The TracePrep Team writes the TracePrep blog for CPA, EA, and accounting firms. TracePrep is a tax-prep platform, and it also produces the Reasonable Compensation Study.
A Firm method for a client document that arrives with pages absent: an index row with pages seen and pages stated, a client request, an instruction line, marks set by hand and a pre-review check.
A Firm method for source documents the client wrote on: an index column for annotated pages, a marking table, an AI instruction line, a client question and a pre-review check.
A Firm method for a client file that won't open: an index status row, a client request message, a line for the Firm's AI instructions, a pre-review check and a Doe example.
A Firm method for keeping internal notes apart from client messages on an AI-drafted file: a two-column note log, a rewording guide, a sample message and a pre-send check.
A pairs sheet the Firm writes and keeps for any item that shows up on more than one document in the client folder: both index rows, both entry IDs, two hand marks and a note for each difference.
A Firm method for related entity files: one client folder, a folder and a file per entity, a cross-reference sheet for shared documents, and a pre-review check the Preparer runs by hand.
A Firm method: treat the client's own summary spreadsheet as the client's statement, ask for the documents behind it, note them in the file index and mark drafted entries by hand.
A per-client quirks note the Firm writes and keeps: what the client's documents look like file after file, an instruction line and a Preparer check for each quirk, and an update step.
A Firm method: one page at the front of each AI-drafted file that names the Preparer, the Reviewer, the instruction version, where each log lives and a status line.
When a Reviewer stops partway through an AI-drafted file: a pause note template, what the note is not, and a pick-up routine for coming back to the same file.
A Firm method: the Preparer walks the client file index and writes, for each document, the entry IDs where it shows up in the entry list or a short no-entry reason.
A one-page house style for wording every line on an AI-drafted entry list: who, what, which source and page, and any Preparer note, plus a style check the Preparer runs.