22 Nov Documenting Client Consulting
Ask the Expert – Documenting Client Consulting
Q – I have been doing consulting on QuickBooks for some time, but I am concerned that I go to the client site, do the work, get paid and leave. I do not have any documentation of what I did while I was there when a client calls me with a question sometimes months later. Do you have any suggestions?
A – This question comes up frequently in several different contexts. The documentation is important for a professional liability or errors and omissions insurance documentation. It is also important for review of the work performed by the supervisors of the consultant. And it is needed to provide better client services: a refresher for the consultant; information for another consultant taking the call; etc.
One solution we developed is a consulting form. The advantage is that the form can serve as notes in the file of what was done, what needs to be done, etc. It is also easily copied (or faxes after the fact) to keep the client on board with what they need to do too.
Another suggestion is to always make sure you take a back up with you (or e-mail it to yourself from the client”s office). Again, from a documentation standpoint it is a great record of what the file looked like when you left. In addition, it is a helpful way to quickly refresh your memory when the client calls well after the time that the consulting work was completed. For more tips and tricks such as this to improve the efficiency and client services within your consulting practice, consider learning about our QuickBooks Diagnostic Tool through a free demonstration copy.