Accounting Firm New Client Enquiries: How to Reply, Scope the Work and Send an Engagement Quote

BOTrento Team13 October 20269 min read

What accounting enquiries look like, and what they leave out

Most enquiries to a small or mid-sized practice fall into a few familiar types:

• New business or sole trader: "I've just started trading, what do I need and what does it cost?"
• Switching accountant: unhappy with the current firm, often with a deadline coming up.
• Growing company: needs bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and annual accounts, usually already on Xero or QuickBooks.
• One-off job: a personal tax return, a late filing or help with a tax authority letter.
• Deadline panic: "Can you file this by the end of the month?"

Almost all of them ask about price. Almost none of them give you what you need to work out a price: legal form, monthly transaction volume, whether they're VAT-registered, number of employees, the software they use, the state of the books and the date the work is due. If you quote without these, you'll underprice the messy jobs and scare off the simple ones.

Five questions to ask in your first reply

Keep the first reply short. Five questions are enough to put the enquiry in the right fee band:

1. What is the business set up as? Sole trader, partnership, limited company or group.
2. Roughly how many transactions a month? Sales invoices, purchase invoices and bank lines. A rough answer is fine.
3. Which services do you need? Bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll (and for how many people), year-end accounts, personal tax, management reports.
4. What software and records do you have now? Xero, QuickBooks, spreadsheets, a box of receipts. Are the books up to date?
5. Is there a deadline, and are you moving from another accountant? This tells you how urgent it is and whether you'll need a handover from the previous firm.

Don't ask for documents or bank statements yet. That comes after they accept, together with the identity and anti-money-laundering checks your jurisdiction requires. Collecting personal financial data before you've agreed to work together creates GDPR obligations you don't need yet. If you're thinking of using AI on these emails, read our GDPR checklist for AI sales tools first.

For a deeper look at turning vague requests into scoped work, see how B2B service firms go from a vague request to a signed proposal.

Templates: first reply and fee quote email

First reply to a new client enquiry

Subject: Your enquiry about accounting support

Hello [Name],

Thank you for getting in touch. We'd be glad to help. To give you an accurate fee rather than a guess, could you tell me:

1. How the business is set up (sole trader, limited company…)
2. Roughly how many sales and purchase invoices you have each month
3. Which services you need: bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year-end accounts, personal tax
4. Which software you use now, and whether your records are up to date
5. Any deadline we should know about, and whether you're moving from another accountant

For context, a business your size usually falls between [€X] and [€Y] a month excl. VAT, depending on the answers above.

Once I have these, I'll send a written quote within [two working days]. If it's easier, we can go through them in a 15-minute call. Just reply with a time that suits you.

Kind regards,
[Name]

Engagement quote cover email

Subject: Your quote: [Company name], accounting services

Hello [Name],

Thank you for the details. Attached is our quote for [services], based on [about N transactions a month, VAT quarterly, payroll for N employees].

In short: a fixed fee of [€X] a month excl. VAT, starting from [month]. Anything outside this scope is listed separately, so there are no surprises.

If this works for you, the next steps are a short onboarding call, our standard identity checks and a letter of authority to contact your previous accountant. The quote is valid until [date].

I'll check in with you on [day] in case you have any questions.

Kind regards,
[Name]

The last line is a promise, so make sure someone keeps it. More on that below.

How to structure the engagement quote

An engagement quote is not the engagement letter. It's the commercial summary the prospect uses to decide. Keep it to one or two pages:

The assumptions row matters most. When a client's volume doubles, you can point back to it and adjust the fee without an awkward conversation. Choosing between fixed and usage-based pricing is a similar call to the one IT firms make, which we cover in our guide to IT services proposals.

Follow-up during busy tax periods

Quotes don't get lost because accountants don't care. They get lost because in deadline season nobody owns the sales inbox. A simple routine fixes most of it:

• One owner per enquiry. Assign it the moment it arrives, even if the owner only sends the first reply.
• A short daily check. Every working morning, look at three things: new enquiries without a reply, quotes with no answer, and promises you made ("I'll send it Thursday").
• Follow up quotes on a fixed rhythm. A short check-in a few working days after sending, a second one before the validity date, then a polite close.
• Be honest about capacity. If you can't onboard until after the filing deadline, say so in the quote and give a start date. Prospects prefer a clear date to silence.
• Log the outcome. Won, lost or postponed, with one line on why. This will help you set your fee bands next year.

If follow-ups are where things slip for you, this answer on not forgetting quote follow-ups covers the habit in more detail, and five steps to faster replies helps with the first response.

How BOTrento handles this for an accounting practice

BOTrento Chief of Staff is a managed process for enquiries, quotes and follow-ups. It doesn't replace your practice software, your CRM or your accounting system. It watches the sales side, so new client enquiries don't get buried during tax season.

Here is what a 14-day free trial would look like for you:

1. You connect your data. You either connect your enquiries mailbox (via IMAP, or by forwarding from Gmail or Microsoft 365) or upload a CSV/XLSX of open prospects from your spreadsheet or CRM. Someone from our team contacts you within 24 hours on working days to help you set it up. The 14 days only start after your first successful upload, and you don't need a card or your own API key.
2. You see what's already slipped. If your mailbox is connected via IMAP, you get a "Lost money" report at the start showing older enquiries and quotes that never got a reply or a follow-up.
3. Every working morning you get a "Today 1+3" overview, in the app and by email: the one thing that matters most today, plus three next steps. For example, "reply to the limited company switching from another firm", "chase the payroll quote that expires Friday".
4. You approve drafts. BOTrento drafts the first reply with your scoping questions, the quote cover email and the follow-ups, in English, German, French or Czech. It also picks up promises like "I'll get back to you by Friday" and reminds you. Nothing is sent without your approval.

Two limits to know about: BOTrento works from the email text and doesn't read attachments, so a PDF of last year's accounts won't be analysed. It also doesn't confirm appointments or read your calendar. Data is stored on servers in the EU (Germany). The text needed for each task is processed by a commercial AI model provider through its API, and those providers don't use API data for training. You can see the full flow in the process walkthrough, check plans and pricing, or read how it fits B2B service firms. When you're ready, start your 14-day free trial with your own enquiries.