Running a client referral programme
How an accounting firm runs a client referral programme in which each client has a link and rewards become credit notes only when a person approves them.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Ask most accounting firms where their best clients came from and the answer is the same: someone recommended us. Referrals arrive pre-qualified and pre-trusted. The referring client has already explained what the firm is like, and the new client starts the relationship expecting to be looked after.
Yet referrals usually happen by accident. A firm that wants more of them can make it easy for clients to refer, and can thank them in a way that is visible and fair. A structured referral programme does both. It also brings risks a professional firm must manage: rewards promised and never given, rewards given without anyone checking, and professional rules on what may be offered. This article covers how to run one in Achekam.
A referral link per client
A firm can give each client its own referral link. The link is set up from the client's record, under Client 360 > Billing > Referrals, which keeps the referral programme beside the client's services, contacts and billing history.
Before handing out links, decide the offer and put it in writing:
- Who may refer. All clients, or only clients in good standing on their accounts?
- What counts. A referral that becomes a client, not merely an enquiry.
- The reward. A credit against the referrer's future fees is common, and it is how Achekam settles a reward.
- Limits. Any cap per year, and exclusions, such as referrals of the client's own related entities.
A written offer avoids the awkward conversation in which a client believes they were promised more than the firm intended.
What the public page shows
The link opens a public page at an address of the form /refer/ followed by the client's code. That page shows only the firm's name, the referrer's first name and the offer.
That restraint is deliberate and worth explaining to clients who ask. The person being referred learns who sent them and what is on offer, and nothing about the referrer's affairs: not their surname, their business or their relationship with the firm. A client can share the link with a friend without exposing anything about themselves beyond a first name.
A converted referral makes a reward due
When a referral converts, Achekam makes a reward due to the referring client. The reward is not paid or credited at that moment. It waits.
That pause is where the firm checks the facts before money changes hands:
- Did the referred client genuinely come through this referrer's link?
- Does the referral meet the written offer, including any limits and exclusions?
- Is the referring client still a client, and in good standing?
- Is there any reason, professional or commercial, not to honour it?
Most rewards will pass these checks easily. The ones that do not are exactly the ones a firm would have regretted paying automatically.
Approval turns it into a credit note
A reward becomes a credit note only when a person approves it. The credit note then sits in the firm's receivables ledger with its invoices, receipts and statements of account, so it reduces what the referring client owes and appears on their next statement.
Settling rewards as credit notes keeps the programme inside the firm's ordinary billing controls. Client billing controls can require a second issuer above a set amount, so a firm can apply the same oversight to referral rewards that it applies to any other credit. It also means a reward is never cash out of the door: it is a reduction in future fees, which is easier to account for and easier to explain.
| Stage | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Client shares link | Public page shows firm name, first name, offer | Referring client |
| Referral converts | Reward becomes due | Achekam |
| Check against the offer | Facts confirmed | Account manager |
| Approve | Reward becomes a credit note | A person with billing authority |
| Statement | Credit shows on the referrer's account | Receivables ledger |
Professional rules on rewards
Accountants work under professional codes that deal with how they obtain work and what they may pay or receive for introductions. The IESBA International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants sets out the fundamental principles and the conceptual framework for identifying and addressing threats to them, and the codes of the professional bodies in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya build on it. Before launching a programme, check the offer against the code that applies to the firm, and take particular care where the referring client is an audit client, because a financial benefit flowing between a firm and its audit client raises its own questions.
Thanking referrers
The credit note is the formal thanks. The informal one matters as much. From Client 360, staff can have AI draft an e-mail from a preset, edit it into the partner's own voice and send it, and the message is kept on the client's record. A short personal note when the referred client signs, before the reward is even approved, tells the referrer that the firm noticed.
Two habits keep the programme healthy:
- Report on it. A firm can enter spend per lead source on the CRM Dashboard and see leads, proposals and accepted fees against it, so treat the value of referral credits as the cost of the referral source; see what each marketing source costs per lead.
- Look after the new client. The fastest way to end a referral stream is to disappoint the person a client recommended. Brief whoever onboards a referred client on who referred them.
Referred clients often need more than they first ask for; the approach in offering more services to existing clients applies to them from the first annual meeting.
Write the referral offer on one page, have a partner approve it against the firm's professional code, then switch on links for a small group of clients who already refer and learn from them first.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
