Email answering questions: ready replies for what clients ask every month

Email answering questions gets easy once you notice that most of them repeat. A bookkeeper’s clients ask about eight things, over and over. Did you get my statement? When will my books be done? Can you send numbers for the bank? Write one good answer to each, keep it where you can reach it in a few seconds, and fill in the client’s own facts each time. Then fix the cause where you can, so the question comes back less often.

That’s the whole method. The rest of this page is the eight questions, a ready answer for each, and where to keep them.

• Eight questions cover most of what clients ask a bookkeeper between month-ends.
• A ready answer has four parts: the answer, this client’s fact, their one step, and when it comes up next.
• A client fact sheet holds the details that change between clients, so one answer works for all of them.
• The questions you ask them repeat too, and a kept answer turns into a coding rule.

The questions every client asks again

These come from clients who are busy running a cafe or a dental practice. They aren’t careless. They ask because the answer lives in your head and nowhere they can see it.

Two of these need care. “Can I write this off?” is a tax question, and it belongs with their accountant or tax preparer. Your answer routes it there kindly and fast. “Why does the P&L show a profit?” sometimes points at a real number a client finds surprising. Explaining a figure well is its own job, covered in explaining a charge.

Email answering client questions: what a ready answer holds

A ready answer is short. It has four parts, in this order:

1. The answer, in the first line. “Yes, I have it.” A client reading on a phone may stop there.
2. This client’s fact. The account, the month, the date that’s true for them.
3. The one step they take. Or “nothing needed from you,” which is a step too.
4. When it comes up next. So the next question is already answered.

Leave out the history of why. Leave out “as I mentioned last month.” The client asked because they didn’t keep last month’s email, and that’s fine. You did.

Eight answers, written out

Each of these is ready to paste. The words in brackets come from the client fact sheet, covered in the next section.

Did you get my statement?

Yes, I have it. Your [Chase checking ending 4417] statement for
[September] came in on [October 3].

I'm still missing [the Amex statement for September]. When that's in,
September is complete on my side.

Where do I send receipts?

The easiest place is [the upload link: hubdoc.example/elmstreet].
A photo from your phone works fine.

If that's ever a hassle, forwarding the email receipt to me is fine
too. Anything that comes in by [the 5th] makes it into that month.

When will my books be done?

Your [September] books will be done by [October 15].

That date holds as long as [the Amex statement] arrives by [the 8th].
I'll send a short note when they're closed, with the month's totals.

The note you send when the month is done answers this question before it’s asked. Its wording is one of the templates for the messages you send every month.

Can you send my P&L for the bank?

Happy to. Most lenders want [a profit and loss and a balance sheet],
for [the last full year and this year to date].

I can have them to you by [Thursday]. If the bank sent a list of what
it needs, forward it and I'll match it exactly.

Why does the P&L show a profit when the bank account is low?

Good question, and the books are right. Profit counts what you earned
and spent in [September]. The bank balance also moves with things that
aren't expenses.

This month, the gap is mostly:
- [$4,200 paid on the truck loan] (only the interest is an expense)
- [$3,000 you drew for yourself]
- [$2,650 customers still owe you]

Happy to go through it on a call if that's easier.

This charge shows up twice. Did I pay it twice?

You paid it once. The bank feed showed it first as pending on [Sept 9]
and again when it posted on [Sept 11]. I've kept the posted line and
removed the pending one.

If the bank statement itself shows it twice, let me know and we'll
call the bank.

Can I write this off?

That's a question for [Dana at Marsh & Co.], since it depends on your
return. I'll code it as [vehicle expense] for now and flag it for her.

If you want, I'll forward this thread to her today.

How long do I keep my receipts?

The IRS's general rule is three years. Some records need longer:
payroll records at least four years, and seven years for a bad debt
or worthless securities claim. [Dana] can tell you if anything in
your situation needs longer.

Everything you send me stays in your file, so you have a copy here too.

That answer rests on the IRS’s own page, How long should I keep records?. The general rule reads:

“Keep records for 3 years if situations (4), (5), and (6) below do not apply to you.”

The longer periods are the exceptions. Payroll is the one most small clients have:

“Keep employment tax records for at least 4 years after the date that the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.”

Link the page in your answer. A client who wants the detail can read it, and you aren’t the one stretching the rule.

The client fact sheet

Every bracket above is a fact about one client. Keep those facts in one place per client, and one answer works for all of them.

A row in your practice software, a note in the client’s folder, or a page in a notebook all work. What matters is that you can find it in the time it takes to read the client’s question.

Where the answers live

Keep the eight answers somewhere you can insert them without retyping. Your email app probably has a place for this already:

• Gmail templates. Gmail Help describes them as being for “a message that includes information that doesn’t change frequently” (Gmail Help). They work from Gmail on a computer, not the phone app.
• Outlook’s My Templates. Microsoft says the add-in “only stores short text snippets for quick insertion into an email,” in plain text with basic styling. It needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription (Microsoft Support).
• A plain document. One page with the eight answers, open in a tab. Copy, paste, fill the brackets. It works in any app and on any account.

