Discuss your projectClient documents collected against each organizer, every return tracked from engagement letter to e-file, and review queues that show where capacity is short. Firms combining through acquisition get one view of clients and work across the practice systems each office still runs.
Illustration of a tax season board built by Baybloom for an accounting firm: returns waiting on client documents, in review, and ready to file, with reviewer workload visible across offices.
Managing partners, COOs, and operations leaders of accounting, tax, and advisory firms, including platforms formed through private equity backed acquisitions where each acquired firm arrived with a different practice system. The practice management and tax software handle jobs, time, and returns; the work around them, from chasing client documents to deciding which returns go to which reviewer, runs on email, spreadsheets, and memory.
The workflow
The steps we see most often in this kind of operation.
What we build
Send organizers and checklists through a portal, remind clients automatically, and show staff exactly which documents are still missing for each return.
Generate engagement letters from approved templates, collect e-signatures, and create the client, services, and jobs in the practice system once the letter is signed.
Track every return by stage, from waiting on client through preparation, review, sign-off, and e-file, with filing deadlines and extensions visible to the whole team.
Show each reviewer’s queue and the work waiting behind it, so managers can rebalance returns between people and offices before a deadline is at risk.
Match clients, services, and staff across acquired firms on different practice systems, so leadership reports on one set of definitions while each office keeps working.
Classify uploaded documents, extract key figures, and compare them with the prior return and the organizer, with a staff member confirming each item before use.
Your first release
How the work runs
We start with the people doing the work and the systems around it, then write down the first release: what it includes, what it leaves for later, the integration decisions, and the acceptance criteria. Nothing is built until that scope is agreed.
We build in releases you can review as the work takes shape, using realistic data. Every release carries tests, a security review, and documentation. Integrations are tested against real records, with exceptions visible.
Your team receives the documentation, the runbooks, and the training to run the system, and we stay on for continued engineering when you want it.
Scope and price
Every project is priced from a written scope. These are the factors that move it most.
Karbon, CCH Axcess, TaxDome, and other systems offer different APIs and exports, which determines how much client and job data can sync automatically.
Each additional practice system brings separate client records, service names, and stages to map, test, and reconcile before combined reporting can be trusted.
Supporting more document types in AI-assisted intake adds extraction rules, sample documents for testing, and review screens for the staff who confirm the results.
Portals for individuals, business clients, and their outside bookkeepers each need separate permissions, sign-in, and document views, which widens design and testing.
Multi-office accounting firm formed through acquisitions
An accounting firm built through acquisitions often has each office on a different practice system, and tax season status reaches leadership as emailed spreadsheets. The first release sends engagement letters for e-signature and creates the client and job from the signed letter, gives clients a portal checklist for each organizer with missing items flagged, and places every return on a board from waiting on client to e-file. Reviewer workload is visible, so partners can shift review between offices. Matching clients across the acquired firms and consolidated reporting on workload and billing belong in a following phase.
Questions
What leaders in this industry ask us first.
Not at the start. Each office can keep its current system while the new layer reads clients, jobs, and status from each one and presents them in a single view. Consolidating onto one system can follow, office by office, once the firm has chosen its standard and the data is mapped.
The tax software prepares and files returns, and the practice system keeps time, jobs, and billing. We build the intake, tracking, and reporting around them and connect to their data through the interfaces each vendor provides.
Documents are encrypted in storage and in transit, access is limited by client and role, and every upload, view, and download is logged. What the system stores, where it runs, and how long records are kept are agreed in writing with the firm before the build.
Yes, as a later release with staff review. The software can classify uploads such as wage statements and brokerage forms, extract the key figures, and check them against the organizer, while a preparer confirms every item before it reaches the return.
Each firm defines the stages, who may review which returns, and what must be complete before sign-off. The software enforces those steps, records who reviewed and approved each return, and shows partners where reviews are waiting.
Yes. Engagement letters go out for e-signature from approved templates, and invoices link to a hosted payment page from a payment provider, so card and bank details stay with that provider. The signed letter and payment status are recorded against the client.
Client document collection and the tax season board usually come first, because they remove the most chasing and show where capacity is short. For a firm combining through acquisition, the first release may instead start with a consolidated view of clients and work across offices.