Managing bookkeeping for a single client is a workflow problem. Managing it for 15, 20, or 30 clients simultaneously is a prioritisation problem. The question stops being "how do I reconcile this account?" and becomes "which client needs me right now, and what do they need?"
ReconLink's practice dashboard is designed to answer that second question — surfacing the clients and tasks that need attention without requiring you to open each client record individually. This guide walks through how the dashboard works and how to use it to run a faster, less stressful multi-client practice.
The client overview: your starting point every morning
The practice dashboard opens to a client overview table. Each row is one client, and each row tells you the current state of that client's books at a glance.
The columns that matter most in daily use:
Unreconciled transactions — the count of transactions that have been imported but not yet reconciled. A number above your normal cadence threshold is the primary signal that a client needs attention. A client with 200 unreconciled transactions when you normally keep them below 30 has slipped behind.
Last statement import — when the most recent batch of transactions was imported, whether by upload or via the per-client email inbox. If this is stale, the client likely hasn't forwarded their latest statement yet. A client with no import in the current cycle is worth a nudge before you try to reconcile.
BAS due date — the upcoming activity statement lodgement date for each client. Clients approaching their BAS due date sort to the top of the priority list. For a practice managing both monthly and quarterly BAS lodgers, having the due dates visible without switching between clients is essential.
Reconciliation status — a colour-coded indicator showing whether the last period is reconciled, partially reconciled, or not yet started. Green means done; amber means in progress; red means not started and the period is either current or overdue.
Reading status indicators without opening client records
The most time-consuming habit in multi-client bookkeeping is opening every client record to check on progress. The practice dashboard is designed to eliminate that habit.
Red indicators demand immediate attention. Common causes: a missing recent statement import, unreconciled transactions exceeding a threshold, or a BAS period overdue.
Amber indicators are advisory. The client's reconciliation is in progress — either you are actively working it, or it was started and paused. An amber indicator that has been amber for more than a few days without resolution usually means a transaction is stuck in the review queue waiting for a coding decision.
Client notes pinned to a client card in the dashboard surface any flags from previous sessions — "waiting on client to confirm vendor identity for August transactions", "bank statement format changed, re-import needed". These notes prevent work falling through the gaps between sessions.
Batch reconciliation workflows
For clients whose transactions are largely rule-coded and ML-coded with high confidence, ReconLink supports a batch approach rather than client-by-client sequential work.
The batch workflow:
- Review the confidence distribution for each client's pending transactions before opening the client. Clients where 90%+ of transactions are above the confidence threshold require minimal review — the reconciliation is essentially a confirmation pass.
- Prioritise high-review-queue clients first. Clients with a large proportion of transactions in the manual review queue (low confidence, new vendors, unusual amounts) require more time. Do these when you have the capacity, not at the end of the day when you are tired.
- Use the transaction review queue across clients. ReconLink's cross-client review queue lets you work through low-confidence transactions from multiple clients in a single session, rather than context-switching by opening and closing individual client records. This is particularly efficient for transactions that require a quick decision — vendor identified, code confirmed, move on.
The client portal: your clients as collaborators
One of the recurring time costs in bookkeeping practice is chasing clients for information — "can you confirm what this transaction was for?", "who is this vendor?", "is this a personal or business expense?". These questions, distributed across 25 clients, consume hours every month.
ReconLink's client portal allows you to push specific transactions to the client for their input, and the client responds directly within the portal without needing to email or call.
Setting up client portal access:
- From the client record, navigate to Client Portal → Manage Access
- Add the client's email address and set their access level (view-only or review and respond)
- The client receives an invitation email with a secure access link
Once the client has access, you can flag individual transactions as "pending client response" from the reconciliation view. The client sees only their own data — no other practice clients are visible.
The reconciliation sign-off workflow:
At period end, you can share the completed reconciliation report with the client directly through the portal for their review and sign-off. The client can add a comment or confirm approval. This creates an audit trail of client confirmation — useful if questions arise later about a period's coding decisions.
For practices that have moved away from emailing Excel reports for client review, the portal sign-off replaces that step entirely.
Prioritising which clients need attention
With 20 or 30 clients visible in the dashboard simultaneously, a prioritisation framework helps avoid the trap of always working on the clients that are loudest rather than the clients that are most behind.
A simple priority order that works in practice:
- BAS due in the next 7 days — non-negotiable. Get these reconciled and reviewed first.
- No recent statement import — if the latest statement has not been imported, no new transactions are coming through. Uploading it, or nudging the client to forward it to their inbox address, is a 5-minute task that unblocks the whole reconciliation.
- Unreconciled transactions above threshold — clients with high transaction counts that have been building up. The longer this runs, the harder the catch-up.
- Clients with pending client responses — if you asked a client a question through the portal a week ago and they have not responded, send a nudge. Blocked transactions are the most common cause of partial reconciliations staying amber.
- Everything else — standard ongoing work, lower urgency.
The ReconLink dashboard's sort and filter functions let you apply this priority order in practice. Sort by BAS due date, then filter to clients missing a recent statement import, then sort by unreconciled count.
Keeping the client list manageable as the practice grows
As a practice grows past 20 clients, the dashboard can become visually dense. Use client groups to organise clients by category — by industry, by BAS frequency, by practice staff member responsible, or by any other grouping that reflects how your practice is structured.
For practices with multiple bookkeepers, assigning clients to specific staff members and filtering the dashboard view to "my clients" means each bookkeeper sees only their own portfolio. The practice manager can remove the filter to see the full practice view.
What the dashboard does not replace
The practice dashboard surfaces what needs attention — it does not replace the judgment calls that come from knowing a client's business. A client showing 150 unreconciled transactions might be completely normal if they had their quarterly superannuation run last week. A client showing 0 unreconciled transactions might need a check that their latest statement has actually been imported and is not silently missing.
Use the dashboard as a navigation tool, not as a complete picture of client health. The bookkeeper who knows their clients — their transaction patterns, their seasonal rhythms, their common vendor set — will always get more value from the dashboard than one who relies on the status indicators alone.
See the full practice feature set or book a demo to walk through the dashboard with your own client configuration.