A bookkeeping client intake form should collect the facts you need to scope and price the work before the first call: the business, its entity and revenue band, how many accounts and transactions it runs, what software and payroll it uses, how far behind the books are, and what the owner wants from you. Keep it to 12 to 18 questions in bands and choices, ask for contact details last, and have it end in a reviewed summary and a booked call rather than a thank-you page.
Key takeaways
- The intake form's job is to qualify and scope, not to onboard. Catch-up months, number of bank and card accounts, transaction volume and payroll decide the price; collect those first.
- Use bands, not exact figures: "250 to 500 transactions a month" is easier to answer than a number and good enough to quote.
- Keep identifiers out of the form. No bank logins, account numbers or Social Security numbers; those belong in your accounting software connections and your document portal after the engagement letter.
- End the form with something: a short written summary of what you heard and a booking link. OneForm does both on every plan, Free Forever included, with a paid consultation as an option.
- Typeform, Jotform, Cognito Forms and Google Forms can all collect the answers; only OneForm turns them into a reviewed report and a booking without a second tool.
Try OneForm free. Describe your intake form in one sentence, or start from the Business Owner Tax Checkup and swap the questions, and every response comes back as a scoping summary you review before you quote. Start free, no card needed.
What is a bookkeeping client intake form?
A bookkeeping client intake form is the questionnaire a prospective client completes before the first conversation, so the bookkeeper can decide whether the work fits, how much it is, and what to ask on the call. It sits before the proposal and the engagement letter, and it is different from the onboarding checklist that follows: onboarding gathers access and documents, intake gathers facts and intent.
Most firms treat the intake form as a contact form with three extra fields. The useful version is a scoping tool. Every question should change either the price, the fit or the first meeting.
What questions should a bookkeeping intake form ask?
Group the questions so the form can branch. A startup with no books yet and a 10-year-old company switching bookkeepers should not see the same questions.
| Section | Questions | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The business | Business name; industry; entity type (sole proprietor, LLC, S corporation, C corporation, partnership, nonprofit); state; years in business | Entity and industry drive complexity, sales tax and payroll questions |
| Size | Annual revenue band; employees and contractors (bands); number of owners | Revenue and headcount set the pricing tier |
| Volume | Bank and credit card accounts (1, 2 to 3, 4 to 6, 7+); monthly transactions (under 100, 100 to 250, 250 to 500, 500+); loans or lines of credit; inventory (yes/no) | The biggest drivers of monthly hours |
| Systems | Accounting software (QuickBooks Online, Xero, desktop, spreadsheets, none); payroll provider; payment processors; invoicing tool; e-commerce platforms | Decides conversion work and which integrations you need |
| State of the books | Current, 1 to 3 months behind, 4 to 12 months behind, more than a year, never kept; last tax return filed (year); last reconciliation | Catch-up work is quoted separately and sets the start date |
| Services wanted | Monthly bookkeeping; catch-up or clean-up; payroll; sales tax; accounts payable or receivable; invoicing; financial reports; tax preparation; CFO-level advice | Shapes the proposal and routes to the right person |
| Working together | Who handles the books today; how often they want reports; preferred contact; budget band; timeline; "what prompted you to look now?" | Intent and fit; the open question is the best one on the form |
| Contact | Name, email, phone, best time to call | Ask last, after they have invested in the answers |
That is 20 to 25 questions in full; with branching, most prospects answer 12 to 18. For a tax-firm version of the same exercise, see our client intake form for accounting firms.
What should you leave out of the intake form?
Anything you cannot act on before the engagement letter, and anything a general-purpose form tool should not hold.
- Bank logins, account numbers and card numbers. Connect accounts inside your accounting software after onboarding, never through a form.
- Social Security numbers and EINs. You do not need them to quote. Collect them through your portal or payroll provider later.
- Documents. Prior-year returns, statements and chart-of-accounts exports belong in onboarding, through a portal built for files.
- Exact figures. Bands finish more often and are accurate enough to price.
- Your whole engagement letter. Intake is a conversation starter; the terms come after you have decided to work together.
If a prospect types an account number into a free-text box anyway, delete it from the response and tell them where it should go. Design the form so there is no natural place to put one.
How should the form branch?
Three branches cover most bookkeeping practices. Each leads to a different ending, which is where the intake form earns its keep.
- New business, no books yet. Skip the catch-up and software-conversion questions. Ending: a short note on getting set up right, a booking link for a 20-minute setup call, and your starter package.
- Established, current, switching bookkeepers. Ask about software, volume and why they are switching. Ending: a scoping summary and a booking link for a discovery call.
