IMCKColette Kenney, P.Eng.

AI Engagement Team case / Follow-up email and client reply

Practice case. Prairie Ledger CPA is a made-up firm. All names, records and numbers are fictional.

Follow-up Email and Client Reply

PRACTICE CASE. Prairie Ledger CPA is a made-up firm. The reply was written for practice.

The Discovery Brief found missing rates and hours. Instead of guessing, the Discovery Lead drafted a short follow-up email.

The follow-up email

Subject: A few numbers before I send the proposal

Hi Dana,

Thanks again for Tuesday's call. I heard three problems worth solving together: chasing clients for documents, answering the same client questions from scratch, and coding errors caught only at year-end.

To give you and Greg numbers you can both check, I need a few more details. Rough estimates are fine.

Most important: 1. What does an accountant cost the firm per hour with everything included, and what do you bill their time at? 2. Roughly how many hours a week does each accountant spend answering client emails? In a normal month, and February to April? 3. Who did last year's 60 to 70 hours of coding cleanup, and roughly how were the hours split? 4. Roughly how many hours a month do you spend on review work?

Also helpful: 5. Are Karbon's automatic client reminders turned on for monthly bookkeeping? 6. Could you share a few sample client emails, with names removed?

Once I have these, I'll send the full proposal within 3 business days.

Thanks, Colette

The client's reply (practice)

Subject: RE: A few numbers before I send the proposal

Hi Colette,

Here you go. Mostly best guesses.

  1. Accountant cost and rate: About $45 an hour in wages, maybe $55 with everything in. We bill accountant time at $140.
  2. Client emails: In a normal month, about 4 hours a week per accountant. February to April, closer to 10 hours a week each. There are 4 accountants.
  3. Year-end cleanup: Roughly 40 hours were accountants, 20 hours were Greg and me, and about 5 hours were bookkeepers. We wrote off about 20 of those hours. One client also had a CRA review on GST that took an accountant about 6 extra hours.
  4. My review time: About 15 hours a month. A senior accountant could do maybe 10 of those.
  5. Karbon reminders: We set up Client Requests a couple of years ago, but nobody turned on the automatic reminders. Our client portal is Karbon's.
  6. Sample emails: Yes. The most common questions are about GST, statement entries, vehicle deductions, tax instalment dates, and why they owe tax after a slow year.

Also: we're on Microsoft 365 Business Standard with no Copilot. I'd take 3 or 4 clients off the waiting list right away. Saturdays in March and April cost roughly $12,000 in overtime last season. The team can track their hours for a month.

Dana

What the reply changed