Tax season is when the phone matters most.
New-client calls spike exactly when you have no time to take them. An accounting answering service that answers, qualifies the work, and books the consultation.
An accounting client is an annual relationship, not a transaction — a business return, quarterly work and the bookkeeping around it, year after year. Those relationships start with a phone call during the twelve weeks of the year when you are least able to take one.
The call volume is wildly seasonal. From January to April the phone rings constantly while you are heads-down in returns, and hiring a temp receptionist for the surge costs more than it recovers. The rest of the year the line is quiet enough that staffing it is hard to justify at all.
A call it takes without you.
Thanks for calling — are you looking for personal or business tax work?
Business. We're an S-corp, and our last accountant retired.
Understood. Roughly how many employees, and do you need bookkeeping as well as the return?
Six employees, and yes, we'd want the bookkeeping too.
Good — I'll book you a consultation. Does Thursday at 2 work?
- ✓Season-surge call volume handled without temps
- ✓Service type and entity captured up front
- ✓Consultations booked into your calendar
- ✓Existing-client questions routed separately
No, and it is explicitly briefed not to. A wrong answer about a deduction is worse than no answer. It establishes what work the caller needs, what entity they are, and books the consultation where an actual accountant can answer properly.
Accounting & CPA Firms answering service — questions
Can it quote a fee?+
Only ranges you set — a simple personal return versus a business return with bookkeeping. Anything that depends on the books is left for the consultation.
Does it separate new clients from existing ones?+
Yes, as the first question. An existing client chasing a document needs a different path from someone shopping for an accountant.
What about IRS notice panic calls?+
Treated as priority. Someone holding a notice with a deadline is both urgent and highly likely to become a client.
How quickly can it be running before the season?+
Two to four business days, which means it can be in place well before January if you set it up now.
How does an answering service work?+
Your business line is forwarded to the service, either all the time or only when you don't pick up. From the caller's side nothing changes — they dial your number and somebody answers. Ours answers, asks the questions you've set, and books the appointment into your calendar, then the details reach you.
What is an answering service?+
A service that answers your business phone when you can't. Traditionally that meant an off-site operator taking a message for you to return later. An AI answering service handles the call to a finished outcome instead — qualifying the caller and booking the job rather than passing you a message slip.
How much does an answering service cost?+
Most small businesses pay between $200 and $1,500 a month depending on volume and whether calls are handled by people or AI. Per-minute plans typically run $1.00–$2.00 a minute, per-call plans $1.50–$3.50 a call. Ours are flat: $249/mo with 500 included minutes, or $995/mo with 2,000.
What are the advantages of an answering service?+
Three that matter. Every call is answered, so enquiries stop going to voicemail. Several calls are answered at once, so nobody gets a busy signal on your busiest day. And it covers the hours you can't — nights, weekends and holidays — which is when the most urgent calls tend to arrive.
How do I choose an answering service?+
Call it before you buy it. Published pricing, no long-term contract, and a service built around your trade rather than a generic script all matter — but the only reliable test is hearing how it handles a call. Our demo line is a real number that answers at any hour.
What should I look for in a call answering service?+
Whether it books or only takes messages; what it costs when you exceed the plan; whether hold time and robocalls are billable; how quickly it goes live; and whether it can be briefed on what counts as an emergency in your trade. Ask for the overage rate specifically — it is the number most often left out of a quote.
Stop losing the calls you never hear.
Plans start at $249 a month. Live in two to four business days.