About Telephony in Accounting Practices

CPAs use their knowledge in finance, data mining, and accounting to provide valuable business intelligence to many organizations. Strong communication skills are a must for accountants to deliver concise information to help their clients make insightful decisions. As in other fields, these engagements take place over the phone or via video chat. This is especially true now that most are discouraging in-person meetings due to safety concerns.

Hosted VoIP is a lot more than phones. IP-based telephony allows accounting firms to integrate voice solutions with applications their accounting clients use and need to run their businesses. Billing software is a great example. Providing accurate hourly phone call data in easy to read reports allows firms to account for employee time more accurately. Since many CPAs bill for the time they spend with customers, these documents make invoicing simpler and more straightforward. 

Finding a Perfect Fit for the Industry

For accounting firms, an excellent first impression is critical. Imagine a customer reaching out and immediately being put on hold or going straight to a voicemail message. However, if that firm has a hosted VoIP solution, callers will receive a greeting from a virtual receptionist to direct their call to the proper extension. This feature can also post relevant announcements such as a change to office hours or an upcoming holiday, or play a fun or relaxing mix of melodies (not a constant drone). 

Other helpful tools for our CPA clients include call reports and recordings. Those options allow accounting firms to track productivity, review employee activities, and document discussions with their clients (with their permission, of course). Detailed reports let CPAs evaluate staff performance and customer interactions.

Leveraging Software Integrations

Accounting firms can strengthen their key business tools like customer relationship management (CRM) solutions by connecting those applications with a VoIP solution. Smart Office can integrate these platforms to give users the ability to store, manage, and retrieve vital client data such as contacts, account details, and billing information. 

When a call comes in from a phone number that matches an existing client or prospect account, a pop-up will display information relevant to that conversation. That functionality gives an accounting firm’s employees instant access to previous call notes, upcoming dates, tax details, and other relevant information. The efficiencies of CRM integrations benefit CPAs and their customers, saving everyone time, frustration, and, of course, money.

Supporting Your Mobile Workforce

Even before the pandemic, people in a number of industries were working remotely – from sales professional with significant travel requirements to entire workforces that, for the sake of cost, talent acquisition options, and other factors, operated from different locations. Mobility is no longer a trend but a necessity. Hosted VoIP supports staff working from virtually anywhere with a good internet connection. 

Of course, voice connectivity for remote work is just one of the many benefits of VoIP. CPAs run very structured businesses and have an image to maintain. Professionalism is critical for an accounting firm. There is nothing that undercuts that image as much as employees regularly using their personal phones for business purposes. IP-based telephony allows staff members to make and receive calls from smartphones without sharing or displaying their private numbers.

Our accounting clients can route calls to any phone, or a group of phones based on the time, day of the week, or other factors. Users can also receive voicemail to text transcriptions, allowing a CPA to read a message before listening via an email or text notification whenever someone leaves a voice message. Those phone functionalities are not limited to traditional calling devices; employees can also use laptops, desktops, and tablets. 

Still Have Questions?

Many companies have had to make drastic changes since 2020, as COVID-19 restrictions drove digital transformation. Other businesses have taken a more gradual approach. Wherever your accounting firm falls in this dichotomy, you can assess and provide the specific type of support your agents need to realize their objectives. Hosted VoIP is the perfect fit for many CPA-related goals. Check out our other articles for more advice on specific industries and use cases.