Below describes each option from the Client menu on the toolbar in more detail. There are several options under this menu which are as follows:
Select a client
New allows the creation of a new client. For more details on creating new clients see New Client Wizard. Guidance specific to selecting Client | New from within Company Secretarial is Adding Business Client.
Only Limited Companies, Incorporated Charities and Limited Liability Partnerships can be selected within Company Secretarial.
View accesses existing clients detailed information such as their name and address and allows this information to be altered. This also includes other options such as changing client ID's and making clients confidential.
Companies House Online Service. See Help | Help | Quick Guides | Companies House Online Service m
There are three ways to select an existing client:
Enter the identifier manually in the field on the toolbar at the top-left of the screen and press return.
Click the magnifying glass next to the field on the toolbar at the top-left of the screen or
On the Toolbar go to Client | Select
The Client Browser screen displays. The clients are listed here.
Highlight the client and click Select or double-click the client to select it.
The Type denotes whether the business is a Ltd Company, a Charity, a Limited Liability Partnership, a Partnership, a Sole Trader, a Group A/C or type Other, which is used for Pension schemes.
Use the scroll bar to scroll down to the list of businesses.
Select from the Include list of options to choose which types of clients you want to include within the list.
Use Client identifier or Client Name to search for a business or person by entering part of the identifier or name or click More Criteria to search for clients by Post Code etc.
Select from the Database View drop-down list to limit the search to businesses and people that have been set up elsewhere within IRIS. The list defaults to those set up in the current product.
Once the client required has been highlighted click Select.
As standard all products remember the client that was selected the last time the program was used. If this option is not required, right-mouse click the toolbar and select the option Do not remember the last client selected.
To access the basic information regarding a client; for example,. business name and address, go to Client | View. The following IRIS Business Client screen displays for the selected client:
Any information entered when setting up the client can be added to or amended from this screen. There are several tabs containing information for this client. The options that are related to basic client information are listed below:
Basic tab shows information like the business name, type and description. The Registered Number and Country of Incorporation can be entered here. See Basic tab for more information.
Address tab shows the address and how it is used; for example, The Main, Billing or Registered address. See Address tab for more information.
Tax tab shows Tax, PAYE references and VAT number.
Not used by Company Secretarial.
Categories tab gives the option to attach the staff member responsible for the client and other client category data.
Related tab lists other IRIS clients that are attached to the one selected; for example,. Directors, Partners where they can be viewed and amended. See Related tab for more information.
WIP tab The WIP tab relates to details entered to the client from within the Time and Fees programmes. See WIP tab for more information.
Payment tab - Details of Fees Ledger standing orders and Fees Ledger fixed fee invoices can be found within the payment tab, from the client maintenance screen. See Payments tab for more information.
Contacts tab shows people the practice may need to correspond to regarding the main client. They do not have to be a client on the IRIS database. An example of this would be the billing contact. See Contacts tab for more information.
Communications tab is only visible if Practice Management is open. The details of this tab are controlled and detailed from the Practice Management module. Primarily this screen records and tracks any printed documents from various IRIS programs including the following documents from Company Secretarial:
Companies House Forms
Share Transfer Form
Share Certificates
Dividend Waivers
Minutes and
Print of Resolutions.
See Communications tab for more information.
History tab logs changes made to a client that require notification within Company Secretarial. If changes are made within the Business Client Maintenance screen, for example, the registered office is altered, when saved the option to Log or Don’t Log displays. Click Log for the changes to be recorded within here (and activate a form 287), click Don’t Log for the change to occur but not recorded in the history tab. See History tab for more information.
Select Client | Status to specify if the selected client is currently a client of Company Secretarial. Selecting No will remove the client from the Client Browser's Database View for Company Secretarial, however the client will still be using a licence. See De-register client to free up a licence.
To delete all information relating to a specific business from the whole IRIS database click on Client | Delete. After clicking Yes to proceed IRIS will detail the information that will be deleted in respect of the selected client. Once Delete is clicked a final warning displays, it is at this point that the information will be deleted.
IMPORTANT: This process should be undertaken only when positive that the client is no longer required by any IRIS product. This process is irreversible.
As this process is a central database feature please refer to any ‘Delete’ help screens for further information.
The delete function may only be undertaken by a Master user, Super user or staff members with specific privileges. In order to alter staff members privileges go to System Maintenance | Staff | Staff Maintenance, highlight the staff member and click View | Allowed tab. Select or deselect the appropriate options under Deletion of client data.
Companies House Online Service See Help | Help | Quick Guides | Companies House Online Service
This option can be found by going to Client | Register client. To register a client for use in Company Secretarial select this option and then enter the ID of the client to be registered. Click Register and the client will be ready for use in Company Secretarial. Click Abandon and the screen will close without registering the client.
This option can be found by going to Client | De-register client. This option is used to de-register the selected client from the Company Secretarial program. This procedure should only be undertaken if sure that the client is no longer needed, as this will delete all the Company Secretarial information. Once a client has been de-registered it cannot be re-registered in the product.
If sure that the client is to be de-registered then put the clients identifier in the field named Enter client id, if the id is not known click the magnifying glass to see a list of all the clients registered within Company Secretarial, highlight the client and click Select. The De-register client from Company Secretarial screen will display again with the client id in the box. Click Confirm to continue the de-registering process or Abandon to close out of the screen. If Confirm selected is a screen will display saying that the client was de-registered successfully.