Accounting practice: find documents and track client work

A document is missing, two people have chased the same client, and nobody knows whether the file is moving forward. A small tracking tool may help without replacing your accounting software.

On Monday morning, you open the list of client files. An invoice is still missing, but the client says they sent it to your colleague on Friday. The first job of an internal tool is simple: show what is missing, who is handling it and what has already been requested.

Start with missing documents

Choose one task: tracking the documents needed to prepare a client file. For each item, record who is responsible, when it was last requested and what happens next. That is enough to sketch a first screen the whole team can understand.

Also account for clients replying to someone else. The tracker should let you correct a status and find the latest action. Initially, keep reminders subject to approval: an unnecessary reminder can quickly damage a client relationship.

Keep what already works

Keep your accounting production software and invoicing solution. Before building anything, check whether their settings already cover the need. Custom software becomes worth considering when the same work still has to be repeated in a separate file despite those options.

France's reform separates two deadlines: receiving electronic invoices from September 2026, and issuing them from September 2027 for the SMEs and microbusinesses concerned. The French tax authority's timetable explains the scope. A tracking dashboard does not replace an approved platform.

Describe how your practice works

Write one page in your own words: who prepares the file, who may view it, when to send a reminder and who approves completion. This requirements document keeps AI from inventing how your practice operates. It remains useful if you later hand the project to a supplier.

Test without exposing client files

Make up a few clients and sample documents for the first trial. Before using real information, have access controls and backups checked. The French data protection authority explains the security measures to consider, including for a tool kept on an office computer.

Allow for time and cost

Maestro helps you build this project with AI agents; this accounting tracker is not supplied ready to use. Project files remain on your Mac, but the assistant you choose may receive material it needs for its work. The data explanation describes that distinction.

Maestro access is free during the invitation-only beta. Allow for AI usage, your review time, and any hosting and maintenance costs. To decide whether to continue, ask two colleagues to try the same fictional file: can both see what needs to happen next?