Best CRM software for accounting firms
Five CRM and client onboarding vendors with an Accountio profile, side by side.
Listed alphabetically. Accountio does not rank vendors, and a featured listing does not change the order.
CRM software for accounting firms keeps prospects, clients and the work of bringing them in in one place: leads, proposals and engagement letters, onboarding and client communication. FibreCRM, Pixie and BrightManager are built for accounting firms, HubSpot is a CRM for many industries with a dedicated accounting CRM page, and Ignition starts from the proposal and the engagement letter.
CRM software for accounting firms at a glance
| Vendor | Best for | Founded and HQ | Customers | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 BrightManager | Established and growing accounting firms, bookkeepers and payroll bureaus with multiple staff managing numerous clients | Not published | Accounting practices including TaxAssist, Accountancy Solutions, Total Books Accountants, Awesome Accountants and Wren Accounting Services Limited | Essential £42.63 per user a month billed monthly, or £409.25 per user a year billed annually, for 2 to 12 users, with a 30-day free trial; Premium and Advanced for single users at £57.85 a month or £694.26 a year (24-month and 12-month contracts), including a branded client portal, pricing and proposal tool and customer success membership, with an extra free user licence on Premium; prices exclude VAT |
 FibreCRM | Accountancy and CPA firms, from growing practices to Top 100 firms and multi-office groups | Pool Innovation Centre, Cornwall, UK; US office in Chicago | Accountancy firms including TC Group (1,500+ people in 60 offices), Gerald Edelman, Harold Sharp and Dolan Accountancy | Practice CRM £60 per user a month billed yearly (based on a typical 100-user installation; +20% if billed monthly; 12-month minimum); Enterprise on request; US package US$550 a month incl. five users, US$20 per extra user |
 HubSpot | Startups, small businesses and enterprises, including accounting firms and financial services firms | Founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah; global headquarters at 2 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA, United States; 15 global offices | Accounting example on its accounting CRM page: Pure Bookkeeping | Free plan at $0 a month for up to 2 users, no credit card required; paid plans per seat a month, billed annually: Professional US$90, Enterprise US$175 |
 Ignition | Accounting, tax and bookkeeping firms, agencies, consultants and other professional services businesses, from solo practitioners to multi-office firms | Founded 2013 in Australia; office in Sydney | 8,500+ customers; 2.4 million+ clients engaged; US$13bn+ revenue earned by customers through it | US: Core US$99, Pro US$229 and Pro+ US$399 a month billed annually (US$149, US$279 and US$499 monthly); Solo from US$39 a month for solo practitioners under US$150k revenue; Enterprise on request; 14-day free trial |
 Pixie | Smaller accountancy and bookkeeping firms, including CPA firms | Founded in London by Celso Pinto; operated by Pixie International Limited | 1000s of accountants and bookkeepers; named firms include Cloud 360 Accounting, Foray Business Group and Level Accounting | One flat monthly fee per firm, based on client numbers, with unlimited users: US$129 a month for fewer than 250 clients, US$199 for 251 to 500, US$329 for 501 to 1000, price on application above 1000; 30-day free trial, no credit card required |
The five vendors
In alphabetical order. “Not published” means the vendor does not state it.
BrightManager
Best for: Established and growing accounting firms, bookkeepers and payroll bureaus with multiple staff managing numerous clients
Cloud practice management software for accountants, bookkeepers and payroll bureaus: client onboarding with proposals, letters of engagement, AML checks and risk assessments; workflow-driven tasks and deadlines; a secure client portal with e-signatures and forms; automated client emails and SMS; time tracking, profitability and reporting. AccountancyManager was renamed BrightManager in November 2023.
- Founded and HQ
- Not published
- Ownership
- Part of the wider Bright product offering
- Customers
- Accounting practices including TaxAssist, Accountancy Solutions, Total Books Accountants, Awesome Accountants and Wren Accounting Services Limited
- Pricing
- Essential £42.63 per user a month billed monthly, or £409.25 per user a year billed annually, for 2 to 12 users, with a 30-day free trial; Premium and Advanced for single users at £57.85 a month or £694.26 a year (24-month and 12-month contracts), including a branded client portal, pricing and proposal tool and customer success membership, with an extra free user licence on Premium; prices exclude VAT
- How it runs
- Accounting practices, bookkeepers and payroll bureaus in the UK and Ireland
- Good to know
- Renamed from AccountancyManager in November 2023; client onboarding with proposals, letters of engagement and AML checks
FibreCRM
Best for: Accountancy and CPA firms, from growing practices to Top 100 firms and multi-office groups
CRM and client onboarding software for accountancy firms: leads and opportunities, proposals and engagement letters with e-signature, client data capture, and KYC/AML risk assessments with partner sign-off.
