An accounting answering service that never gives tax advice.
New-client calls, document questions, and deadline calls all get answered. Anything financial goes to a preparer as a message, never a guess about a deduction, a filing, or a liability.
- New-client calls, with the return type, the prior-year status, and their number, taken down for staff to follow up
- Document questions, answered from what you’ve told it about the current engagement
- Deadline calls, noted and flagged when a filing date is close
- Tax or financial advice, every question is declined and handed to a preparer
- A fee for a return or an engagement, never quoted on the call
- A client’s account, return, or balance, discussed only by a preparer
Calls a CPA firm answers all year, and more in tax season.
A prospective client asking if the firm takes on new business
Takes down the return type, the prior-year status, and their number, for staff to follow up.
A client asking what documents they still owe the firm
Answers only what you’ve told it. A question outside the brief is declined and taken as a message.
A client calling three days before a filing deadline
Takes the details down and flags it as urgent, since a deadline call can’t wait for the next callback.
A client who received an IRS or state notice
Takes the details down and flags it as urgent. Nothing about the notice is explained on the call.
A bank or lender confirming a document with the preparer
Takes the message down accurately. Nothing is confirmed on the call.
Why this fits an accounting firm.
Never gives tax or financial advice
A question about a deduction, a filing status, or a liability is declined and taken as a message instead.
Answers through the busiest weeks
A call the week before a deadline gets the same answer as one in a quiet month.
Deadline calls flagged, not filed
A call about a filing date that’s close is marked ahead of routine messages.
What it will not do.
Give tax or financial advice
It never answers a question about a deduction, a filing status, a liability, or how to handle a notice, no matter how it’s phrased. Anything financial is declined and handed to a preparer, plainly, on the call, rather than guessed at from what the caller described.
Quote a fee
A price for a return, an engagement, or an amendment is never guessed at or quoted on the call. A caller asking is told a person will follow up, and the question is logged as a message.
Book an appointment
It takes the request down, who’s asking, what for, and the days that work for them, for staff to confirm. Nothing is booked automatically, on this call or any other, and no slot is held on the caller’s behalf.
Discuss a client’s account, return, or balance
It never reads back, confirms, or discusses what’s in a client’s file on the call. A caller asking about their own account is told plainly that a preparer will call them back.
How an accounting call is handled.
Answers in the firm’s name
Uses the hours and rules in your brief, not a generic greeting or a numbered phone tree.
Hears what the caller needs
It identifies a new-client inquiry, a document question, a deadline call, or a message before replying.
Answers only what it’s been told
Office hours, the return types the firm handles, and whether it’s taking new clients this season, nothing beyond the brief.
Takes down what needs a preparer
Name, number, and what the call was about, logged for staff to confirm or follow up on, never paraphrased.
Flags anything urgent
A call near a filing deadline, or a client who received a notice, is flagged as urgent when the call ends, separate from routine messages.
What the brief, the transcript, and the bill look like.
One example, worked from a real filing-season call.
The brief
A CPA firm’s brief can tell it to answer as the firm during business hours, ask a new caller whether they need individual or business return prep, note whether they’re a current or prospective client, and never answer a question about a deduction, a filing status, a liability, or how to handle a notice. Anything financial goes to a preparer as a message, and a call about a deadline within a week gets flagged urgent.
The transcript
A prospective client calling about a business return three days before an extension deadline would show up in the call’s redacted transcript, pullable from the dashboard or API afterward, something like this. Name and number given. Prospective client, S-corp return, prior preparer retired. Asked if the firm is taking new business clients this season. Extension deadline in 3 days. Marked urgent.
The monthly cost
A firm fielding 350 calls in the two weeks before an extension deadline, each running about 2.5 minutes before ending in an answer or a taken-down message, runs about 875 minutes. At about $0.062 a minute, the default-stack rate itemized by layer (price book 2026-08-05), 875 minutes comes to about $54.25 for that stretch.
Where else this fits.
A few related uses.
Straight answers for accounting firms.
It answers every call in the firm’s name. New-client calls, document questions, and deadline calls all get taken down or answered from your brief. Anything financial goes to a preparer as a message, never a guess.
Either way. It works the same for a solo preparer or a multi-partner firm. New-client calls and document questions get taken down, and anything about a return or a filing goes to a preparer.
Yes. One line can carry a brief for a whole firm, or each preparer or office can publish its own line, number, and rules.
A clear line on what it will not do matters more than a script. Look for one that states plainly it won’t give tax advice, shows what a call actually costs, and answers the same during the two weeks before a deadline as it does in June.
No. A question about a deduction, a filing status, a liability, or a notice is declined and taken as a message for a preparer.
No. It takes the request down exactly as the caller gave it and hands it to staff. There’s no scoring or ranking step, and no appointment is booked on the call. Who follows up, and when, stays the firm’s call to make.
About $0.062 a minute on the default stack, at the providers’ published rates, itemized by layer on every call: carrier, transcription, model, voice.
About $0.062 a minute on the default stack, at the providers’ published rates, itemized by layer on every call: carrier, transcription, model, voice. View cost →
Never tax advice. Always a message taken.