Ignition
Client engagement and commerce platform for accounting firms.
About Ignition
Ignition replaces the manual back-and-forth of client onboarding by handling proposals, engagement letters, billing authorization, and payment collection in a single workflow. A partner sends a proposal, the client signs the engagement letter digitally, and billing kicks off automatically—no separate invoicing step, no chasing approvals. Firms running recurring work, particularly tax, bookkeeping, and advisory retainers, get the most mileage here because Ignition is built around subscription-style billing rather than one-off invoices. It fits solo practitioners up to mid-size firms with 20-30 staff. Larger firms with complex partner-level approval chains will hit friction because the workflow customization has limits. The client portal handles document exchange but is basic compared to dedicated portals like ShareFile or TaxDome. The main shortfall is stack overlap. If you already use a practice management platform with proposal and billing features, you are paying twice for similar functionality. QuickBooks Practice Management and Karbon both push into this territory. Ignition wins on the proposal-to-payment pipeline specifically, but it does not replace a full practice management system, so most firms run it alongside one—adding cost and a second data sync to maintain.
Best for
Accounting firms wanting to automate the entire client onboarding and billing process
Key Features
- Automated proposal generation and delivery
- Digital engagement letter workflows
- Integrated billing and payment collection
- Client portal for document exchange
- Practice workflow automation
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Proposal acceptance automatically triggers engagement letter signing and billing setup in one unbroken sequence, eliminating three separate manual steps.
- Auto-billing on recurring engagements charges clients on schedule without staff intervention—particularly useful for monthly bookkeeping and advisory retainers.
- Native Stripe and PayPal integration means ACH and card payments process inside the platform without a separate merchant account setup.
- Engagement letter templates are built for accounting firms, covering common service lines out of the box rather than requiring blank-document customization.
- Zapier integration lets firms push signed-proposal data to project management tools like Asana or ClickUp to auto-create jobs on engagement acceptance.
- Consolidated payment dashboard shows outstanding, overdue, and collected amounts across all clients without needing to cross-reference an accounting ledger.
Cons
- No free tier and no stated trial period on the public pricing page—evaluating the tool requires a paid commitment or a demo call, which raises the barrier for smaller firms.
- The $99/mo entry plan caps the number of active proposals, so growing firms hit plan limits faster than expected and move into higher tiers within months.
- Firms already paying for Karbon, Financial Cents, or QuickBooks Practice Management will duplicate proposal and billing features they already own.
- Client portal is functional but thin—document storage, version control, and client messaging are not competitive with TaxDome or Canopy.
- Syncing accepted proposals back into QuickBooks or Xero as invoices requires configuration and occasional troubleshooting; it is not fully automatic out of the box.
- Workflow automation is linear and struggles with engagements that require conditional logic or multi-partner sign-off before a proposal goes to the client.
Ledger Brief Take
This hits the sweet spot between CRM and practice management by automating the entire front-end client lifecycle—from proposal through payment collection—rather than just managing existing relationships. While it overlaps with tools like QuickBooks Practice Management, Ignition's strength is turning the traditionally manual engagement process into a streamlined digital workflow that reduces administrative overhead for firms handling recurring client work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions accountants ask about Ignition.
What does Ignition cost and what does the base plan include?
Ignition starts at $99 per month. The entry plan limits the number of active client proposals, which means firms with more than a handful of concurrent engagements will need a higher tier. There is no permanent free plan. Pricing scales by proposal volume and team size, and the full tier structure requires checking the pricing page or requesting a quote directly.
How does Ignition integrate with QuickBooks and Xero?
Ignition connects to both QuickBooks Online and Xero to sync accepted proposals as invoices and log payments. The sync handles basic invoice creation but requires initial setup and occasional reconciliation checks. It does not replace your accounting ledger—it feeds data into it. Firms running QuickBooks Desktop rather than Online have no native integration path.
How does Ignition compare to TaxDome or Karbon for practice management?
Ignition is stronger on the proposal-to-payment pipeline than either TaxDome or Karbon, but it does not replace them as full practice management systems. TaxDome has a deeper client portal and document management. Karbon leads on internal workflow and team communication. Most firms that choose Ignition run it alongside a practice management tool rather than instead of one.
Is Ignition appropriate for a solo bookkeeper or small firm?
Yes, particularly if you are moving from manually drafted proposals and separate invoicing. The entry price is meaningful for a one-person firm, but the time saved on proposal creation, engagement letter chasing, and billing setup typically justifies the cost once you have more than five or six recurring clients.
How does Ignition handle payment security and client financial data?
Payments process through Stripe or PayPal rather than Ignition holding card data directly. Ignition is SOC 2 compliant for its platform data. Engagement letters and client records are stored in the cloud with encryption in transit and at rest. For firms subject to data residency requirements, confirm server location with Ignition before committing.
Can Ignition handle one-off projects or is it built only for recurring work?
Ignition handles one-off fixed-fee and hourly engagements, not just recurring retainers. That said, its automation advantages—auto-billing, renewal reminders, recurring payment collection—are most useful for subscription-style work. Using it solely for project-based engagements is functional but leaves most of the platform's value on the table.