- Founded and HQ
- Pool Innovation Centre, Cornwall, UK; US office in Chicago
- Ownership
- Private, founder-led (Simon Leek, founder and CEO); equity investors include the Bayes Entrepreneurship Fund, the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, Chelverton Asset Management and Macaulay
- Customers
- Accountancy firms including TC Group (1,500+ people in 60 offices), Gerald Edelman, Harold Sharp and Dolan Accountancy
- Pricing
- Practice CRM £60 per user a month billed yearly (based on a typical 100-user installation; +20% if billed monthly; 12-month minimum); Enterprise on request; US package US$550 a month incl. five users, US$20 per extra user
- How it runs
- Cloud, hosted on Amazon Web Services in a regional data centre (US hosting for US customers); accountancy firms in the UK, US and Canada
- Good to know
- Leads and opportunities, proposals and engagement letters with e-signature, and KYC/AML risk assessments with partner sign-off
HubSpot
Best for: Startups, small businesses and enterprises, including accounting firms and financial services firms
AI-powered Smart CRM at the centre of a customer platform with Marketing, Sales, Service, Content, Data and Revenue hubs; the free CRM covers contact management, deals, pipeline management, ticketing, payment links and reporting dashboards.
- Founded and HQ
- Founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah; global headquarters at 2 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA, United States; 15 global offices
- Ownership
- Led by CEO Yamini Rangan
- Customers
- Accounting example on its accounting CRM page: Pure Bookkeeping
- Pricing
- Free plan at $0 a month for up to 2 users, no credit card required; paid plans per seat a month, billed annually: Professional US$90, Enterprise US$175
- How it runs
- 15 global offices; website in English, Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French; prices shown in US$, euros and other currencies
- Good to know
- Free plan for up to 2 users; dedicated accounting CRM page covering client data, reminders for tax payment deadlines and onboarding with document signing
Ignition
Best for: Accounting, tax and bookkeeping firms, agencies, consultants and other professional services businesses, from solo practitioners to multi-office firms
Proposals, contracts and engagement letters, invoicing, billing and payment collection, with workflow automation and AI price insights.
- Founded and HQ
- Founded 2013 in Australia; office in Sydney
- Ownership
- Not published
- Customers
- 8,500+ customers; 2.4 million+ clients engaged; US$13bn+ revenue earned by customers through it
- Pricing
- US: Core US$99, Pro US$229 and Pro+ US$399 a month billed annually (US$149, US$279 and US$499 monthly); Solo from US$39 a month for solo practitioners under US$150k revenue; Enterprise on request; 14-day free trial
- How it runs
- Staff in Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK and Ireland, Canada and the Philippines; US pricing published
- Good to know
- Proposals, contracts and engagement letters that lead into invoicing, billing and payment collection
Pixie
Best for: Smaller accountancy and bookkeeping firms, including CPA firms
Cloud practice management and CRM software for accounting and bookkeeping firms: client records with an email and document timeline, workflow and recurring job automation, client tasks and reminders, a document portal and e-signing.
- Founded and HQ
- Founded in London by Celso Pinto; operated by Pixie International Limited
- Ownership
- Private; Pixie International Limited is owned and operated by The Successful Bookkeeper Global, headquartered in Ontario, Canada; the software is developed by technology partner The Access Group
- Customers
- 1000s of accountants and bookkeepers; named firms include Cloud 360 Accounting, Foray Business Group and Level Accounting
- Pricing
- One flat monthly fee per firm, based on client numbers, with unlimited users: US$129 a month for fewer than 250 clients, US$199 for 251 to 500, US$329 for 501 to 1000, price on application above 1000; 30-day free trial, no credit card required
- How it runs
- Accounting and bookkeeping firms worldwide; hosted on Amazon Web Services in the UK; Markezing supports firms in Australia and New Zealand
- Good to know
- One flat monthly fee per firm with unlimited users; client records with an email and document timeline
Related tools in the same directory category
Other practice management vendors in the same directory category.
CRM for UK accountancy practices
UK firms need a CRM that handles anti-money laundering checks and engagement letters as part of onboarding.
Accountancy service providers in the UK work under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which require customer due diligence and a documented risk assessment before work starts. Two of the vendors above are built in the UK. FibreCRM is based in Cornwall, and BrightManager is sold to practices in the UK and Ireland. Pixie was founded in London and is now operated by a Canadian owner.
FibreCRM treats KYC and AML as a step in onboarding. It offers individual and business checks, pre-built KYC forms, risk capture by entity, and partner sign-off and approval. Proposals and engagement letters are signed electronically in the same flow, and once KYC is signed off and the letter is signed, FibreCRM can create the client in IRIS Elements.
