are used to seeing. |
| Week 4 | You approve | A walkthrough call, your questions answered, delivery dates committed in writing. If anything is not right, we fix it before the engagement continues. Then it just runs. |
What to collect from your retiring accountant
Five items cover almost everything. If you can only get three, start anyway; bank records fill most gaps.
- Last two to three years of business tax returns
- Most recent financial statements (P&L and balance sheet)
- Access to, or an export of, your accounting file (QuickBooks, Xero, or even spreadsheets)
- Payroll records and filings, if the firm handled payroll
- Any open items list: notices, unfiled forms, loose ends they know about
Ask us to make the call. Retiring accountants are usually relieved to hear a specific plan for their clients.Tell us who they are in the intake form and we take it from there, politely.
Common questions
My accountant already closed and I can't reach anyone. Is it too late?
No. We rebuild books from bank and credit card records regularly. Prior returns can be re-requested from the IRS, and most software files can be recovered or reconstructed. It is more work than a tidy handoff, and it is quoted flat before we begin, but nothing about it is fatal.
My CPA also did my taxes. Who does them now?
We keep your books tax-ready year-round and hand a complete package to a licensed tax preparer at year end. Keep the preparer you have, or we will introduce you to preparers we already work with. Bookkeeping and tax return preparation stay clearly separated, which is exactly how a good preparer wants it.
Will I lose the personal relationship I had with my old firm?
You will lose the specific person; nobody can replace thirty years of coffee. What you keep is the shape of the relationship: a named person who knows your file, answers within a business day, and tells you the truth about your numbers. That part we can promise, because it is the only way we work.
What does the handoff itself cost?
The diagnostic review and transfer coordination cost nothing. You pay for catch-up work only if your books need it, quoted flat after we have looked, and then your ongoing monthly service. See pricing for how quotes are built.
Got the letter? Start the handoff
The intake form asks one question about your current accountant. Answer it honestly and we handle the rest of the plan.