Legal
Period end and the documents that arrive late
Every period end is the same race with the same clients, and it is won before the deadline or not at all.
An accountancy practice does not have a workload problem: it has a calendar problem. The work bunches into a few days because clients send when they remember, and the part that consumes time is not filing — it is chasing and reconstructing who sent what.
The three gaps that repeat every period end
| Gap | How it shows | What closes it |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete documentation | The same items missing from the same clients | A fixed request with a list, not a generic email |
| Documentation arriving badly | Illegible photos, protected PDFs, items from another period | Saying so on receipt, not at closing |
| Documentation that arrived and cannot be found | It is in someone's inbox | Having it come in through the client's route, not a mailbox |
Important
The third causes the most arguments and looks least like a process problem. When a client says "I sent you that" and is right — they did, to the inbox of someone on holiday — the conversation stops being about their delay and becomes about your organisation. Having submissions always arrive through the same place removes that conversation entirely.
What changes the outcome, built once
- 1
One request per client and period, always the same
With that client's specific list, not a circular.
- 2
Start before the period ends
What is requested on day 1 arrives in time; what is requested on day 20 does not.
- 3
Automatic, spaced reminders
It is the part a person does today and need not.
- 4
And a visible list of who is missing
For the targeted final push, and for the conversation afterwards.
Watch out
The nuance that protects the practice: **keep evidence of what you requested and when**, not only of what you received. If a year later there is a review and the client insists they gave you something, what places you is not your memory: it is the dated request with what was asked and the record of what arrived. Without that, it is word against word and you are the one holding it.
What you can show the client
That visibility cuts "is it all in yet?" calls and, above all, moves the ball: a client who can see their gap fills it sooner than one who has to be phoned.
Worth knowing
Deadlines and what documentation is mandatory depend on each client's regime and they change. **That is your territory and your professional judgement**; what is described here is how to collect and evidence, not what must be filed.
›What about clients who send everything on paper?
Have them photograph it from their phone via their link: it is what gets adopted most.
›Is it worth it for a small portfolio?
The saving is in repetition: twenty clients every quarter already justify it.
›Can I give the client access to their own file?
Yes, and it usually cuts status queries considerably.
A real case
The situation
A practice spends the last five days of each quarter chasing documents.
What you do
- Sends the per-client request on day one of the period and leaves reminders on automatic
What you get
Reaches the deadline with most of it complete and with a record of what was asked of whom, and when.
The situation
Close-out documentation arrives in January.
What you do
- Requests through the year what will be needed
What you get
Close-out stops being a campaign.
The situation
A client sends their material whenever they remember.
What you do
- Requests and chases automatically
What you get
Follow-up occupies nobody.
The situation
A document is missing and the close is delayed.
What you do
- Checks what is missing per client
What you get
The gap shows before the date.
The situation
The close uses a provisional figure and nobody corrects it.
What you do
- Flags what is provisional and reviews it
What you get
What is pending is not forgotten.
The situation
The next close repeats the same work.
What you do
- Reuses the previous period's process
What you get
The second close costs a fraction.
This article answers
- collecting client documents for period end
- clients send invoices late
- quarterly close accountancy
- chasing documents from clients