Admin-defined custom client fields
A practical product capability for Canadian accounting and bookkeeping practices.
Custom fields let an administrator extend SpidNums client records with the attributes their accounting firm actually tracks — referral source, preferred contact method, the ledger software a client runs, or anything the standard fields miss. Defined once at the firm level, the fields then appear on every client record, so the data stays structured instead of scattering into free-text notes and side spreadsheets.
Firm-defined client attributes
Structured data, not notes boxes
Defined once, on every record
Why standard fields are never quite enough
Every firm tracks something its software vendor did not predict: which clients still deliver paper records, who referred whom, which files carry a Revenu Québec side. That data ends up in notes boxes and side spreadsheets — present, but unstructured and easy to miss.
Notes-box data has two failure modes. It is written differently by every person who enters it, and it is invisible to anyone who does not think to scroll down. The firm technically has the information; in practice, nobody can rely on it.
How custom fields work
An administrator defines the fields once, at the firm level, and they appear on every client record alongside the standard fields — legal name, fiscal year-end, status, plan, assigned manager. Staff fill them in the same screen where they edit everything else about the client.
Because the field exists on every record, absence becomes information too: an empty referral-source field on a new client is a visible gap to fill, not a note nobody thought to write.
What changes for the firm day-to-day
The firm's institutional knowledge moves out of individual memories and into the record. A new hire opening a client sees the same firm-specific attributes on every file, named the same way, in the same place.
Side spreadsheets — the ones that existed only to track the two or three things the old system could not — lose their reason to exist, which means one less copy of the client list to keep in sync.
What ships in the module
- Administrators define custom fields once at the firm level; they then appear on every client record.
- Custom fields sit alongside the standard fields — legal name, fiscal year-end, status, plan and assigned manager.
- Custom-field data stays on the internal record; the client portal shows clients only their services, deadlines, documents and engagement letters.
Related features
See it in a workflow
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Frequently asked questions
Who can create custom fields in SpidNums?
Firm administrators. Fields are defined once at the firm level rather than per record, which keeps the client database consistent — every record shows the same custom fields, named and ordered the same way, instead of each staff member improvising their own.
Do clients see custom fields in the portal?
No. Custom fields belong to the internal client record. The client portal shows a client their own services, deadlines, documents and engagement letters — the firm's internal fields, notes and assignments are not part of that view.
Why use custom fields instead of a notes box?
Structure. A custom field appears on every client record with the same name and position, so it gets filled consistently and read reliably. A notes box holds the same fact in twenty phrasings, or not at all, and nobody can tell which clients are missing the information.
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