Practice Ignition
Client engagement platform that automates proposals, payments, and workflows for professional services firms.
About Practice Ignition
Practice Ignition covers the stretch between winning a client and getting paid by them. You build a proposal from an engagement letter template, send it for e-signature, collect a payment method at signing, and then watch recurring invoices go out automatically on whatever schedule the engagement specifies. The workflow triggers fire when a proposal is accepted — creating jobs in connected project tools or pushing client data to your practice management system — so you stop re-entering the same information across three platforms after every new engagement. It fits accounting and bookkeeping firms with a steady volume of monthly retainer clients best. A sole practitioner with ten advisory clients will not extract enough value to justify the entry price. Firms running 30 or more active recurring engagements, or any practice that currently chases unsigned engagement letters and late invoices manually, are where this earns its cost. The shortcomings are real. The client portal is functional but thin compared to dedicated portals like Karbon or TaxDome. Proposal customization hits a ceiling faster than it should at the base tier. And because payment collection is baked into the proposal flow, clients who resist providing card or bank details at proposal stage create friction that the platform does not handle gracefully.
Best for
Professional services firms wanting automated client engagement from proposal to payment
Key Features
- Automated proposal generation with e-signatures
- Recurring payment processing and invoicing
- Workflow automation triggers to connected tools
- Client engagement portal for document sharing
- Engagement letter templates for professional services
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Combines engagement letter, e-signature, and payment authorization into a single client-facing step — eliminating the separate DocuSign and invoice follow-up cycle
- Recurring billing runs automatically after proposal acceptance, so monthly retainer invoices go out without manual triggering
- Workflow triggers push accepted-proposal data directly into QBO, Xero, or connected project tools — no manual job creation after contracts are signed
- Engagement letter template library covers common accounting service lines out of the box, reducing setup time for standard advisory, bookkeeping, and tax engagements
- Revenue reporting across the proposal pipeline gives principals a live view of contracted monthly recurring revenue before invoices actually go out
- Stripe-backed payment processing supports ACH and card, with automatic retry logic on failed payments
Cons
- No free trial or free tier — evaluation requires a paid commitment from day one, which makes it hard to pilot before firm-wide rollout
- Base plan at $99/mo caps the number of active clients, and firms with larger rosters hit the next pricing tier quickly
- Client portal is shallow — document sharing and client communication features lag behind TaxDome or Canopy, so you still need a separate portal if that matters to your workflow
- Proposal customization is template-driven; firms with complex, highly variable engagement structures will find the editor limiting without significant workaround
- Clients who balk at entering payment details before work begins create manual exceptions the platform does not accommodate cleanly
- Integration depth with project management tools is largely Zapier-dependent, meaning trigger reliability depends on a third layer you also pay for
Ledger Brief Take
Fills the gap between CRM lead capture and actually getting client work started by automating the entire engagement lifecycle from proposal through recurring billing. The workflow triggers connecting to other practice management tools are the real value here — most firms are still manually copying client data and project details between systems after contracts are signed. While it's built for broader professional services, the recurring payment automation makes it particularly compelling for accounting firms with monthly retainer clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions accountants ask about Practice Ignition.
How much does Practice Ignition cost and what does the base plan include?
Pricing starts at $99/mo for the Starter plan, which covers a limited number of active clients and core proposal and payment features. Firms with larger client rosters move to the $199/mo or higher tiers. There is no free plan and no stated trial period on the public pricing page — contact sales if you want a demo before committing.
How does Practice Ignition integrate with QuickBooks Online and Xero?
Native integrations with both QBO and Xero sync accepted proposals into invoices and push client records automatically. You map service line items in Practice Ignition to your chart of accounts once, and the connection handles the rest. This is a direct API integration, not Zapier-dependent, so it is more reliable than most competing tools in this category.
How does Practice Ignition compare to TaxDome for accounting firms?
TaxDome is a broader practice management platform with stronger client portal, task management, and document storage features. Practice Ignition wins specifically on proposal-to-payment automation and recurring billing. Firms wanting an all-in-one system typically choose TaxDome; firms with existing project tools who just need to fix their engagement and billing process choose Practice Ignition.
Is client financial data secure on Practice Ignition?
Payment processing runs through Stripe, which is PCI DSS Level 1 certified. Practice Ignition itself uses TLS encryption in transit and encryption at rest for stored data. It is not a document management vault, so do not treat it as primary storage for sensitive client tax files.
What size accounting firm gets the most from Practice Ignition?
Firms running 30 or more active monthly retainer engagements get the clearest return. Below that threshold, the recurring billing automation does not justify the base plan cost against simpler invoicing inside QBO or Xero. Above it, the time saved on manual follow-up and data re-entry across systems compounds quickly.
Can Practice Ignition handle one-time project engagements, or is it only for recurring billing?
It handles both. One-time fixed-fee proposals work the same way as recurring ones — client signs, pays a deposit or full amount at signing, and the trigger fires. The recurring billing automation is the headline feature, but the proposal and e-signature flow adds value for project work too.