In March the phone is not an interruption. It is the whole problem
An accounting practice has a demand curve that no staffing model survives: eleven quiet months and one in which every client rings at once, all asking things that are either trivially answerable or must not be answered by anyone unqualified. Both halves of that are a job for software with a very clear boundary.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callRoy Ballantyne“Quick one, can I deduct the van if I use it at weekends?”
Advice declined · Question logged · Call booked with the partner
- Never advises
- No tax, accounting or filing advice, however small the question sounds
- Season absorbed
- Deadline week arrives as a queue that answers itself, not a phone nobody picks up
- $0
- billed for robocalls and sales calls, on every plan
The call this line cannot afford to get wrong
Every AI receptionist on this results page books appointments and speaks well. This is the accounting call where that stops being enough.
The caller says
“Just a quick one, is my home office deductible?”
What a generic AI receptionist does
This is the easiest question in the world for a language model to answer, and it will answer it confidently, in general terms, with no knowledge of the client's entity type, jurisdiction or circumstances. The client will act on it. When the position is challenged, the recording of your firm's phone line saying it is what gets produced.
What this one does
Any question that requires professional judgement is refused with a stated sentence and logged as a question for the fee earner. The agent then does what it is good for: confirming what documents are outstanding, taking the callback slot, telling them the deadline, and getting them off the phone feeling handled rather than rebuffed.
AI receptionist for accountants: what is actually configurable
Each of these is something the product does on a real call. Where it refuses to act, the refusal is the design rather than a limitation.
It chases documents, which is most of the season's phone traffic
What is still outstanding, whether it has arrived, where to send it, what format. Those calls run in both directions during filing season and they are pure administration. Absorbing them is the difference between a partner working and a partner on the phone.
It states deadlines and your process, not positions
The filing dates, your internal cut off for guaranteeing a return, what your fees are, what an extension means procedurally. Facts about your firm and the calendar are safe. Facts about somebody's tax position are not, and the line between them is configured rather than judged.
It books the partner call instead of taking a message
Most quick questions are actually a fifteen minute call. Booking that call on the spot, into the right person's diary, converts a refusal into a service, which is what makes a hard boundary tolerable to clients.
It qualifies new business out of season
Entity type, turnover, what services they need, who does it now and when their year end is. Captured properly, so a prospect who rings in July reaches something better than an unanswered line.
What it asks on a accounting call
Not a name and a preferred time. Each of these has an operational reason behind it, and every one of them is yours to change.
“Is this personal, business, or both?”
The first branch in the call. A 1040 and an S-corp return with a payroll problem attached are different engagements, different fees and often different people in the practice.
“What entity type, and how many employees?”
Sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, S-corp, C-corp. It decides scope, fee and whether the work is even something the practice takes on.
“Do you have bookkeeping in place?”
The difference between a return and a cleanup, which is usually the difference between a fee the caller expects and one they do not. Better established before a partner spends an hour discovering it.
“Is there a deadline or a notice involved?”
A letter from the revenue authority, an extension running out, or a lender wanting statements by Friday. It changes the urgency and it is the thing callers bury at the end of the conversation.
“Who prepares it today?”
A prior preparer means records exist and a handover is needed. No prior preparer on a business of any size usually means something else entirely.
“Which year, or years?”
One year late is routine. Four years unfiled is a different engagement with a different risk profile, and nobody volunteers it unless asked.
What it will never do on a accounting call
You are handing your phone to software that talks to your customers when you cannot. These are the lines it does not cross, and the exact words it uses instead.
It never gives tax advice
Not whether something is deductible, not whether to elect S-corp status, not what a notice means, not an estimate of what somebody owes. Every one of those is professional advice given by an unlicensed party, and being approximately right is worse than being silent.
What it actually says
“That's exactly what the consultation is for. I don't want to give you half an answer on something that matters this much.”
It won't quote the engagement fee
It states your consultation fee and your published rates, and it stops there. A return cannot be priced before somebody has seen the books, and a figure given on the phone is the figure the client will hold you to when the cleanup turns out to be six months of unreconciled transactions.
What it actually says
“The consultation's $250. The return itself we quote once someone's looked at what's actually there. It depends heavily on the state of the books.”
It won't discuss an existing client's affairs with anybody
Not a spouse, not a business partner, not a lender, not somebody who says they are the bookkeeper. Confirming that a person is a client at all is a disclosure, and the agent makes none.
What it actually says
“I'm not able to confirm anything about who we work with. If you're a client, I can have your accountant call you back on the number we have on file.”
The four things it answers from
Configuration rather than something a model has been asked to remember. Change one at eight in the evening and the next call uses the new value.
Consultation
$250, credited
New clients
Open Jan–Mar
Entities served
LLC, S-corp, C-corp
Tax advice
Never on the phone
What accountants say before they say yes
In the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“My clients ring me for the quick answer. That is the relationship.”
And they can still have it, from you, in a fifteen minute slot the agent books while they are on the phone. What it will not do is give the quick answer itself, and any product on this results page that would is a liability you are being sold as a feature.
“It is only busy for six weeks a year.”
Six weeks in which the phone makes the work impossible and every missed call is a client wondering whether their return is being done. Flat monthly pricing means the eleven quiet months are not expensive and the six weeks are covered.
“Client information is sensitive.”
It is, and the agent collects the minimum: who is calling, what it concerns, what document is outstanding, when they can talk. Everything is recorded under your retention settings and is not used to train anything.
It books into the calendar you already keep
Google, Outlook, Apple, Exchange, CalDAV. An AI receptionist that emails you a summary has built a nicer voicemail; this one creates the appointment and texts the caller.
…and a lot more besides
- Warm transfersWarm transfersAnnounced — who is calling and why, before you take the line.
- Spam never billedSpam never billedRobocalls are spotted, zero-rated, and never become a customer.
- A number per sourceA number per sourceVan, yard sign, Google listing — see which line brings the work.
- Team & on-callTeam & on-callTries you, then a second number, then whoever is on call.
- Run it by textRun it by textReply to a text to move a job, block a morning, clear a day.
- Clear a day, everyone toldClear a day, everyone toldCall off a wet Tuesday; every customer is told and re-offered.
- Never invents an answerNever invents an answerNo price or slot it was not given. It takes a message instead.
- Any trade, no codeAny trade, no codeGoal, questions and guardrails are settings, not a rebuild.
Will it answer tax questions?
No, none, at any level. Anything requiring professional judgement is refused with a stated sentence and logged for the fee earner, and a call is booked in its place.
Can it chase outstanding documents?
It answers what is outstanding and how to send it, which is a large share of filing season traffic and none of the risk.
Does it handle the deadline rush?
Every call answered at once with no hold queue, which is the specific failure mode of an accounting practice in March.
Can it take new client enquiries?
Entity type, turnover, services needed, current provider and year end, captured and booked with the right partner.
What does it cost?
From $99 a month, flat, with unlimited call flows and a monthly talk time allowance, so the quiet months are not priced for the busy ones.
Comparing against a human answering service instead?
That is a different question with a different answer, and it has its own page: the answering service for accountants, with a full accounting call played second by second.
Trades that answer the phone the same way
The same archetype, which is what the product actually branches on. Every trade has one of these pages.