How does intake handle clients who don't know what type of accounting they need?

Many prospective clients know their situation but not the accounting terminology. AI leads with the situation: 'Are you looking for help with your personal taxes, your business taxes, or both?' Most clients can answer this. 'Do you run your own business?' leads to the entity type questions. The intake adapts to the client's level of accounting knowledge rather than assuming it.

AI for Accounting

How AI Handles Client Intake for Accounting Firms

AI client intake for accounting firms collects the prospective client's service needs and situation before the first meeting: entity type, services needed, current year's situation summary, and any specific circumstances (new business, CRA issue, cross-border income). The accountant meets the client with a complete brief rather than spending the first 20 minutes of a consultation collecting basic context.

The intake conversation for accounting: what type of entity the client has (personal T1, sole proprietor T1 with business, incorporated, partnership), what services they're looking for (tax preparation, bookkeeping, corporate filing, advisory, all of the above), whether they have existing accounting records and what software they use, and whether they have any specific situation requiring immediate attention (CRA notice, year-end filing deadline).

This information serves two functions: it gives the accountant context before the consultation, and it allows the firm to do a preliminary scope and pricing estimate before meeting with the client. A consultation where the accountant already knows the client has a T2 corporation with three shareholders and is looking for ongoing bookkeeping plus annual filing goes to pricing discussion immediately rather than spending 20 minutes on background.

For clients who are coming from another accountant, the intake question 'What prompted you to look for a new accounting firm?' provides the accountant with important context: pricing dissatisfaction, poor communication, specific expertise they're seeking. This shapes how the consultation is approached.

Common questions

Revenue and income ranges вЂ” not specific numbers вЂ” help scope the engagement. 'What's your approximate annual revenue?' for corporate clients or 'Is your income primarily employment income, self-employment, or investment income?' for personal clients collects the scoping information without the discomfort of specific numbers in an intake conversation. The accountant gets detailed financials in the engagement.

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