diff --git a/client/account.C b/client/account.C
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a069979203
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/account.C
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License
+// Version 1.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
+// compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+// http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ 
+// 
+// Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
+// basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+// License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
+// under the License. 
+// 
+// The Original Code is the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. 
+// 
+// The Initial Developer of the Original Code is the SETI@home project.
+// Portions created by the SETI@home project are Copyright (C) 2002
+// University of California at Berkeley. All Rights Reserved. 
+// 
+// Contributor(s):
+//
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#include "client_state.h"
+#include "error_numbers.h"
+#include "file_names.h"
+#include "filesys.h"
+
+#include "account.h"
+
+int write_account_file(char* master_url, char* authenticator) {
+    char path[256];
+    FILE* f;
+
+    get_account_filename(master_url, path);
+    f = fopen(path, "w");
+    if (!f) return ERR_FOPEN;
+
+    fprintf(f,
+        "<account>\n"
+        "    <master_url>%s</master_url>\n"
+        "    <authenticator>%s</authenticator>\n"
+        "    <resource_share>1</resource_share>"
+        "</account>\n",
+        master_url,
+        authenticator
+    );
+    fclose(f);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+int CLIENT_STATE::parse_account_files() {
+    DIRREF dir;
+    char name[256];
+    PROJECT* project;
+    FILE* f;
+
+    dir = dir_open(".");
+    while (dir_scan(name, dir) == 0) {
+        if (is_account_file(name)) {
+            f = fopen(name, "r");
+            if (!f) continue;
+            project = new PROJECT;
+            project->parse_account(f);
+            projects.push_back(project);
+            fclose(f);
+        }
+    }
+    dir_close(dir);
+    return 0;
+}
+
diff --git a/client/account.h b/client/account.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7402ad0a91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/account.h
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+extern int write_account_file(char* master_url, char* authenticator);
+extern int get_initial_project();
+extern int parse_account_files();