BrightManager handles AML and client due diligence inside the practice platform. Identity verification runs through Credas, results are stored against the client record, risk assessments record client risk ratings, and a dashboard shows which clients have passed, are pending or need chasing. Engagement letters come from BrightPropose, a separate Bright product that takes client data from BrightManager, produces branded letters with e-signatures and returns the signed letter to the client record.
CRM versus practice management software
Where the two categories overlap, and how to avoid paying for the same feature twice.
A CRM covers the front of the client relationship: leads, proposals, engagement letters and onboarding. Practice management software covers the work after that: workflow, deadlines, tasks, documents, time and billing. The categories overlap on client records, e-signature, client communication and billing, and several vendors sell both in one product. Pixie and BrightManager describe themselves as practice management software with CRM functions.
Karbon is a practice management platform that also takes in CRM data. Its integrations directory lists HubSpot and Pipedrive connections for contacts and sales pipelines, and its API lets a firm connect an existing CRM to Karbon client groups and contacts. TaxDome positions itself as all-in-one practice management for tax and accounting firms, with client management, documents and billing in one system.
Firms most often pay twice for four things: client records held in both a CRM and a practice tool, e-signature, proposal and engagement letter templates, and invoicing. Before buying, list which of these the practice management tool already covers. A firm on Karbon or TaxDome may need only a lightweight pipeline tool for leads, while a firm that adds a full CRM should decide which system holds the master client record and switch off the duplicate in the other.
Integrations with Xero, QuickBooks and IRIS
What each vendor states it syncs with the ledger and with accounts production tools.
| Vendor | Ledger and production integrations | What syncs |
|---|---|---|
| FibreCRM | Xero, QuickBooks Online, IRIS Elements, IRIS Practice Engine, IRIS Star Practice Management, IRIS Tax, CCH Central, CCH Prosystem fx | Xero: contacts, invoices, payment history, products and tax rates, with quotes converted to invoices. QuickBooks Online: clients created when a proposal or engagement letter is signed, one-off and recurring invoices, and payment history in both directions. IRIS Elements: business and personal clients created once KYC and the engagement letter are signed off |
| BrightManager | Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Sage | Xero: invoices raised in BrightManager create drafts in Xero, Xero invoices appear in BrightManager, and paid status updates in both. QuickBooks: two-way client data, synced hourly or on demand |
| Karbon | Xero, QuickBooks Online Accountant, Xero Practice Manager | Xero: contacts, invoices and payments, with invoices syncing from Karbon in real time |
| Ignition | Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB Business | Invoices are raised in the ledger once a proposal is accepted, and paid status flows back to Ignition. Existing recurring invoices can be imported as draft proposals |
HubSpot does not sync with a ledger out of the box for accounting firms. Its accounting CRM page says it connects with QuickBooks and other accounting tools through its integration marketplace. Of the vendors above, only FibreCRM publishes a client-creation integration with IRIS Elements. A firm running IRIS for accounts production should confirm with any other vendor how clients reach IRIS before signing.
How to choose CRM software for an accounting firm
- Built for accounting firms, or a general CRM?FibreCRM is CRM and client onboarding software for accountancy firms, Pixie is practice management and CRM software for accounting and bookkeeping firms, and BrightManager is practice management software for accountants, bookkeepers and payroll bureaus. HubSpot serves businesses across many industries, including accounting firms, and Ignition serves accounting, tax and bookkeeping firms as well as agencies and consultants.
- How are new clients onboarded?FibreCRM covers proposals and engagement letters with e-signature and KYC/AML risk assessments with partner sign-off, and BrightManager covers proposals, letters of engagement, AML checks and risk assessments. Ignition turns proposals and engagement letters into invoicing and payment collection, Pixie collects e-signatures through its client portal, and HubSpot's accounting CRM page covers client onboarding with document signing.
- How is it priced?Pixie charges one flat monthly fee per firm based on client numbers, from US$129 a month, with unlimited users. FibreCRM's Practice CRM is £60 per user a month billed yearly, BrightManager's Essential plan is £42.63 per user a month, and Ignition's US Core plan is US$99 a month billed annually. HubSpot has a free plan for up to 2 users and paid plans per seat.
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Common questions
What is CRM software for accounting firms?+
Software that tracks prospects and clients, the proposals and engagement letters that bring in new work, and the onboarding and client communication that follow.
Can accounting firms use HubSpot as their CRM?+
Yes. HubSpot's customers include accounting firms, and it has a dedicated accounting CRM page covering client data, ticketing, reminders for dates such as tax payment deadlines, and client onboarding with document signing.
Which of these include AML checks for new clients?+
FibreCRM includes KYC/AML risk assessments with partner sign-off, and BrightManager includes AML and identity checks, risk assessments and client risk ratings.
Part of Accountio’s accounting technology coverage.
