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Every client engagement in CA Practice Management follows the same path. This page traces that journey from first enquiry to final filing, showing which role performs each action and what happens automatically at each step.

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The complete journey at a glance

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Step 1: Capture the enquiry as a lead

A prospect reaches out by phone, referral, or the firm’s website. The CA Manager or CA Partner creates a CA Lead record. The lead records:
  • Contact details and entity type
  • Which services the prospect is looking for
  • The stage: New
  • The lead source (referral, website, walk-in, etc.)
  • A next follow-up date
CA Staff cannot create or delete leads. Only managers and partners manage the pipeline.
CA Lead list showing prospects at different stages of the pipeline

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Step 2: Qualify and advance through the pipeline

The lead moves through stages as the firm learns more and the prospect’s intent becomes clearer: New - First contact made
Contacted - Call or meeting arranged
Qualified - Scope and budget confirmed (BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline)
Proposal Sent - Fee proposal sent to the prospect
Won - Client has agreed to engage; conversion begins
Lost - Prospect chose another firm or did not proceed (reason required) The manager logs each touchpoint as a lead activity, keeping a dated history of every interaction.

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Step 3: Convert the won lead to an engagement

When a lead reaches Won, the CA Manager converts it. The system checks whether a CA Engagement already exists for the same PAN or GSTIN. If one exists, the lead links to it rather than creating a duplicate. If not, a new engagement is created automatically with the scoping details from the lead pre-filled. The engagement captures:
  • Client identity: PAN, GSTIN, CIN, DIN
  • Entity type and engagement type (CA Only, CS Only, or Both)
  • Fee structure: retainer amount, billing frequency, hourly rate
  • Portal access: whether the client gets a portal login and which email address
  • Preferred reminder channel: Email, WhatsApp, or SMS

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Step 4: Automatic obligation generation

As soon as an Active engagement is created, the system automatically:
  1. Derives applicable statutory forms from the entity type and registrations. A Private Limited company with a GSTIN and TDS deductor flag gets a different set of forms from a Proprietorship with only a PAN.
  2. Generates the period’s obligations: a compliance task for each applicable periodic form, a GST Return Tracker for each GST return type, and ROC Filing records for upcoming annual filings, all with the correct statutory due dates.
  3. Creates a document request for each compliance task, using the per-form checklist template, so the firm can immediately start collecting documents from the client.
A manager can also run Generate Annual Package from the engagement to back-fill a full financial year of obligations. Running this again never creates duplicates.
CA Engagement record showing generated compliance tasks, GST trackers, and document requests

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Step 5: Assign work and collect documents

The CA Manager assigns compliance tasks to staff either manually or using the Auto-Assign function, which distributes tasks using the form-specific default assignee or round-robin across CA Staff and CS Executive role holders. Meanwhile, the client receives a notification (email or WhatsApp) listing which documents the firm needs. The client uploads documents through their portal. As each document is received, the document request status rolls from Open to Partially Received to Received automatically. Staff can check the Command Centre at any time to see all overdue and due-soon items across the entire firm.

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Step 6: Prepare the filing

Depending on the compliance type, the preparation work follows a different path: Income Tax (ITR): The CA Staff opens the income tax computation, enters all income details (salary, house property, business, capital gains, other sources), deductions, and advance tax paid. The system computes the tax, compares old vs new regime, and calculates net payable or refund. GST Return: CA Staff imports the sales and purchase data, matches ITC against GSTR-2B, resolves mismatches, and prepares the GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B data for the period. TDS Return: CA Staff creates the TDS return for the quarter, enters deductee lines and challan details, and validates that TDS deducted matches challans deposited. ROC Filing: CS Executive prepares the required form (AOC-4, MGT-7, etc.) and attaches supporting documents.

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Step 7: Review and approval workflow

Each filing type has a defined workflow with role-gated steps. No one can skip a step.

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Compliance Task workflow

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GST Return workflow

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ROC Filing workflow

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Income Tax (client approval track)

Income tax computations have a parallel approval track alongside the preparation status:
  1. CA Staff prepares and saves the computation (status: Draft)
  2. System recomputes (status: Computed)
  3. Manager requests client approval (approval status: Pending Client Approval)
  4. Client reviews and e-approves via the portal (approval status: Approved)
  5. Manager files the ITR (status: Filed); a filing record is created with the acknowledgement number
GST Return workflow showing status transitions from Pending through Filed with role labels

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Step 8: Automatic chaining to the next obligation

When any obligation is filed, the system automatically creates the next obligation in the chain:
  • Filing GSTR-1 creates the GSTR-2B follow-up task
  • Filing GSTR-3B creates the next month’s GSTR-3B
  • Filing 26Q creates the Form 16A issuance task
  • Filing AOC-4 triggers the MGT-7 reminder
This ensures no obligation falls through the cracks between filings.

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Step 9: Reminders and escalation

Throughout the workflow, two automated engines run daily in the background: Reminder Engine: Sends the client a reminder at T-7 days, T-3 days, T-1 day, the due date, and then weekly once overdue. The reminder goes via the client’s preferred channel (WhatsApp, SMS, or Email) with an in-app notification as a fallback. Each reminder is logged to prevent duplicates. Escalation Engine: If an obligation is more than 7 days overdue with no action, the system creates a high-priority to-do for the first available CA Partner or CA Manager so they can intervene.

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Step 10: Bill the client

After filing, the CA Manager runs the billing engine. For retainer clients, a monthly or quarterly invoice is generated automatically on schedule. Billable time logs accumulated during the month are added as line items. The draft invoice goes to the CA Partner for review, who then submits it. The client sees the invoice in their portal and can pay online if a payment gateway is configured.

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Role summary