Onboarding defaults

Every new client raises four “what should we pre-pick?” questions:

1. Which engagement letter template?
2. Which organizer template?
3. Which folder structure?
4. Which preparer is assigned by default?

This page lets you answer those once, firm-wide. Onboarding becomes a one-click action instead of a four-step wizard.

To open it, go to Settings → Onboarding defaults in the sidebar. The form has four dropdowns — leave any field blank to let Assure Pro pick automatically.

Choosing a default preparer

This is the team member who gets assigned as the preparer on new clients and engagements.

Pick the person who handles most new clients — usually the firm owner or lead preparer. You can override per-client when you onboard.

Choosing a default engagement letter template

This template pre-fills when you onboard a client.

Most firms leave this on auto-resolve and let the entity match work. Pick a specific template only if you have one letter you use for everyone.

Choosing a default organizer template

This is the organizer that goes out to new clients during onboarding.

Organizers don’t match by entity type — auto-resolve here means “the firm default.” Mark the default in the organizer editor.

Choosing a default folder structure

This is the folder layout applied to a new client’s Documents folder during onboarding.

Same pattern as organizers — auto-resolve means “the default.”

How auto-resolve plays with the picker

Each dropdown shows a “(default)” label next to the entry currently flagged as the firm default:

Default organizer template
──────────────────────────────────
None (auto-resolve)
1040 Individual Organizer (default)
1120S Business Organizer
1065 Partnership Organizer

When the page is set to None (auto-resolve) and you onboard a client, Assure Pro picks the “(default)” entry. Setting the dropdown to a specific entry overrides that.

[Screenshot: Onboarding defaults form with the four dropdowns]

What happens if nothing matches

If a default can’t resolve, onboarding doesn’t fail — it just skips that step.

So the first time you onboard a client, you may onboard with gaps. Setting all four defaults closes those gaps for everyone going forward.

Saving

Click Save Changes. A green confirmation appears: “Defaults saved.” The next onboarding uses the new defaults immediately.

What this won’t change

Why “auto-resolve” instead of hard-coding the template

Because the firm default can move without touching this settings page. Example:

• Today, your “1040 Individual Organizer” is the firm default.
• Six months later, you create “2026 Updated Organizer” and move the firm-default flag to it.
• This setting still says “None (auto-resolve)” — and now picks “2026 Updated Organizer” automatically.

If you’d hard-coded the old template here, you’d have to come back and change it manually after the switch.

Best practices

1. Set all four before onboarding your first real client. It saves a lot of “I forgot to send the organizer” cleanup later.
2. Audit quarterly. Your default organizer may need to change with the new tax year. The folder structure may need a new year sub-folder.
3. Use auto-resolve when you can. It’s easier to maintain than hard-coding specific templates.

Permissions

Owners and admins always have both.

Next

• Engagement letter templates — manage the templates this picks from.
• Organizer templates — manage the organizers this picks from.
• Document folders — manage the folder structures.
• Clients onboarding — the flow that uses these defaults.