Accounting Answering Service: What to Look For
By Frontly
Last reviewed
It is the second week of April. Your phones have not stopped since January, a partner is on a call with a client holding an IRS notice, and three new callers want to know whether you can still take on their return. The one who reaches voicemail calls the next firm on the list.
Summary: A good accounting answering service answers every client call through tax season, books new clients into the right meeting, handles the routine questions from existing ones and never gives tax advice. Your accountants get their day back, and the new client who calls in April becomes yours.
What should an accounting answering service handle?
Calls to an accounting, CPA or bookkeeping firm fall into a few groups:
- New-client inquiries. The service they need (an individual return, a business return, payroll, bookkeeping or advisory), qualified and booked into the right meeting while the caller is still choosing a firm.
- Existing clients. Document questions, appointment changes and "where is my return?", handled without pulling an accountant off client work.
- Deadline questions. Filing dates, extensions and estimated payments, answered from the information you set.
- Tax-season overflow. From January to the April deadline the phone rings for everyone at once.
- After hours. Small business owners call when their own day is over.
Hear it for yourself
Hear Frontly handle a tax return inquiry
Call the demo agent yourself, straight from your browser. No signup. No credit card.
Where must it stop?
An answering service for accountants takes the inquiry and books the meeting. It does not give tax advice, and it should not collect what does not belong on a phone call. Decide three things before you go live:
- The advice boundary. "Can I deduct my home office?" becomes a question for the accountant in the meeting, never an answer on the call.
- What it collects. Name, contact details, the service needed and the question. Social Security numbers, EINs and bank details stay in your secure client portal; Frontly does not ask for them by default.
- What is urgent. An IRS notice with a response date should reach a partner the same day.
New client or existing client: two different calls
The first thing that matters is who is calling. Frontly asks early, recognizes callers who have called before, and takes each down its own path:
| New client | Existing client | |
|---|---|---|
| What it asks | The service they need, business or individual, and how they found you | Their name and which accountant looks after them |
| What it does | Books an introductory meeting with the right team | Books or moves an appointment, or takes the question for their accountant |
| Who hears about it | Your new-client team, with the inquiry summary | Their accountant, by message or a transfer you approve |
| Outcome you see | New intake | Booking, message or transfer |
Picture two calls in the same minute in April. A coffee shop owner filing a business return for the first time is booked into Thursday's new-client meeting. An existing client asking whether her return has been filed leaves a message for her accountant, who calls back with the answer. Neither call interrupts a partner.
Seven questions to ask before you choose
- How many calls does it answer at once? In April, a queue is a lost client. Frontly answers every caller at once.
- Does it tell new clients from existing ones? A prospect needs qualifying; an existing client needs their question answered or passed on.
- Who sets the advice boundary? Your firm should, in writing.
- Can it book into your partners' calendars during the call? Frontly books the meeting type you set and sends the confirmation to the client and the accountant.
- Does it work with your software? Frontly connects to QuickBooks Online, Xero, Karbon, Canopy and Financial Cents (Karbon on its Business plan or higher, Financial Cents on its Scale plan).
- Can a client reach their accountant? Frontly transfers to the accountant you approve with a short spoken briefing, and takes a message when nobody is free.
- Where are call records kept? Get it in writing. Frontly stores and hosts your data in the region you choose: the US, the EU or the UK. Our privacy page sets out the full data flow.
AI or a human answering service?
A human answering service puts a person on the call; depending on the service and the hours you buy, it takes a message or books the meeting. An AI answering service answers every call at once, books the meeting on the call and records each one the same way, and it can make the calls your team never gets to, such as deadline reminders and chasing missing W-2s and 1099s.
Many firms put tax-season overflow and after-hours calls on the AI and keep their people for the clients who need an accountant.
Frontly for accounting firms
Frontly answers client calls 24/7, books meetings, handles the tax-season surge, makes deadline reminder calls and never gives tax advice. Setup time depends on verification, workflow complexity and integrations.
See how it works on our accounting answering service page, or hear it handle a client call with a free test call.