The number of different emails accountants and bookkeepers send to clients throughout the year is staggering. In fact, cutting out this repetition and wasted time was one of the main reasons James, AM’s co-founder and an accountant himself, created AccountancyManager.
Coming full circle, this week’s article has been requested by Nevdish, a new recruit to the AM team. We recently covered Automated emails and Automated tax reminders, but at the heart of these features (probably saving you the most time of all) is Nevdish’s favourite feature: our bank of pre-written email templates.
“We have generic templates which can be tweaked and saved easily. There’s no need to spend time writing and rewriting them – just tweak, click save, job’s done! Accountants find writing these a pain and time-consuming. We completely eradicate that for them.”
Nevdish, AM sales team
Emails pre-written by a qualified accountant
The name ‘template’ undersells them somewhat. Imagine the lengthiest emails you send, a registration or professional clearance email, perhaps. These are already written for you by an accountant in their entirety and include everything you’d expect to find. All you need to do is check them over and, if you like, make edits to the phrasing or content.
Highly personalise emails for each client
AccountancyManager will automatically populate emails with any client-specific data you need to include, pulling it through from the client’s file. For example, the client’s name would appear as: %FIRSTNAME%. Or it will pull in ‘Preferred name’ if added. Name is just one ‘Client Variable’ from over 400 options and you can add any you like.
In this example, AM will populate the name of the document you’re referring to:
And here, the amount of Self Assessment tax they need to pay, the client’s SA tax office and SA tax reference number:
You don’t need to memorise all these variables, they are all provided ready to use when you edit a template:
Your sign off can be configured in Settings > My Settings.
Take a scroll through AM’s templates…
One of the best things to do on your free AccountancyManager trial is visit Settings > Templates and take a scroll through all the pre-saved templates. We’re not showing off, it’s just a great way to see how much you can automate.
Pre-made templates on AccountancyManager cover every possible automated email you need to send to your clients and you can edit them as much or as little as you like:
- Standard Emails
These include emails you’d send with an invoice or statement attached, requests for e-signatures and letting clients know there’s a document or form ready for them in their portal.
- Proposal and Registration
Your proposal email lists the services you’ve ‘switched on’ in the prospect’s AM file and their fees. The registration email template is packed full of everything you need to explain to – and request from – your client: finding their UTR number, providing their National Insurance number, ID and agent authorisation codes and registering for the AccountancyManager portal.
- Automated Record Requesting
Here you can edit the emails that go out to your clients requesting their accounting records. Every service is included: Accounts, VAT, Self Assessment, SA800, Payroll, Management Accounts, Bookkeeping and Confirmation Statement.
- Latest Action Requests
This is arguably the most ‘exciting’ part – definitely the cleverest: automated emails based on the last thing your client did. Only received some of the records you need? AM will send the Part Records Received Email. Waiting for approval or payment? That’ll be the Awaiting Approval and Payment Outstanding templates. Also included are: Queries Requested and Records Received Emails.
- Task Emails
If you want to let clients know when you’ve completed a task internally, AM will send an email, automatically filling in the Task Name and the company/individual it relates to.
- Tax Payment Reminders
These templates simply remind your clients to pay their VAT, Self Assessment and Corporation Tax. Only clients registered for these services will receive the reminders.
- Agent Authorisation Code Reminder
If you’re waiting on HMRC Agent Authorisation codes from your client, AccountancyManager will continue to request them until they’re entered into the HMRC Gateway. Just tick ‘online’ and the code will be pulled through into AM. You can complete your whole 64-8 process through AM, thanks to our HMRC integration.
- Missing Details Requests
Similarly, if you’re missing any of your client’s details, AM will chase your client for them. The template includes a link to the client’s personal portal where they can enter their own details. (It’s up to you whether you allow this ‘self-serve’ function.)
“The template for requesting missing info goes the extra mile. It explains how to find the UTR number for example and give HMRC’s phone number for the client to contact them etc.”
James, AM CEO & Co-Founder
- Concurrent SMS
This template is for the automatic text message that can go out alongside any automated email. It lets your client know there’s an email waiting for them. Some AM users also add the link to the client’s portal to the message so their clients can log in directly from their phone.
- Previous Accountant Clearance
Getting professional clearance from your client’s incumbent accountant is one of those tedious things you could do without (though not legally). With AM, these emails have already been written for you by a qualified accountant – and reviewed by many others. So everything you need from the previous accountant is listed. Of course, you can add, delete or change anything in the email to suit your practice.
- Terms and LOEs
Here you’ll find templates for: Registration Terms and Letters of Engagement for both Limited Companies and Self Assessment/Partnerships. These follow AAT guidelines and we are soon to release an alternative version for ACCA members. Select the specific services you’re providing your client and AM will automatically compile the correct associated policies, terms and obligations and send them to your client.
- Meeting Reminder SMS
Make sure your clients don’t miss calls with you by sending a meeting reminder over text. Decide what you want this to say by editing the template.
Create your own alternative templates and Client Variables
You can add different versions of existing templates if you need to. Rachel, AM’s Support Team Lead, explains:
“You can personalise a request for a specific client. We have one AM user who has a large number of Polish clients for example, and they have used these to apply record requests in Polish for these clients. Create a Custom Template then apply it to a specific client in Client > Automation.”
Rachel, AM Support Team Lead
If you need a Client Variable that’s not already in AM, you can add it by creating Custom Fields in the client file. This will add a new Client Variable for you to use in emails.
Canned emails
Make your automated emails more relevant to individual clients – and massively speed up the process of writing manual emails – with canned messages. These are paragraphs, or whole emails, that you write (just once) that AccountancyManager can pull into your automated email templates or your manual emails.
For example, Matt McConnell at Certax Durham has different messages saved depending on whether his clients use ReceiptBank, Xero, both or neither. So when he’s editing a template or creating a manual email, he can grab the relevant saved (or ‘canned’) messages.
Unlock hours of time to dedicate to your clients
Consider the time you save by using templates, client variables and automated emails. No more writing out huge swathes of content. No more lengthy onboarding processes. No more chasing clients and checking for replies. Existing AM users – sole practitioners and larger firms included – use this extra time to deliver a more personal service to their clients.
Try AccountancyManager for free
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