- Behind by four months or more. Ask how far behind, the last return filed, and whether there is a deadline (loan, sale, notice). Ending: a note that catch-up is quoted separately, an optional paid assessment, and a priority booking link.
A fourth ending catches prospects who are not a fit, such as industries you do not serve or budgets below your minimum, with a polite referral and no calendar. For how scoring and endings work in practice, see dynamic forms with different outcomes.
What should happen after the prospect submits?
The form should do the next step itself, within a minute, while a person follows up within a business day. That is speed to lead, and it is the difference between an intake form and a contact form.
- A thank-you screen that fits the branch, with the booking calendar for prospects who fit.
- A short written summary to the prospect: what you heard, what you would look at first, what you still need to know. Reviewed by you before it goes.
- An alert to your team with the answers, in Slack or email, and a row in Google Sheets or your CRM.
- A personal follow-up from whoever will run the engagement, referencing one specific answer.
- A hand-off into onboarding that does not ask the same questions again. See client onboarding for accounting firms.
Which tools can run a bookkeeping intake form?
Any form builder collects the answers. The differences are branching, the phone experience, and what the tool can do after submit without a second subscription.
| Tool | Branching and endings | After submit | Pricing (October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| OneForm | Show-if rules, jump rules, scoring, multiple endings, written for you by AI | AI-drafted summary reviewed by you, booking page, paid assessment, Slack, Sheets, CRM sync | Free Forever: 3 live forms, 50 responses a month, bookings and paid reports; Basic $19/mo or $192/yr |
| Typeform | Logic, scores, multiple endings on paid plans | Notifications, integrations, Calendly embed | Basic $28/mo billed yearly, $39 monthly (100 responses) |
| Jotform | Conditional logic | Submission PDF, approvals, payments, e-signatures | Bronze $39/mo or $408/yr |
| Cognito Forms | Conditional logic, repeating sections | Documents from entry data, workflows on Team | Pro $24/mo or $19/mo billed annually |
| Google Forms | Section-based branching | Responses into Sheets | Free with a Google account |
Prices are from each vendor's pricing page as of October 2026. For the full field, see the best form builders for accounting firms.
How to build a bookkeeping intake form with OneForm
Describe the form in one sentence to OneFormAI, for example "a bookkeeping intake form for small businesses that asks about entity, revenue, accounts, transactions, software, how far behind the books are and what they need, with endings for new businesses, switchers and catch-up", and it writes the questions, the branching and the report instructions. Edit on the live preview.
- Turn on reports so each response drafts a scoping summary you review and send as a branded PDF
- Add a booking page on the good-fit endings, free or paid, synced to Google Calendar
- Alert your team in Slack and log to Google Sheets with a workflow; sync leads to HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or Zoho on Pro
- Embed it on your pricing page from Basic, or share the link on any plan
Everything above is on the Free Forever plan except embeds and CRM sync. See pricing.
Get started with OneForm. Build your intake form today and review the first scoping summary before you quote. Start free, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a bookkeeping client intake form?
The business and its entity, revenue and headcount bands, the number of bank and card accounts, monthly transaction volume, accounting and payroll software, how far behind the books are, the services wanted, what prompted the search, and contact details last. Those answers set the price and the fit. Leave out bank logins, account numbers, Social Security numbers and documents until after the engagement letter.
How long should a bookkeeping intake form be?
Twelve to eighteen questions for most prospects, with branching so a new business skips the catch-up questions and an established company skips the setup ones. Use bands and multiple choice rather than exact figures, show one question at a time for phones, and ask for contact details at the end. If completion drops, look at the question where people stop before shortening the whole form.
Should a bookkeeping intake form ask about budget?
Yes, as a band. A budget question filters out prospects below your minimum without a call, and it tells you which package to lead with. Pair it with "what prompted you to look for a bookkeeper now?", which is the most useful open question on the form because it reveals urgency and the real problem.
Can an intake form give the prospect a quote?
It can give a range and a next step, but a firm quote should wait for a person to review the answers. OneForm drafts a scoping summary from the answers that you edit and approve before it is sent, and can show a paid assessment or a booking page on the thank-you screen. Avoid promising a price the form cannot support.
What is the best free intake form tool for bookkeepers?
OneForm's Free Forever plan includes 3 live forms, 50 responses a month, reports with review, bookings and paid reports, as of October 2026. Google Forms is free and fine for an internal checklist. Tally offers unlimited free forms within fair use, and Fillout's free plan allows 1,000 responses a month, though neither drafts a summary or books the call.
This article is general information as of October 2026, not tax or legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice before acting. Typeform, Jotform, Cognito Forms, Google Forms, QuickBooks and Xero are trademarks of their respective owners; OneForm isn't affiliated with them.
