A phone menu for an accounting and bookkeeping firm

Who is calling, and what do they need?

Callers are often prospective clients, existing clients with a records or filing question, or people following up on an invoice. During filing deadlines, distinguish urgent work already agreed with a client from general enquiries.

Keep the top-level menu in the caller’s language. In Auto Attendant each option does one thing: it rings up to three phones one after another (each for 10 to 60 seconds, never together), takes a voicemail, or plays a message and hangs up. Point each option at the person, or the shared phone, that actually handles this call, and add a backup only where a missed call costs you.

How accounting and bookkeeping firm calls actually go

Accounting calls are seasonal in a way few other businesses are. In January through April a firm hears the same urgent question forty times a day (“have you got my documents?”), and in July it hears almost nothing. A good menu is built for the peak and then relaxed, rather than designed for a quiet week and left alone.

Callers also split into people who want the firm to do something (a new client) and people who expect a specific person (an existing client). Billing and “where is my return” calls are the largest nuisance category, and they are best handled by pointing callers to a status route or portal in the greeting.

Recommended menu

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.

This example uses 3 menu options. Auto Attendant allows up to seven; add an option only when it sends a distinct kind of caller to a meaningfully different destination. A call that rings every phone you listed without an answer goes to voicemail. The menu can be in English, French or Spanish, and a line can also skip the menu and go straight to one action.

Greeting script

Business name. For services or a new client enquiry, press 1. If you are already a client, press 2. For a billing question, press 3.

Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.

25 words, about 10 seconds spoken at 150 words per minute. The estimate is calculated from the script above; allow extra time for pauses and clear delivery.

Read each reason before its key, as in “For a new enquiry, press 1”. Replace the shaded fields and any role or service wording before you type the greeting into the menu; a text-to-speech voice reads it to callers.

A worked example

Illustration: a three-person firm uses a four-option menu in tax season: 1 new clients, 2 existing clients, 3 documents and filing status, 4 billing. In May it drops back to three options by merging 3 into 2. Both versions are written in advance and swapped on a date written on the firm’s calendar, by restoring the other one from the menu history.

The seasonal mistake is leaving the March greeting on in June, promising extended hours that no longer exist. The fix is as plain as a calendar entry: on the day the schedule changes, the greeting changes.

After hours, weekends, and holidays

State when the office reopens and invite a voicemail with a safe callback number. During a deadline period, publish a separate staffed schedule only if the listed team can monitor it.

Review the calendar before filing deadlines and public holidays. Avoid suggesting that a voicemail is being monitored outside the stated hours.

Outside the hours you set, Auto Attendant plays your closed message and then takes a voicemail or ends the call; it does not forward calls after hours, and holidays are closed all day. Where the advice above mentions an on-call route, either keep that person’s option within your set hours or give the arrangement in the closed message.

Check the greeting after every schedule change. A voicemail arrives by email with the recording attached and a transcript when one is produced, but it does not make the call live or guarantee a response time.

Rules and standards worth knowing

Tax preparers hold sensitive data, and several rules touch how you talk about it. Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code restricts how preparers may disclose or use return information 1. The FTC Safeguards Rule treats accountants and other tax preparation services as financial institutions 2, and the IRS expects tax professionals to maintain a written information security plan 3. The Rule’s elements include a written incident response plan 4. Those duties are about data, not greetings, but they suggest a house rule: never ask callers to leave tax identifiers, account numbers or amounts in voicemail.

Deadlines drive call volume, so keep dates sourced. Individual returns for calendar-year filers are due on the date the IRS publishes 5, an automatic extension of time to file is available through Form 4868 6, and estimated taxes and employment tax deposits follow their own schedules 78. If you quote a date in a greeting, check it against the IRS page each season; the extension gives more time to file, not to pay, so avoid wording that suggests otherwise.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change; confirm anything that affects your business with the source or an adviser.

Common menu mistakes

• Creating an option for every service line when callers describe their need in ordinary language.
• Treating every deadline call as an emergency.
• Inviting callers to leave sensitive financial details in a message.

Keep the greeting short, use the same names callers see elsewhere, and make sure every route has a sensible end when nobody picks up.

Check the menu before you publish it

• Put the swap dates for peak and off-peak greetings on the firm calendar.
• Remove any date from the greeting that you have not verified against the IRS page this year.
• Add a line asking callers not to leave identifiers or amounts in a message.
• Decide who reads voicemail transcripts during deadline weeks and by when they reply.
• Check that the billing route does not ring the tax preparers.

Related guides and templates

• Law firm: phone menu guide
• Insurance agency: phone menu guide
• IT managed services provider: phone menu guide
• Nonprofit office: phone menu guide
• Seasonal peak greeting: call-flow template
• Holiday closure: call-flow template
• After-hours greeting: call-flow template
• Call routing and menu design
• What is an auto attendant?
• Frequently asked questions