Word letters, a pricing spreadsheet, AML in a folder. There is a better order for this.
FigsFlow replaces the manual client onboarding stack — the Word letter edited per client, the price list in a spreadsheet nobody trusts, the AML evidence filed somewhere separate — with a single workflow. Quote, propose, letter, check, bill. One client record from the first conversation to the first invoice, without anything re-typed into a second system.
Just decided to fix this, start with what changes in the first month. Evaluating options, skip to where this is different from what you have.
The AML check is the gate. Nothing to the right of it should move until it clears — and with a manual process, nothing enforces that.
- Quote From your price list, not a fresh guess
- Proposal Accepted online · same day
- AML check Cleared · letter released
- Engagement Signed · filed on the record
- Billing Recurring fee scheduled on signature
five steps, one record, nothing done twice
Five steps. One client record. Nothing re-typed.
This is what the manual stack gets replaced with. Nothing here is a separate app — click through to see what each step holds and how it gates the next.
Illustrative interface and sample data. The client and figures are fictional.
What changes when the five steps run in the right order
Manual onboarding is not slow because the steps are hard. It is slow because they live in different places, nobody enforces the order, and each one depends on somebody remembering the last. Three things shift in the first month.
Consistent quotes, every time
Your price list is entered once. Every client quoted after that gets the same figure for the same job, whether you are quoting them or a colleague is — and the number does not drift between the call and the proposal.
AML that cannot be skipped
The engagement letter cannot issue until the AML check clears. This is a hard gate in the system, not a reminder to set in a calendar — so the check that gets forgotten on a busy week is the check that stays open until it does not.
Billing that starts on signature
The recurring fee is set on the client record at acceptance, not remembered and configured later. The invoice you meant to set up in January stops being the invoice you noticed was missing in March.
The five steps, in the enforced order
Quote from your list
Same fee, same client type.
Proposal accepted online
AML check triggered.
AML clears
Letter released automatically.
Letter signed
Billing schedule created.
First invoice raised
On schedule, not on memory.
Five steps. Five different places. And nothing checks they happened in the right order.
It is a Thursday afternoon. A new client said yes on Monday. The proposal went out on Tuesday. The letter — the same Word document that has been saved over and renamed eleven times since 2019 — went out on Wednesday, before the AML check was done, because nobody remembered that was the order it was supposed to go in.
The price was guessed from memory, because the spreadsheet has two tabs and it is not clear which one is current. The AML evidence is in a subfolder the person who set it up has since left. The recurring billing was going to be configured “at the end of the week”, which turned out to be three weeks ago.
Nobody decided to work this way. Manual onboarding does not fail because people are careless. It fails because there is nothing enforcing the order, nothing linking the steps to each other, and nothing that makes the check a gate rather than a reminder.
One workflow, one record, and a gate that cannot be bypassed
The manual stack has all five steps. So does FigsFlow. The difference is that in the manual stack the steps are suggestions, and the order is something everyone tries to remember. Here the order is enforced, and the AML check is the lock the letter cannot open without.
Every step unlocks the next. The proposal triggers the AML check. The check gates the letter. The letter sets up billing. Nothing can be issued out of order, regardless of who is doing the onboarding or how busy the week is.
Five steps, no enforced order. The letter can go out before the check. Billing can be skipped. The only enforcement is the last person who onboarded a client remembering to tell the next one.
Five steps. One enforced order.
Each step unlocks the next. The AML check is the hard gate — everything to the right of it waits until it clears, regardless of who is onboarding or how busy the week is.
Fee built from services and bands you set once. Same job, same price.
Client accepts online. AML check opens automatically on signature.
Identity, PEP and sanctions. Letter cannot issue until this step is green.
Released automatically on AML clearance. Your wording, locked.
Recurring fee created from the accepted proposal. Raises on schedule.
- The pricing spreadsheet — one price list on the client record
- The Word letter template — approved wording, not edited per client
- The AML folder — evidence held on the record, not filed separately
- The billing reminder — recurring fee set on signature, not on memory
- A consistent quote — same fee for the same job, every time
- An AML file on the record — ready before a reviewer ever asks for it
- A signed letter with locked wording — not a different version for every client
- A billing schedule that starts — without anyone setting a reminder
Short list, honestly labelled
FigsFlow replaces the manual onboarding stack — the spreadsheet, the Word template, the AML folder and the billing reminder. It does not replace your bookkeeping, tax or payroll software. Those keep running alongside it.
One search populates entity name, registered number, officers and PSC data onto the client record — nothing typed by hand.
Photo ID, liveness and sanctions screening run and held on the record. Letter cannot issue until the check clears.
Sign in with the identity you already use. Documents stay in your own tenant.
Key dates are read against the client record rather than tracked in a separate calendar.
No two-way sync with the ledger your clients keep their records in. You onboard them here; the bookkeeping runs in your existing software.
Not in this releaseThe engagement is set up and the job is scheduled here. Filing happens in the tax software you already use.
Not in this releaseExisting client data can be imported in bulk by the onboarding team. Self-serve migration tooling is not yet available.
Via onboarding teamQuestions firms replacing manual onboarding ask first
Four that come up on almost every call.
How long does it take to move from a Word-letter workflow to this one?
Most of the first session is setting up your price list and uploading your approved letter wording. The first proposal usually goes out the same day. Client migration — loading existing clients — is done via the onboarding team rather than a self-serve import tool at this stage.
What if the AML check fails or stalls?
The letter stays locked and the record shows the check status. You can see exactly where it is, request additional evidence from the client, and re-run the screening without starting the onboarding again from scratch. Nothing is lost — the record holds everything submitted so far.
Can I use my own engagement letter wording?
Yes. Your firm’s approved wording is what gets used. FigsFlow does not supply a default letter — you upload the clause sets your partners have signed off, and those are what issue to clients. The system locks the wording so it cannot be edited per client on the way out.
What happens to existing clients who were onboarded manually?
Existing clients are loaded via the onboarding team. The record for each client holds their engagement status, AML position, services and billing schedule — so a re-engagement or a new service for an existing client goes through the same workflow as a new one, with the prior history already on the record.
See the workflow with your own price list
A walkthrough of the full five-step onboarding, from quote to billing schedule, using your own services and fees.