New Business

New Business is the one place that tracks every engagement letter in the firm: which clients have agreed to Services and to Sales Tax work, which letters are still waiting on a signature, and which clients have nothing on file at all.

Who can see it, and the part that catches firms out

Like Sales tax, access here is not decided by role alone.

Two kinds of people can reach it:

Owners and general managers, always.
Anyone who belongs to a department whose TYPE is New Business, at any role, including staff.

That second rule is the one to know about. A department has a type as well as a name, and the type is what grants access. If your New Business people cannot find the page, check the department's type on the Departments page, the same first thing to check for Sales tax.

The idea behind this gate is deliberate: nobody outside the New Business department should be able to engage a client on anything, whatever their seniority elsewhere in the firm. A manager or a lead who is not a member of a New Business department does not get this page either.

The three kinds of letter

Services. Agreed once per client, covering the work you do for them in general.
Sales Tax. Agreed once per client, separately from Services, covering sales tax work specifically. This is a different thing from the periodic filing chase described in Sales tax: that page is about collecting a client's figures period after period, this one is about the single letter that agrees you will do that work for them at all.
Tax Return. Agreed per return, not per client, so a client with three returns can have three return letters. A return letter is drafted and tracked here, and also on the return itself.

Services and Sales Tax hang off the client, so "does this client have a letter" has one answer per client. A return letter hangs off a specific return, so that question only makes sense one return at a time, which is why the page treats returns separately from the other two throughout.

A letter moves through four stages: Drafted (not yet sent), Sent (awaiting signature), Signed, or Declined. The four stat tiles at the top of the page show how many letters are in each stage firm-wide, with the total fees attached to that stage shown underneath when there are any.

The three tabs

Client coverage. One row per client, with a column for Services and a column for Sales Tax (return letters are not shown here, for the reason above). Each cell is itself a button: click it to open, edit, or start that client's letter. A client with nothing started shows "Start letter"; a client with one shows its current stage and a pencil to edit it. A toggle switches between "Show only what needs work" (the default, clients missing a signed letter on either pipeline) and every client.

All letters. Every letter of every kind, grouped into three sections (Services, Sales Tax, Tax Return), each with its own count by stage. Click a row's status to open that letter; a return letter's row also has an "Open return" button that goes to the return itself.

Awaiting signature. Letters that were sent more than seven days ago and are still unsigned, oldest first. This is the daily chase list: open a letter from here to resend it or copy its signing link.

A search box and a status filter sit above all three tabs and apply to whichever one you are on, so you can look up one client and then switch tabs without retyping their name.

Working on a letter

Opening any letter, from either tab, shows the same drafting and sending screen: draft it, preview it, send it to the client, and see whether it has been signed. A client with no letter yet on a pipeline starts one from the same place a client with one already edits it, there is no separate "create" screen.

If a letter type or status Journey does not recognize turns up

A letter can occasionally carry a type or a status the page does not know how to show. Rather than dropping it silently, the page says how many such letters exist and that they are not shown, so nothing is missing without you being told.