Change accountants while keeping control of your business records

An accountant change has two parts: transferring the evidence needed for the next engagement and ending access that is no longer appropriate. Do not treat the new invitation as the entire transition. First decide which years, reports, and unresolved questions the new firm needs, and where the existing accountant's working papers belong.

In Just Invoice, your invoices and receipts remain in your own account. Changing the accountant connection does not require creating a new customer identity or deleting your source documents. A sponsored subscription needs a separate billing plan, however, because access to documents and payment for the customer seat are different decisions.

Agree on the handoff period

Write a dated scope: for example, the previous calendar year's purchase receipts, the current year's invoices, and outstanding balances at the review date. Your accountant may need other documents, such as bank statements or prior filings, that are not stored in Just Invoice. List those separately rather than describing a receipt ZIP as a complete accounting file.

If your business uses a different fiscal year, agree on that period with the new firm. Calendar-year receipt packages can help assemble the source evidence, but the accountant still determines which documents and periods are relevant to the engagement.

Export the customer-owned documents

Prepare the annual receipt ZIP, inspect its CSV index, and open a few originals. Export the invoice report for the agreed date range and keep the source PDFs available. Note any known missing purchase documents and explain the reason where possible. A new accountant benefits more from an honest gap list than a claim that a file is complete because it contains many attachments.

Keep downloaded source exports separate from adjusted working spreadsheets. Name your local package with the period and export date so later additions do not create an unidentified second version. Recreate a receipt package after correcting a purchase date or adding a missing document.

Respect the private-note boundary

The outgoing firm's private receipt notes do not become visible to a different firm simply because the customer authorizes both. Discuss the transfer of working papers through the professional engagement process. Do not assume customer document ownership means the customer can download another firm's private review annotations.

The new accountant can create their own notes and statuses. Ask them which unresolved questions require customer answers, then use the agreed communication channel to respond. Private notes are not an automatic messaging system.

Plan revocation and billing

Once the transition is ready, revoke the old connection and invite the new accountant at the verified address you confirmed. Revocation blocks future requests through that grant but cannot retract previously downloaded files.

If the outgoing firm sponsored your seat, arrange personal billing or a new sponsorship before relying on continued premium access. Resolve the old sponsor relationship explicitly; do not expect two firms to fund the same seat automatically.