The Client Question Log: What You Asked, What Came Back, and Which Entry It Settles

A drafted entry reads "Transfer, Doe Supply," and nobody in the Firm knows what it was for. The Preparer asks the client. The answer comes back in a reply, a call or a note on a portal upload, and the entry gets fixed. By review, the Reviewer sees a corrected entry and has no way to tell what was asked, what the client said, or whether the fix matches the answer.

A client question log for an AI-drafted file keeps that trail in one place. Each row names the entry the question is about, the question as sent, who sent it and how, the answer as received, where the answer is kept in the client folder, and what the Preparer changed. The plugin drafts; the Firm's preparer prepares; the Reviewer signs off. The log is the Firm's own record, written by its people and kept in whatever systems the Firm already uses.

This piece gives a log template, a checklist for wording questions, a pre-review check and a short worked example the Firm can paste into its procedures.

Questions about meaning, not missing documents

The log holds questions about what a drafted entry means or the facts behind it: what a payment was for, whose account a statement belongs to, whether two entries describe the same thing. Asking for a document that isn't in the folder is a different job, covered in the follow-up cadence for missing items.

The two can meet. If the answer to a question turns out to be a document, the Preparer adds it to the request list and notes that on the log row.

The log template

Each row holds one question about one entry and includes the entry's ID from an entry ID scheme. Questions about the same entry have separate rows.

The Firm keeps one log per file. Copy the question as it went out, not a summary of it. Write the answer the same way: the client's own words for a written reply, and a call note for a call, marked as a call note and read back to the client where the Firm does that. The pointer says where the reply itself sits, so the Reviewer can open it.

The change column holds the Preparer's edit to the entry, or the words "no change" when the answer confirms the draft. A blank cell isn't the same as "no change," so an answered row never has a blank change cell.

Rows stay open until answered

A row is open from the moment the question goes out. It becomes answered only when the answer is in the log, the pointer is filled in and the Preparer has written the change or "no change."

A file doesn't go to the Reviewer with an open row. If the client hasn't answered and the file is otherwise ready, the Preparer can mark the row flagged for the Reviewer, with a line saying what's still unknown and which entries it touches. The Reviewer then sees the gap before reading the entries.

Wording a question that gets a usable answer

A vague question gets a vague answer, and a vague answer can't settle an entry. The Firm can ask each question to pass these lines before it goes out.

• Name the item in the client's terms: the document, the page and the wording as printed, not the Firm's entry ID.
• Ask one thing per question. Two unknowns get two rows.
• Quote what the document shows, exactly as it reads.
• Ask about facts: what it was, whose it is, what it was for. Don't ask the client to decide how the entry is handled.
• Offer choices where you can, and leave room for "something else."
• Ask about the client's records, not about how the draft was made.
• Read it as the client would. If they'd need to call to understand it, rewrite it.

"What is this?" fails most of these. "On the bank statement's page headed 'Transfers,' an entry reads 'Doe Supply.' Was it a payment to a supplier, a move to another of your accounts, or something else?" follows the checklist.

Recording the answer

The log records what came back. It doesn't score the answer, and no tool decides whether the answer is right. The Preparer reads it, decides what it means for the entry, makes the change or writes "no change," and checks the change against the entry list.

When an answer raises a new question, it gets a new row on the same entry ID. The earlier row shows answered only after its own question is answered, its pointer is filled in and the Preparer records the change or "no change"; otherwise it stays open or flagged for the Reviewer.

Before the file goes to the Reviewer

The Preparer runs these lines against the log and marks each one yes or no.

• Every entry that drew a question has a row under its entry ID.
• No row shows open; each shows answered or flagged for the Reviewer.
• Every answered row has the answer as received and a pointer to where it's kept.
• Every answered row shows a change or "no change," and each change matches the entry list.
• Every flagged row says what's unknown and which entries it touches.
• The log goes to the Reviewer with the file.

A no on any line means the Preparer fixes that line before the file goes to the Reviewer.

What the Reviewer does with the log

The Reviewer reads the log at review alongside the entry list. The Reviewer decides the next step for a flagged row and records that decision; the unresolved row remains flagged for the Reviewer.

Review notes are the Reviewer's questions to the Preparer; the question log holds the Firm's questions to the client. Both sit in front of the Reviewer at review.

Nothing in the log is a sign-off. An answered row says a question got an answer and the Preparer acted on it. The Reviewer signs off on the whole file, log included. No file is done without the Reviewer's sign-off.

If the file changes hands before review, the log goes with it, and the handoff note points to it.

A Doe example

The names, file and entries below are made up for illustration.

Alex Doe, the Preparer, works the synthetic Doe Holdings file for Jane Doe. Pat Doe is the Reviewer. Alex has questions for Jane on a few drafted entries, and the log ends up like this.

Alex runs the pre-review check. Every line is a yes, with the last row flagged instead of open. The file goes to Pat with the log.

Pat reads the log with the entry list, opens Jane's reply and the call note, and sees the label change matches the reply. For the flagged row, Pat records the decision to wait for Jane's answer, leaves the row flagged for the Reviewer and sends the file back to Alex. Jane replies, Alex records her answer as received, saves the reply in the client folder, fills in its pointer, records the change or "no change" and checks the entry list before marking the row answered and running the pre-review check again. Pat reviews the file again and signs off on the whole file.

Where TracePrep fits

We've built a TracePrep plugin that drafts these steps in your Firm's workflow, while your preparer decides and your Reviewer signs off. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you when plugin access opens.

Get on the list for plugin access

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. In TracePrep's workflow, the plugin drafts, the Firm's preparer prepares, and the Firm's Reviewer signs off. Access to the plugin is by waitlist. Keep client data inside the systems your Firm has approved.