---
title: "GTD for Accounting and Law Firms: Recurring Tasks That Run Themselves"
description: "Practical GTD® playbooks for accounting practices and law firms: folder structure, tags, recurring month-end tasks, matter-opening checklists and deadline discipline."
---

[Toodledo Blog](https://blog.toodledo.com)

# [GTD for Accounting and Law Firms: Recurring Tasks That Run Themselves](https://blog.toodledo.com/gtd-for-accounting-and-law-firms-recurring-tasks-that-run-themselves)

 Written by [Toodledo](https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo) | Oct 17, 2026, 3:53:44 PM

The same GTD® method works in any firm, but accounting practices and law firms each have patterns worth borrowing. These playbooks are adapted from Chapter 10 of [The Calm Firm](https://info.toodledo.com/calm-firm-gtd-playbook?utm_source=toodledo-blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=calm-firm-guide), our free playbook for professional service teams.

*Toodledo supports your workflow. It doesn't replace a court docketing or practice management system, or professional judgment on statutory deadlines. Always verify critical dates against the authoritative source.*

## Accounting and tax practices

**Folders:** one per recurring client; one per one-off engagement ("Hale & Co – 2026 audit"). **Tags:** service line, season and client code.

### A monthly bookkeeping client, on autopilot

- Request bank and card statements: Next Action, @Computer, monthly on the 1st business day.
- Waiting: client – statements: Waiting, start date the 3rd.
- Reconcile accounts: Next Action, start date the 5th.
- Review management accounts: start date the 8th.
- Send monthly pack and invoice: due the 10th.

Complete one occurrence and the next one appears automatically.

### Tax season survival rules

- Create every return as a project in January, with "Send organizer" as the first next action.
- Use the Waiting list as your missing-documents tracker, tagged by client.
- Reserve due dates for filing and extension deadlines only.

## Law firms

**Folders:** one per matter, named with matter number and short name. **Tags:** practice area, responsible attorney and court or agency.

### Matter-opening checklist

1. Run conflict check (Next Action).
2. Send engagement letter (Hold until conflicts clear).
3. Waiting: client – signed letter and retainer.
4. Open matter in billing and document systems.
5. Calendar key dates in docketing, with a matching task in Toodledo.
6. Send client welcome email.

### Deadline discipline

Each deadline lives in your docketing system first. In Toodledo, build a backward chain of start dates (first draft, internal review, client review, final) with the deadline as the only due date. The responsible attorney keeps a Delegated item for every task handed to an associate or paralegal.

## Every firm: the compliance calendar

Repeating tasks for licence renewals, CPE or CLE, insurance and regulatory filings, each starting 60 days before the deadline.

[**Get the consulting playbook and 30-day rollout plan free →**](https://info.toodledo.com/calm-firm-gtd-playbook?utm_source=toodledo-blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=calm-firm-guide)

Related: [How to run GTD across your whole firm](https://blog.toodledo.com/how-to-run-gtd-across-your-whole-firm-not-just-your-own-inbox)

*GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company. Toodledo is not affiliated with the David Allen Company.*

[View full post](https://blog.toodledo.com/gtd-for-accounting-and-law-firms-recurring-tasks-that-run-themselves)

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