Name each saved answer by the question the client asked. “Did you get my statement” is easier to find in a hurry than “Statement confirmation v2.”

The question you keep asking them

The repeats run both ways. Every month you ask Bayview Yoga what the Costco charge was. Every month they say it’s studio supplies.

Once a client has given you the same answer twice, it’s no longer a question. Write it down where the coding happens:

• A rule in the bookkeeping software. Costco on Bayview’s card codes to studio supplies.
• A line on the fact sheet. “Costco is always supplies unless over $500.”
• A line in your next batch. “I’ll code Costco to supplies from now on unless you tell me otherwise.”

That last line matters. It tells the client what you’ve decided, and silence still settles it. Next month the question is gone from your batch, and from their inbox.

Sending the questions that remain as one monthly batch is in email management for bookkeepers. The question that comes back because a document never arrived is the missing statement.

Answering before they ask

The best answer to a repeat question is the message that makes it unnecessary. Three habits do most of the work.

Confirm receipt the day it arrives. “Got your September statement, thanks” takes ten seconds. It removes “did you get my statement?” from next week.

Send the close note every month. A short note when the books are done, with the totals, answers “when will they be done?” for good. Clients learn to wait for it.

Put the basics in the welcome email. Where receipts go, your close date, who answers tax questions. A new client who reads it once asks three fewer questions in the first month.

Keeping the answers current

An answer that was right in March can be wrong by October. The upload link changed. The client moved banks. Their accountant retired.

Look over the eight answers and the fact sheets once a quarter. It takes about twenty minutes. Check each bracket against what’s true now, and change the ones that aren’t. Do it sooner when a client changes banks or software. Those are the changes that turn a ready answer into a wrong one.

How Point helps you answer the repeat question

When a client asks something you’ve answered before, Point has the reply waiting. Point reads the email as it lands, on the Gmail or Microsoft 365 account you already have.

• The reply is drafted in your voice. Point writes it from the thread and the client’s history. Nothing is sent until you read it and press send (getting AI replies that sound like you wrote them).
• Your rules come along. Tell Point once, in one plain sentence: “When a client asks where receipts go, give them their upload link.” It’s saved to memory, tagged as yours, and every later draft applies it. You can edit or remove it anytime (teaching a habit in one sentence).
• The client’s facts are one question away. Ask “when did Harbor Dental’s September statement come in?” in plain words. Point answers in a sentence, with a link back to the email it came from (search by meaning).
• It reads the attachment too. Ask what the total was on a client’s invoice, and Point answers from inside the PDF, with the file one click away (asking questions of attachments).
• It goes from your address. The reply threads under the client’s question, like any reply you wrote.

You choose how far Point goes for each kind of action. Out of the box, everything waits for your review (setting how much your inbox does on its own). More on what Point does is on the benefits page.

When a template isn’t the fix

If one client asks the same thing every week, the answer isn’t the problem. Something in the process is. A client who keeps asking “did you get it?” may need a portal that shows them what’s arrived. A call to set that up does more than a better template.

If most of your clients use a client portal already, put the answers there. A short page of questions and answers, linked from your signature, saves the email entirely.

If you have three or four clients, a plain document of answers is all you need. A template library, or software, is more setup than the questions are worth.

Common questions

How do you answer questions in an email?

Put the answer in the first line. Then add the one fact that’s specific to the person, the one step they need to take, and when the subject comes up next. Keep it to a few lines. For questions that repeat, save the answer and fill in the details each time.

How do I reply to a client who asks the same question again?

Answer it as if it’s the first time, without “as I mentioned.” Then fix the reason it came back. Confirm documents the day they arrive, send a note when the month is closed, and put your dates in the welcome email. Most repeat questions come from not knowing where things stand.

Should bookkeepers use email templates?

Yes, for the handful of questions clients ask every month. Keep each one short, with brackets for the client’s own accounts and dates. Gmail and Outlook both have a place to store them, and a plain document works in any app. Read each one before it goes, since the brackets are where mistakes hide.

Can AI answer questions about my email?

Yes. Tools such as Point read your mail and answer plain-language questions, like when a client’s statement arrived or what an invoice total was, with a link back to the source email. Point can also draft the reply to a client’s question in your voice. By default it waits for you to read and send it.

How long should a small business keep receipts?

The IRS’s general rule is three years. Payroll records are at least four years, and a bad debt or worthless securities claim needs seven (IRS: How long should I keep records?). The client’s accountant can say if anything in their situation needs longer.

Should a bookkeeper answer “can I write this off?”

Route it to the client’s accountant or tax preparer. Code the item the way it looks for now, flag it for them, and tell the client you’ve done both. They get a fast reply, and the answer comes from the person who signs the return.