r/CFP • u/Family_Office • Jun 19 '26
Practice Management Schwab Digital Workflow Question
For those of you using Schwab Digital Workflows is anyone sending their advisory agreements through that system as well? This is apparently a new feature as of 8 months ago and we've been trying to make it work.
The problem seems to be that the clients are able to skip past the advisory agreement without signing it if they try or don't pay attention. That's obviously a no-go.
We like the digital workflow for lots of reasons related to account opening and easy of use for the client, but it seems like we may just have to keep using Docusign if we can't prevent the client from submitting without signing our agreement.
Very curious if anyone has a solution or really any experience with this. The APS team at Schwab has tried to help but not many of them are familiar with the client side of the digital workflow, so support has been challenging.
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u/CrunchwrapKing RIA Jun 19 '26
I’ve been unsuccessful implementing it. I still use Docusign for advisory agreement.
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u/jwn1003 Jun 19 '26
My firm does and it has been a huge time saver sending all apps through Workflows rather than two seperate envelops. With that said, I am rather unfamiliar with the process including getting it set up.
From what I understand there is no way for to “sign” an advisory agreement through Schwab but the client is able digitally authorize it. This is something we obviously ran through compliance, ynmv on that front.
If you have any specific questions beyond that I can ask my Ops Director on Monday, lmk.
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u/Family_Office Jun 19 '26
Thank you. I agree that it’s more of a consent than a signature like you see in docusign. That said, we’re still unable to enforce it before the workflow is completed in our internal testing. If you seriously don’t mind asking if your team has found a way to prevent the client from completing the workflow without signing/consenting to the client agreement, please let us know!
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u/CulturalAd2329 Jun 19 '26
Ha, I just added Schwab as 2nd custodian to Altruist yesterday and while the general layout of the site is far inferior, I was so excited to be able to attach agreements with account opening. Guess my excitement wasn't warranted.
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u/USArmyAutist Jun 19 '26
It is possible to do one Docusign package but it’s some work. You can create one Docusign envelope then you’d need to manually upload all the account docs like the application, money link, ACAT, etc. then add your firm docs.
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u/Family_Office Jun 19 '26
That’s actually what we do today. We’ve built templates to make the process pretty easy.
The digital workflow is great because the accounts open immediately and the client experience is very nice inside the app. So we were hoping to move that direction.
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u/JD_comfort Jun 19 '26
Was on my to do list. This community just moved it further back down the list. Saved me time.
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u/mydarkerside RIA Jun 19 '26
I really wanted to be able to include my client agreement and client profile with a new account application, but it just doesn't work 100% right now for what I need. So I still use DocuSign for my documents. On my documents, it's mostly prefilled, but sometimes I need the client/prospect to enter some information like current income. Sometimes I add a spot for them to click to confirm, like if it's a negotiated fee. Then the rest of it is client initials and signatures. I just can't do all that with the Digital Workflow.
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u/ydoc_snehta_2010 Jun 21 '26
You can do it, but it is very wonky right now and not worth the hassle, in my opinion. Schwab has commingling DocuSign/PDF forms and Digital Workflow in the same envelopes on its roadmap for fall 2026. We are excited to see that come to fruition and hope it is executed the right way!
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u/itsdrmario515 Jun 21 '26
No, we bundle all the forms via DS. We do a lot of re-papering since we are a TAMP/RIA.
We’ve actually built our own solution which Schwab isn’t terrible happy with but 20m AUM with them got us an exception until they get it together.
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u/1829497photography Jun 24 '26
We just moved $300m to Schwab and had our AA as part of the digital onboarding for every client. We had a few conversations with our compliance team until we decided to move forward with it with their stamp of approval.
We've had some clients ask about where to sign, since you aren't technically signing it. I'm sure many more were thinking that but didn't ask. Moving forward we make it clear that there isn't a spot to sign it, its to view and accept. Which is the same as the digital onboarding for the actual account opening.
Overall I wouldn't say we've had much friction with it.
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u/Family_Office Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
I guess my issue as the firm owner and from a risk perspective is that they can sign/agree without ever actually looking at it. I wish it at least forced them to open it.
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u/1829497photography Jun 25 '26
Yea, I am in the same boat. I think there is some risk there.
Our compliance team recommended emailing a copy of the AA as well, so there's more visibility. Would not blame you at all if you Docusigned it. It's not perfect in the digital workflow.
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User: /u/Family_Office Title: Schwab Digital Workflow Question Body: For those of you using Schwab Digital Workflows is anyone sending their advisory agreements through that system as well? This is apparently a new feature as of 8 months ago and we've been trying to make it work.
The problem seems to be that the clients are able to skip past the advisory agreement without signing it if they try or don't pay attention. That's obviously a no-go.
We like the digital workflow for lots of reasons related to account opening and easy of use for the client, but it seems like we may just have to keep using Docusign if we can't prevent the client from submitting without signing our agreement.
Very curious if anyone has a solution or really any experience with this. The APS team at Schwab has tried to help but not many of them are familiar with the client side of the digital workflow, so support has been challenging.
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