How should clients send documents to an accounting firm?

Through a link that uploads directly into the right client area, rather than as attachments to an email. Most firms think carefully about sending documents securely and not at all about receiving them, so client financial records arrive in mailboxes and stay there indefinitely.

That default causes two problems at once. The security one is obvious: tax file numbers, bank statements and identity documents sitting in an individual's mailbox, protected by whatever that person's account protections happen to be, and duplicated to any device where the mailbox syncs. The record-keeping one is quieter and just as real, because a document that never made it into the client's file is not covered by your retention, your permissions or, in many cases, your backup.

An upload link solves both. The client clicks, uploads, and the document lands in the correct client area with your access controls, your retention and your backup applying from that moment. There is no re-filing, no forwarding, and no copy sitting in a mailbox. For clients it is usually easier too, particularly when they are sending several documents or files too large for email, which is the situation that otherwise pushes them toward personal file-sharing services you have no visibility of.

Two practical notes. Configure it so the link opens directly rather than requiring the client to create an account, because registration is what makes portals unpopular and it is a choice rather than a necessity. And agree a rule for the clients who will always email regardless: the attachment gets moved into the client area promptly and removed from the mailbox, so the record ends up in the right place even when the arrival route was not. If you want this set up, call 1800 456 567.