When hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Veronica Wasek spun their “Wheel of Rants” on a recent episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, they landed on a topic that sparked an energetic discussion: “The 20 things that accountants should never do.”
What followed was a candid conversation about the essential boundaries every bookkeeper should establish to protect themselves and their clients. Whether you’re just starting your bookkeeping practice or you’re a seasoned professional, these boundaries are critical safeguards for building a sustainable business.
Client Relationship Boundaries: Who’s Really in Charge?
“Allowing clients to control the work we do and really treating us as employees” topped Wasek’s list of boundary violations. She explained that many bookkeepers, especially those transitioning from employee roles, fall into the trap of letting clients direct their work.
“The client shouldn’t be directing the work you do,” Wasek emphasized. “There should be proper diagnosis done by us as accountants and then we give the client our recommendations.”
This distinction is crucial: Are you following orders or leading the process? As Katz Pollock pointed out, “If you’re a bookkeeper with your own firm or your own practice, you should be the one guiding the narrative.” Otherwise, you might actually be functioning as an employee rather than an independent contractor.
Financial Boundaries: Know Your Worth
Both hosts shared strong opinions about working for free or undervaluing services. Wasek explained how offering free work “devalues our industry as a whole” and signals that you don’t value your own expertise.
Katz Pollock added a practical concern: “If you were willing to do it for free, why would I pay you $500 a month to do it?” This initial boundary violation creates expectations that become nearly impossible to reset later.
Another common mistake is marking down invoices without discussion. Wasek shared an example based on her own experience. “My fee was $10,000 based on all the time that I spent on it, but I don’t think they’re going to pay me $10,000, so I just charge them $5,000.”
She now recognizes this as a serious boundary violation, explaining, “We tend to project our own feelings about money to our clients.” Instead of assuming clients won’t pay, have an open conversation about pricing.
Katz Pollock offered a practical strategy for those who bill hourly. “I charge what I consider a reasonably high rate, and that allows me to give a discount. Then I feel like everybody wins. I’m still getting a satisfactory rate, and they feel good.”
The hosts also warned against becoming financially dependent on just a few clients. “What if one out of those three leaves and you were financially dependent on that client?” Wasek cautioned. This dependency traps bookkeepers in problematic relationships where they can’t enforce other boundaries for fear of losing essential income.
Security Boundaries: Protecting Your Clients and Yourself
“Having direct access to the client’s bank accounts or their bill payment” is a practice Wasek strongly discourages. She shared a sobering example of a client that embezzled $8 million through their in-house bookkeeper, who had unrestricted access.
Katz Pollock acknowledged the practical challenges, noting she sometimes needs bank account access to view statements or check images. Her solution involves strict controls: “We have a 1Password vault that nobody has access to except for me and my contracted bookkeeper,” plus explicit language in her engagement letter that they “will never take any action either on your behalf or at your request.”
Both hosts emphasized the importance of secure password management. “Nowadays, you need to have unique passwords for everything,” Wasek explained, recommending systems that limit credential visibility to only those who absolutely need them.
Email communication presents another security concern. “The bane of my existence is emails,” Katz Pollock admitted, noting important client communications often get buried. More critically, Wasek warned, “There are so many email scams going on right now where you think you’re talking to your client and they are not your client.”
She shared a chilling example: “One of my clients was a victim of an email scam with a vendor. He sent a couple of million dollars to this fraudulent vendor, and then couldn’t do anything about it.” This led her firm to abandon email entirely for client communications, moving to secure platforms instead.
Professional Expertise Boundaries: Know Your Limits
“Taking a client when you lack the required skills” and giving legal or tax advice without proper qualifications made both hosts’ lists of major boundary violations.
“Certain industries and certain types of clients are more complex,” Wasek explained, highlighting areas like e-commerce and nonprofit accounting that require specialized knowledge.
Both hosts stressed that bookkeepers should never give tax or legal advice without proper credentials. “If you don’t have a law degree and if you don’t have a tax designation, then you can’t actually back up and stand by the advice you’re giving,” Katz Pollock cautioned.
Instead, they recommended developing relationships with specialists and having prepared responses for common client questions. As Wasek suggested, “I would try to give them the right words to use to ask their CPA the proper question.”
Documentation Boundaries: Get It in Writing
“Not using engagement letters” was another boundary violation, both hosts emphasized. Wasek learned this lesson “the hard way” after initially “working on a handshake,” explaining that formal agreements “really set the tone for the entire relationship.”
A comprehensive engagement letter should outline services provided, responsibilities, pricing, payment terms, and procedures for ending the relationship. Katz Pollock recommended reviewing engagement letters annually. “I look to see if their scope has changed. How many checking accounts did I agree to and how many do they have now?” This gives a “tangible reason for raising our prices” beyond just annual increases.
Both hosts also advocated for paid diagnostic assessments before committing to new clients. This smaller initial engagement helps evaluate a client’s responsiveness and complexity before making longer-term commitments.
Personal Boundaries: Protecting Your Time and Energy
The hosts discussed the common issue of bookkeepers acting as “unpaid therapists” for their clients. Wasek recalled a client who “would keep me on for at least an hour” multiple times weekly, making it impossible to complete actual work. She learned to establish time parameters, saying, “I’d love to talk to you, but I have a meeting in 15 minutes.”
Another crucial personal boundary involves maintaining client confidentiality. “You never, ever, ever talk badly about either the business owner or a bookkeeper to another business owner or another bookkeeper,” Katz Pollock stressed. This includes avoiding sharing information between clients or discussing former clients with their new bookkeepers without explicit permission.
Wasek shared a situation involving partnership conflicts: “I had to terminate the relationship. I would rather this client think badly of me for leaving them without a bookkeeper than to attack the other partner or to tattletale.”
Building a Stronger Practice Through Boundaries
Throughout their discussion, Wasek and Katz Pollock emphasized that proper boundaries ultimately create more sustainable and rewarding businesses.
“I am a big believer in karma, and that when one door closes, another one opens,” Katz Pollock shared. “If you have a really large client that you depend on, and either they let you go or you just find it toxic, I don’t recommend staying.”
Wasek agreed, adding that when bookkeepers release problematic clients, they gain “so much more mental energy to devote to better clients.”
For bookkeepers looking to establish stronger boundaries, the hosts recommended:
- Getting proper training to understand your expertise and limitations
- Using engagement letters reviewed by legal professionals
- Implementing secure technology solutions for passwords and communications
- Developing scripts for common boundary challenges
- Building relationships with specialists for referrals
- Conducting paid diagnostic assessments before committing to new clients
As Katz Pollock concluded about maintaining professional boundaries, “It says way more about you than it does about them.” It’s a reminder that how you establish and maintain boundaries ultimately defines your professional reputation and the health of your practice.
To hear more detailed insights about these essential bookkeeping boundaries, listen to the full episode using the player below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!