Guide · Capacity
Bookkeeping SOPs: how to write procedures your team will actually use
Written procedures let anyone on the team do the work the same way, and let the owner step out of the details. This guide shows which procedures to write first, what each one needs, and how to keep them short enough that people use them.
Why written procedures pay off
When the steps live in one person's head, every new hire learns by watching, every absence slows the work and every client is handled a little differently. A written procedure makes the work repeatable, makes training faster and shows where a step could be automated.
Which procedures to write first
The monthly close.
The work every client gets every month.
Document requests and reminders.
The step that often causes the most waiting.
Client onboarding.
The steps that set every client up for the months after.
The monthly report.
What goes in it and when it is sent.
Year-end.
The once-a-year steps that are easiest to forget.
What each procedure needs
A clear trigger
When does this procedure start? For example, the first working day of the month.
An owner
Who does it, and who reviews it.
The steps, in order
Short, numbered steps in plain words. Include where to click when the software is involved.
What "done" looks like
How the person knows the work is finished, and where they record it.
Client-specific notes
A place for the quirks of each client, kept in the client file rather than in the procedure itself.
Keep them short, current and used
Write them while doing the work.
Record the steps the next time you do the task, not from memory.
Keep them short.
If a procedure gets long, split it.
Put them where the work happens.
A shared folder or your practice management tool, linked from the checklist.
Review them twice a year.
Software menus change, and so does how you work.
Fix them when they're wrong.
Whoever finds a gap updates the procedure.
Common mistakes
Writing a manual nobody opens.
Short checklists get used; long documents don't.
Mixing client quirks into the procedure.
Keep the procedure general and the quirks in the client file.
No owner.
Procedures without an owner go out of date.
Writing everything at once.
Start with the work that happens every month.
Questions
Do I need special software for procedures?
Not to start. A shared document per procedure, linked from your checklist, is enough for a small firm.
Who should write them?
The person who does the work, with someone else checking that the steps make sense to a new reader.
How detailed should they be?
Detailed enough that a trained bookkeeper who doesn't know your firm could follow them.
See which work is worth writing down first.
The free Snapshot takes about 3 minutes and shows where your firm's hours go.