Workpapers

One binder, indexed, per engagement

Workpapers assemble into a single bookmarked PDF with proper references and sections, off an index template, so every 1120-S in the firm looks like every other one. It rebuilds itself as documents land on the work.

• Index templates define the reference scheme and which document types belong on each row
• Sign-off by role, with metrics on what is complete and what is stale
• Finalizing locks the binder; a stale row is flagged rather than silently reassembled
• Roll-forward per row: copy the file, copy and mark for update, leave a placeholder, carry instructions only, or skip

The same review, off the one machine it was stuck on

Highlights, notes, ink, boxes, arrows, comments, tickmarks, an audit tape — on the document, in a browser. Nothing to install, and no reviewer waiting for someone else to close the file.

• Tickmark definitions are the firm’s own, so your review language carries over
• The audit tape adds up on the page, next to what it is adding
• A cross-reference tie links a figure to its source on another workpaper — both ends know about each other, and a tie flags when what it points at moves
• Annotation geometry is stored against the page rather than pixel positions, so markup survives a re-render

Review notes with a name against them

A note is addressed to somebody and tracked until it is cleared, rather than being a comment everyone assumes someone else is handling. They print with the file for whoever still reviews on paper.

The lead schedule lives in the engagement, not on a desktop

A real spreadsheet, in the browser, on the engagement. Open the client’s own .xlsx and it keeps its formulas — VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, IRR and XIRR, and the depreciation family. Every save is a version on the client record, so there is no .xlsx going round by email and nothing to hunt for next January.

Next year starts from this year

Roll-forward is decided line by line, because the honest answer differs by line: some workpapers carry over untouched, some carry over and need updating, some are a placeholder until the client sends something, and some are just a note to whoever picks it up in January.

• Copy the file, copy and mark for update, leave a placeholder, carry instructions only, or skip
• The reference scheme comes with it, so last year’s binder and this year’s are navigable the same way
• A row whose source has changed since it was carried over is flagged rather than silently trusted

A binder you signed off stays signed off

It rebuilds as documents arrive, but it leaves a finalized binder alone. A row that has gone stale gets flagged for you rather than quietly reassembled underneath a reviewer who already put their name to it.