Setup Guide

A step-by-step guide for setting up your firm and onboarding clients to Kick.

Firm Setup

Get your firm account configured before onboarding clients.

• Register your firm — Register for Kick to create the parent account that will house all your client workspaces.

• Invite your team — Add team members and assign roles (Owner, Admin, Manager, Member) based on what each person needs to access.

• Use your free workspace — Test workflows in your free firm workspace before going live — it's a full Plus-tier sandbox for prepping your own books, or demoing to prospects.

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Client Onboarding

Set up each client's workspace, connect their data, and give them access.

• Create the workspace — Create a client workspace and add entities if they have multiple businesses — this keeps related companies organized and enables intercompany automations.

  • If your client is already on Kick, have them invite your firm instead.

• Migrate historical data — Follow the migration guide to migrate historical data for your clients.

• Set up the Chart of Accounts — If not already completed in migration, import your Chart of Accounts and verify opening balances against prior period financials.

• Connect financial accounts — Connect accounts via Plaid or direct integration (Stripe and PayPal, Ramp, Mercury, Gusto), or import data manually via the Universal Importer.

  • Connect personal accounts too — to capture business expenses that occurred in personal accounts, and to improve categorization accuracy for contributions and distributions (read more about personal accounts in Kick).

• Invite the client — Invite your client with the Member role so locked periods are view-only.

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Automation and Personalization

Reduce manual work and keep processes consistent across clients.

• Rules — Create Rules to automate categorization and more — rules always override AI, so use them for client-specific patterns that reduce review time.

• Classes — Use Classes to segment transactions by department, location, or project for granular reporting.

  • Using Gusto or Ramp? Departments you've created will automatically sync as Classes in Kick.

• Collaborate — Streamline communication with Tasks for open item requests or confirmations, create Memos for shared transaction context, apply Locks to protect closed periods, and view Activity for audit trails (who did what, and when).

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Onboarding Checklist

• Register firm and invite team

• Create client workspace and add entities

• Migrate data (if applicable)

• Import Chart of Accounts (if not already completed in migration) and verify opening balances

• Connect all financial accounts (including personal)

• Invite clients to Kick

• Set up automations

• Collaborate with your team