AI Answering Service for Accounting Firms: Voicemail as Text

An AI answering service for an accounting firm can mean a bot that talks to clients, or voicemail whose messages AI turns into text. Heilo is the second. When nobody can pick up, your carrier forwards the call to Heilo, the client hears your greeting and leaves a message, and your team gets the recording, a transcript with the topic and, if you turn it on, an SMS with a link; Heilo does not talk to clients or answer tax questions.

When Accounting Firms Get the Most Calls

Example: it is the end of March, the firm has several hundred returns to file, and the phone has been ringing since morning. By 5 PM a dozen or so calls have gone unanswered: some from regular clients with short questions, some from businesses looking for a new accountant.

Before annual filing deadlines: questions about the yearly return
Every month before VAT and payroll filings: questions while clients bring in their documents
Year-end: questions about tax advance payments, social security contributions and changing the legal form for the next year
Off-season: businesses looking for a new accountant

To estimate what a missed call could cost your firm, use the missed-calls calculator.

How Heilo Handles Voicemail for Accounting Firms

1. A Greeting for Filing Season and for the Rest of the Year

"Hello, this is [firm name]. We are helping other clients with their returns right now. Please leave your name, your company name, your phone number and a short note on what your question is about. We will call you back."

Off-season you can change the greeting in the dashboard to one that welcomes new clients. You record the greeting yourself or choose a voice-over, and a greeting schedule switches versions by the hour, for example after the office closes. You will find wording ideas in the guide to voicemail greetings.

2. What Heilo Saves From a Message

Heilo records the message and saves in the dashboard the recording, a transcript in the language the client spoke, a topic, a short summary with a suggested next step and suggested tasks. When notifications are on, you receive an SMS with the caller's details, the topic and a link; the full text is in the dashboard. We do not promise a specific delivery time.

Examples of messages that will land in your list:

"Has my return been filed yet?" — a regular client asking about status
"I got a letter from the tax office" — a matter with a reply deadline
"We are looking for an accountant for our company" — an enquiry from a new client
"When do you need this month's invoices?" — a question about a deadline

3. A Callback List

Instead of listening to messages one by one, you scan a list in the dashboard with topics and text. Your team decides what to handle first, for example a letter from the tax office with a reply deadline before a routine question. Heilo does not judge how urgent a matter is.

Year-Round Value

Off-Season New Client Acquisition

Off-season, businesses looking for an accountant for the next year call in. Messages from forwarded calls wait in the dashboard as text, even when you are on holiday.

Year-End Planning Calls

Business clients calling about social security contributions, tax advance payments and changes of legal form deserve a prompt response. Heilo saves the details so you call back prepared.

Letters from the Tax Office

Clients who have received a letter from the tax office want to talk quickly. The topic of a message in the dashboard helps you pick such matters out of the list; your team decides the callback order.

Who Sees Client Messages and How Long They Are Kept

In your company's Heilo account, the people you invite see messages according to their role (Owner, Admin, Manager, Member); a Member sees calls on the numbers they have access to. A recording is kept for 365 days by default and then deleted; the transcript stays. When a call has been in the trash for 30 days, its recording, transcript and summary are deleted. No dashboard setting changes these periods.

Heilo uses subprocessors, including Twilio (telephony, a US company), Supabase (database on EU infrastructure), Vercel (hosting) and Google Gemini (transcription and analysis); the full list is in the terms. Heilo gives you the tools to inform the caller (a notice, your own wording, a call label). Your company, as the data controller, provides the legal basis and meets the duty to inform. Your firm assesses its own confidentiality and professional-secrecy obligations to clients, itself or with its own adviser. For more on recording customer calls under GDPR, see this guide.

Setup for Accounting Firms

Set up forwarding at your carrier for a busy line or no answer — calls reach Heilo when your team is on the phone or in a meeting (forwarding guide).
Change the greeting with the season — one version for filing season, another for the rest of the year.
Turn on SMS notifications or scan the list in the dashboard between meetings.
Test it: call from another phone, do not answer, and check that the message appears in the dashboard.

See also: How many customers do you lose from missed calls? | Automatic answering machine for business

How Much Does It Cost?

Heilo Voicemail covers messages after missed calls: the recording, a transcript, a summary and an SMS notification. It is billed monthly per number; prices are net and VAT is added at payment. Each number has a fair-use limit of 500 recorded minutes per month, which shows a notice and blocks nothing. Check your carrier's charges for forwarded calls separately. The service is described on the answering machine page.

If your firm also wants to record calls it answers, there are two higher plans. With Heilo Select you keep your number and add Heilo to chosen calls if your carrier supports conference calling; Heilo records from the moment it joins, and you inform the other party yourself. Heilo Line is a +48 business number from Heilo for each person who takes and makes client calls, ordered after your company is verified by its Polish tax ID (NIP). Inbound and outbound calls are recorded automatically; you start an outbound call with Call via Heilo (+48 numbers only). A new number plays the "Announcement before the call" to the other party by default. You get a transcript, a summary and suggested tasks, and after a two-sided call the call coach shows what went well and what to improve. Once you set up an integration, results go to your CRM through the API, webhooks, Zapier or Make. See the call assistant page and all plans on the pricing page.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Can Heilo transcribe messages in other languages?

Yes. Heilo writes the transcript in the language the caller speaks.

Is Heilo a phone system for accounting firms?

Not a full phone system: Heilo has no call queues, IVR menu or extensions. Heilo Voicemail works on top of your existing number through call forwarding, as long as your carrier allows forwarding to another number.

Can we use Heilo only during tax season?

Billing is monthly, and you switch forwarding on and off with your carrier yourself. Off-season you can keep forwarding and only change the greeting.