Advorra blog

The client onboarding checklist for a small RIA: from prospect to first review

By the team at The CollabHub · Co-written with Mohammad Aamish Aaftab
Published 2 Oct 2026 · Updated 17 Oct 2026

Client onboarding at a small RIA is the fixed sequence that turns a prospect into a client with a complete file: gather information, deliver the brochure, sign the agreement, record suitability, choose the strategy, sign the IPS, assign accounts, set up billing and schedule the first review. Do it in that order, and make each step leave a dated record, so the file tells the story without anyone's memory.

A couple you met three weeks ago has said yes. They want to move two IRAs and a joint account, and they'd like to get going before the end of the month. Over the next few weeks you'll create most of the file you'll keep on them for years. If a step gets skipped now, or recorded later from memory, the gap sits there until someone looks for it.

What steps does a small RIA onboarding checklist include?

Nine steps, in a fixed order, each with a record to keep.

Why does the order matter?

Because each step depends on the one before it. The IPS should reflect the suitability you recorded and the strategy you chose, so it comes after both. Billing depends on knowing which accounts belong to the household. The first review date depends on when the IPS took effect.

Doing the steps out of order isn't fatal, but it produces a file where the dates don't line up, and you end up explaining why the IPS is older than the suitability record it's meant to be based on.

What does a clean onboarding look like in practice?

Take a hypothetical two-person RIA with about 120 households, onboarding the couple above.

• Week 1. The data-gathering questionnaire comes back. The brochure goes out by email the same day, and the delivery date and method go into the file.
• Week 2. At the second meeting, they sign the advisory agreement. The effective date recorded is the signature date, not the date someone uploaded the PDF. Suitability is recorded for each spouse, because one is retiring in two years and the other in ten.
• Week 2, same meeting. The advisor picks the strategy. The IPS is generated from it, reviewed with them and signed. Its effective date is the signature date.
• Weeks 3 to 5. The three accounts arrive at the custodian one at a time. Each is linked to the household as it lands, with its discretionary status set.
• Week 5. Billing is set up on the joint account and both IRAs, with the joint account's cash sleeve excluded as the agreement says. The first review goes on the calendar 12 months from the IPS date.

Nothing here is unusual. What makes it clean is that every line has a date, and the dates run in the same order as the steps.

Where do onboarding files usually have gaps?

• Brochure delivery not recorded. It happened by email, and the proof stayed in the inbox.
• Agreement effective date missing. The upload date gets used instead of the signature date.
• Suitability recorded for one spouse only. Members' situations can differ, as in the example above.
• New account not added to the household. It is then billed and reviewed alone.
• No first review date. The client is onboarded and then nobody looks at the file for 18 months.

How do you move a prospect to a client without retyping?

Carry the prospect record forward rather than starting a new one. The prospect stage already collects most of what onboarding needs: contact details, data-gathering answers, often the brochure delivery and sometimes the signed agreement. Retyping that information into a second system is where names get misspelled and dates get lost.

If your prospect pipeline and client records live in different tools, at least copy the dates exactly as they were recorded, and note where the original is kept.

When is a full checklist more than you need?

Rarely, but the level of detail can flex. A single-account client with one decision-maker doesn't need member-level suitability. A firm onboarding three clients a year can run the checklist from a printed page. What doesn't flex is the dated record for the brochure, the agreement and the IPS, because those are the documents most likely to be asked for later.

How Advorra handles onboarding

In Advorra, the prospect journey carries its checklist, data gathering, brochure delivery and signed agreement (with its effective date) into the client record on conversion. Households hold member-level suitability, accounts from custodian files are matched to households, the strategy of record is dated, and the IPS is generated from the strategy and activated with its signed copy. To see how that runs from first meeting to first review, visit the product page, or read about suitability reviews.

General information, not legal or compliance advice. Your procedures and compliance consultant decide what your onboarding must include.