How to Auto-Update Clients on Work Progress

Best for:

  • Firm owners looking to build customer trust, loyalty, and retention through effective client communication.

  • Firm owners who spend too much time manually updating clients on their project status.

  • Accounting and bookkeeping firms that do not want to repeatedly create (and send) the same type of email.

As important as timely client updates are, every hour your team spends drafting (and sending) emails to clients is an hour they could have spent on high-value tasks.

The Financial Cents client update feature automates client updates, enabling accounting and bookkeeping firms to maintain regular client communication without losing focus.

Here’s how to apply this automation to your workflow to ensure consistent client updates throughout your firm.👇

Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Create Email Templates

This automation starts with creating and saving email templates for the different updates your clients need.

With Financial Cents AI features, you can create these email templates in seconds. But you can also create yours from scratch.

Here’s how to create an Email Template (From Scratch and with AI):

  • Add Specific Client and Project Information to Personalize Client Updates

The steps above will give you a generic email template you need to customize for each of your clients.

Step 2: Set Up the Automation

With the email templates ready, you can now create the automation. That way, completing a task or section will trigger an email to the client.

Here’s how to do it:

PRO TIP: Preview Emails Before They are Sent

Preview your email updates before sending them to the client. This allows you to see how it will look from the clients angle, enabling you to adjust any section of the email as you see fit.

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Step 3: Monitor and Optimize Updates

While this automation saves time and mental energy, it’s not all you need to get clients to complete the required next steps.

That’s why you need to monitor the process to ensure

  • They’re receiving the updates.
  • They can respond in the easiest way possible.

For example, if your emails are not clear enough, your clients will not know how to respond, and that makes it more difficult to get their responses on time.

PRO TIP: examine (and reduce) your use of technical jargon. They make your updates too technical and less actionable for your clients.

An accounting client portal is also helpful here. Apart from giving your clients one place to exchange files and information, it enables them to ask questions and build clarity.

  • When are the Updates Too Few or Many?

Sometimes, email frequency might be the problem with your updates. As much as your clients want to hear from you, they are busy with their core business functions.

It is then critical to understand how many updates are too frequent and how many are not.

Whether you send weekly, biweekly, or monthly updates depends on a few factors, but the urgency and importance of the update should take priority.

You wouldn’t want to stick to a weekly update schedule when you don’t have something important to say every week.

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Why Automatic Client Update is a Game Changer

More clients appreciate regular client communication updates than you think. Timely updates promote transparency, improve client relationships, and drive client retention.

But your team has a million and one thing to do every day. Drafting and sending emails to each client will be a huge administrative undertaking.

Outsourcing this critical function to your practice management software gives your staff the mental clarity to meet client deliverables and grow your practice without breaking their back.

Provide Timely Client Updates Without Losing Your ‘Flow State’

Striking the right balance between providing timely client updates and focusing on quality work is never easy for any accounting firm.

With our automated client update feature, you will not only delight clients with deliverables but also make them feel seen, heard, and valued throughout the project life cycle.

Even better, Financial Cents allows you to create emails you can reuse for all clients, reducing the hours you’d have spent drafting emails from scratch each time.

See how this will work in your firm. Start a Free Trial Now or Book a Personalized Demo to learn more.

Frequently asked questions

Does the free 14-day trial provide access to all the features?

Yes, you will have access to all the features and features that Financial Cents has to offer during your free trial. Also, you will be able to invite your entire firm to use the solution.

If the accounting software doesn’t have a feature, can you add it?

We offer a very robust accounting workflow software full of all of the features your firm needs to grow with ease. However, if there is something we don’t offer, you can recommend it to our team! We release new features every week and constantly ask our users what we need to build next so we can drive more value for their accounting firm.

So yes, if you have new feature ideas and requests, we will add them to our roadmap and work with you on the best way to develop them.

How does FC prevent work from falling through the cracks?

Financial Cents makes it easy to track the status of client work, see who’s working on what, and know where everything stands within one simple view. Financial Cents also has built-in reminders and notifications to keep your team on top of client work and deadlines.

How does Financial Cents help protect client data?

We focus on serving accounting firms, and because of that, the security of your data is our number one focus. You read about how we keep your data safe here.

What kind of support does Financial Cents offer?

Offering best-in-class customer support is the core of our business. We understand that you are busy and don’t have time to wait for someone to get back to you after a few hours. That is why we promise quick and responsive support with responses within 15 minutes. We offer live chat support directly inside the app so our team can. If we can’t solve your issue via chat, we will jump on the phone or zoom to quickly resolve your issues.

How easily can I add my clients to the software?

Adding your clients is as easy as 1, 2, 3. You can import all your clients and their data within 30 seconds with our QuickBooks Online integration. If you don’t use QuickBooks Online then you can export your client list (via CSV) from your current software and import it into our system in just a few steps.

How does FC help me automate client data collection?

Our system allows you to send your clients automated requests for data needed to complete your work. It will also follow up with them until they complete the request, so you never have to chase down your clients again. This allows you to focus on what matters most—getting your work done on time and growing your firm.

What reports are available in Financial Cents?

We offer several reports that give you insights that help you identify bottlenecks in your process, drive efficiencies, and boost your firm’s profitability. Some of those reports include capacity management, measuring your effective hourly rate, and time tracking reports.

Do you offer unlimited storage?

Yes, we offer unlimited storage for client and firm files. You can easily store all your documents in Financial Cents to keep your firm organized as it grows.

Can time tracking be integrated with QuickBooks Online for Invoicing?

Yes, you can easily integrate your time tracking with QuickBooks Online. It will automatically push all the time tracked in FC to QuickBooks Online so you can easily invoice your clients and manage payroll.

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