Your accounting firm inside your Industry CRM
Whether your accounting firm can work in your Industry CRM, who decides to switch it on and grant its authorities, and what to agree with the firm first.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
Many small businesses lean on their accountant for more than the year-end statements. The firm keeps the books, runs the payroll, chases a few debtors and, in practice, knows the business's customers almost as well as the owner does. So when a business starts using Achekam's Industry CRM, a natural question follows: can the accountant work in it too, and if so, who is in charge?
The answer is yes, the firm can, and the business stays in charge. This article explains how the two fit together and what to settle with your firm before it starts.
The firm already works in your ledger
On Achekam, a business appoints its accounting firm by the firm's Achekam address or firm code, as accountant, auditor, tax practitioner, payroll provider or adviser, with an access level, and the firm accepts or declines.
Once appointed, the firm works directly in the business's own ledger. No copy is made. What the firm posts appears in the business's own accounting screens, and what the business records is what the firm sees. There is one set of books, not a client version and an accountant's version.
That is the foundation for the Industry CRM. Because the CRM lives inside the same books, a firm already working there is in the right place to help with it.
Using the Industry CRM in your books
An accounting firm working in a business's books can use the Industry CRM there. It does so as part of its appointment to your books, not from its own workspace: the Industry CRM is for business workspaces only, and an accounting firm's own workspace does not see it.
What that looks like in practice depends on what you ask of the firm. Some businesses will want their accountant to help set the CRM up: checking that the pack's ledger accounts sit sensibly in the chart, or going through its starter catalogue with you. Others will want the firm to do routine work in it, such as following up overdue customers or preparing invoices for the owner to approve. Each industry pack sets its own records, workflows, document requests, reminders, catalogue, ledger accounts and home-page counts, so the firm sees the same industry-specific screens your staff do.
Only your administrator decides the big things
Three decisions are reserved for the business's own administrator:
- Switching the Industry CRM on. The firm cannot start it in your books on your behalf.
- Changing industry. Moving from one pack to another is your decision alone.
- Granting its authorities. Where the add-on asks for someone to be given authority, only your administrator can grant it.
These limits are deliberate. A firm may advise you to switch on, or recommend a different pack, but the decision, and the record of it, stays with the business. A firm cannot reshape how you sell, or take on powers in your sales system, without you. The rule protects the firm as well: an accountant that cannot switch packs or grant authorities is plainly not the one who made such a change, which keeps the professional relationship clear.
Access levels and your own security rules
The access level you chose when appointing the firm still governs what its people can do in your books. Bookkeeping access covers the accounting but not your users, settings or payment gateways. Review access is read-only.
Your own security rules apply to the firm too. A firm member opening your books must meet your business's own IP allowlist and two-factor rules. If you require two-factor sign-in for your staff, the firm's people meet the same standard when they work in your books. Access levels and sign-in rules like these are internal controls, and Investopedia's guide to internal controls explains how such processes keep financial records accurate and help prevent fraud.
If the relationship ends, either side can end the appointment. The firm then loses access, and the books stay with the business.
What to agree with your firm
The software settles who can do what. A short written agreement settles who will do what. Before the firm starts working in your Industry CRM, agree:
- The scope. Is the firm helping with set-up, doing routine work, or both?
- Who prices the catalogue. Starter items carry no prices; decide whether you or the firm sets them.
- Who reviews the starter wording. Every agreement in a pack is starter wording to review before use. If the firm is not the right reviewer, say who is.
- Who issues invoices. Decide whether the firm prepares invoices for you to issue, or issues them itself.
- How the firm is paid for the extra work. CRM work is not bookkeeping; agree the fee basis up front.
- What happens to the work if the appointment ends. Your books stay with you; agree how any work in progress is handed back.
Put the answers in your engagement letter or a short side letter, so that both sides can refer to them.
A quick check before you start
- Confirm the firm's appointment and access level are what you intend.
- Make sure your IP allowlist and two-factor settings are set the way you want them for everyone, including the firm.
- Name your administrator, since only they can switch the CRM on, change industry or grant authorities.
How the firm's access ends, and what stays with you, is covered in changing accountants: your books stay with you. For read-only access from the firm's side, see accountant review access, and for how a firm accepts your appointment, accepting a client appointment.
Before you switch the Industry CRM on, have a short conversation with your accountant about the six points above. It will save a longer one later.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
