> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.get-hive.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# AI for accounting firms: onboard clients and chase fees, approved
> How UK accountancy and professional services firms use Hive with Xero, FreeAgent, Sage, DocuSign and Outlook to onboard clients, chase fees and keep inboxes answered.
An accountancy practice runs on dozens of small, repeated jobs across many clients: send the welcome pack when the engagement letter is signed, ask for the Xero contact, chase the fee, answer the email that came in on Friday afternoon. Hive connects to the tools your firm already uses, notices when one of those jobs is slipping, and prepares the next step for a person to approve.
## Built for how practices work
* **Many clients, same process.** Workflows run the same onboarding and chasing steps for every client, consistently.
* **Client inboxes that never go cold.** Hive notices when a client email is waiting on you, and when a client you chased has gone quiet.
* **Your wording, your templates.** Agents draft in your firm's tone from the engagement letters, disclaimers and checklists in your [Library](/library/library).
* **Partners stay in control.** Nothing goes to a client without approval from someone with the right role, and every action leaves a receipt.
* **Priced in GBP**, excluding VAT. See [Billing and plans](/admin/billing-and-plans).
## Tools your firm already uses
| Tool | What Hive does with it |
| - | - |
| **Xero** | Reads invoices, contacts, P\&L, balance sheet and bank summaries. Raises signals on invoices that need collection. Proposes drafts, contact updates and invoice emails for approval. |
| **FreeAgent** | Reads company, bank, invoices, bills, expenses, contacts, projects and timeslips. Proposes invoices, bills and contacts for approval. |
| **Sage** (including Sage 200) | Reads contacts, sales and purchase invoices and bank accounts. Proposes contact changes for approval. |
| **QuickBooks** | Reads customers, invoices and vendors, and proposes invoice and customer changes. |
| **Outlook and Gmail** | Tracks client emails awaiting a reply, and drafts or sends replies with approval. |
| **DocuSign** | Reads envelopes and templates, and can send an envelope from a template. |
| **Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox** | Syncs client files into Hive's knowledge, keeping their original permissions. |
**QuickBooks is not yet generally available.** Hive's QuickBooks connection currently uses Intuit's sandbox, so it can't connect to live QuickBooks companies yet. DocuSign's read and send actions are also limited while its production connection is finalised. [Ask us](/help/support) about timing for your firm.
Which connectors appear for you depends on how your workspace is set up. See the [integrations catalog](/integrations/catalog).
## Client onboarding, done the same way every time
The **New Client Onboarding** template starts when a team member fills in a short in-app form, **Signed letter received**, with the client name and signer email:
```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
A[Form: signed letter received] --> B[Agent: draft welcome pack]
B --> C[Internal note: ask for the Xero contact]
B --> D[Outlook: send welcome email]
```
The welcome email goes through the approval gate, so a manager can check it before it's sent. Add your own steps as you need them: a **Create PDF** step for a branded welcome document saved to the Library, or a **Condition** that routes limited companies and sole traders differently. See [Build a workflow](/workflows/build-a-workflow).
## Fee reminders without the awkwardness
**Fee Reminder** runs every morning at 06:00. It finds Xero invoices that are exactly 7, 14 or 21 days overdue and sends each client a polite reminder from Outlook. Edit the reminder wording in its **Send reminder** step, and keep every email waiting for approval until you trust it. For firms using Stripe to collect fees, Hive can also raise signals on failed automatic collections and overdue sent invoices.
The Xero and Stripe invoice-collection signals are switched on per workspace. Ask [support](/help/support) to switch them on for your firm.
## An inbox that answers itself, with your say-so
**Email Keeper** reads new Outlook mail every hour. It flags anything unusual for a person, and drafts replies for the rest. Drafts are saved in Outlook as drafts, so nothing is sent until someone reviews them.
Separately, Hive's mail detectors raise a signal when a client's email has been waiting on you, or when a thread you're waiting on has gone quiet. Mail stays private to the mailbox owner, and the signal itself carries no address, subject or excerpt.
## Everyday questions for Ask Hive
* *Which clients have unpaid invoices older than 60 days in Xero, and how much do they owe in total?*
* *Summarise the latest bank transactions for Acme Ltd in FreeAgent.*
* *Draft an engagement letter for a new sole-trader client using our template.*
* *What did the client say in their last three emails about the year-end accounts?*
* *Which timeslips were logged against the Smith & Co project this month?*
Answers come with citations back to the source records. See [Ask Hive](/ask/ask-hive) and [Projects](/ask/projects) to group a client's chats, instructions and files.
## Controls a practice needs
* **Roles.** Juniors can work as Operators and approve low-risk internal steps. Partners (Admins and Owners) approve the rest. See [Roles and permissions](/admin/roles-and-permissions).
* **Personal accounts stay private.** Each person connects their own mailbox. Admins see which accounts are connected, but not their contents or credentials.
* **Kill switch and audit log.** Stop everything in one click, and trace every action from signal to result. See [Safety and control](/admin/safety-and-control).
* **Hosted in the EU.** Hive's API and database run in Frankfurt. See [Infrastructure](/security/infrastructure).
## Related
Collections signals and guardrails in more depth.
Every built-in template and what it does.
Connect Xero and Outlook read-only and see which clients need attention today.