An ask my accountant list is one message, sent once a month, that holds every question you have for a client about their books. Instead of ten scattered emails, the client gets a short numbered list with the date, amount and description of each unclear item. They answer once, and each answer becomes a rule for next month.
What goes on an ask my accountant list?
An ask my accountant list holds the items you cannot code with confidence from the statement, the receipts and the client's history. That usually means unknown deposits, payments to people rather than businesses, large one-off purchases and anything that might be personal. If you could reasonably code it yourself, it does not belong on the list.
The name comes from the holding account many bookkeepers use for unclear lines, often called Ask My Accountant or a suspense account. Through the month, uncertain lines park there. At month end, every line still in that account becomes a question. The list is simply that account turned into plain English.
Items that earn a place
A useful test is whether the answer would change the books. These items usually pass it:
- Deposits with no clear source. A transfer from a personal account, a customer payment or a loan all look the same on a statement and post to very different accounts.
- Payments to individuals. A Zelle payment to a first name could be a contractor, a refund to a customer or a family member.
- Purchases that could be either business or personal. A big-box store charge or an airline ticket in a month with no known trip.
- New recurring charges. A subscription you have not seen before, which may need its own rule from now on.
- Missing documents. A large equipment purchase with no invoice, where the client needs to send one rather than explain one.
Items that stay off it
Leave off anything the client's past coding already answers. If the same software charge has been coded to subscriptions for eight months, a ninth question about it wastes their attention. Leave off small amounts under a threshold you set with the client, which you can code to a sensible default and note. And leave off questions that are really about tax treatment, which belong with the tax preparer rather than in a bookkeeping question list.
Wording each ask my accountant question so clients answer fast
A well-worded question on an ask my accountant list gives the client everything needed to answer from memory in one line. It names the date, the amount and the description exactly as the bank printed it, then offers two or three likely answers. Clients reply faster to a choice than to an open question.
Compare two versions of the same question. The first asks "What was the 1,250.00 payment on the 14th?" The client has to open their banking app, find the line and work out what you need. The second says: "March 14, 1,250.00 to J. RIVERA via Zelle. Was this (a) a contractor payment, (b) a refund to a customer, or (c) something personal?" Most clients can reply "a" without leaving their inbox.
A few habits keep each question short:
- Quote the bank's description. The client may not recognize your clean payee name, but they will recognize the text in their app.
- Give the account. "Checking ending 4417" saves a client with three accounts from searching the wrong one.
- Offer likely answers. Base the options on what similar lines have been in the past.
- Ask for one thing per question. A question that asks for a category and a receipt gets half an answer.
- Say what happens if there is no answer. "If I don't hear back by the 10th, I'll code this to owner draw" turns silence into a decision the client chose.
That last habit matters more than it looks. A default answer protects the close date. The client can still correct it later, and the books are never held open waiting on one reply.
How long should one month's ask my accountant list be?
One month's ask my accountant list works best at about five to ten questions for a typical small business client. Past that, clients answer the first few and skip the rest. A list that keeps growing is a sign that your coding rules are missing something, not a sign that the client needs more questions.
The first month with a new client is the exception. You have no history yet, so a first list of twenty or more is normal. Say so in the message: "This first list is long because I'm learning your vendors. Next month's will be much shorter." Then make sure it is. If month three still has twenty questions, look at which kinds of lines keep landing on it.
Long lists usually come from a few repeat causes:
- Rules that are too narrow. A rule written for "AMZN MKTP US" misses "AMAZON.COM*2K4" on the same card.
- A client who mixes spending. Personal charges on a business card generate questions every month until the spending habit changes.
- Questions you could answer yourself. Many bookkeepers ask about a line they could have coded from the client's prior months.
If a list cannot get shorter because the business is genuinely complex, split it by priority. Put the questions that block the close at the top, and mark the rest as "when you have a minute."
A sample ask my accountant list for a March close
The example below shows one finished ask my accountant list for an example client, a small catering business with one checking account and one credit card. The names and figures are made up for illustration. Each row shows the question as sent, the reply that came back and the rule recorded for next month.
| # | Question as sent | Client's reply | Rule for next month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mar 3, deposit 4,800.00, "ONLINE TRANSFER FROM XXXX9921". Loan, owner money or a customer? | Owner money from savings | Transfers from account 9921 post to owner contribution |
| 2 | Mar 7, 612.40, "RESTAURANT DEPOT #118". Food stock for events, or kitchen supplies? | Food stock | Restaurant Depot posts to cost of goods sold |
| 3 | Mar 11, 1,250.00 Zelle to "J RIVERA". Contractor, refund, or personal? | Contractor, event server | Zelle to J Rivera posts to contract labor; collect a W-9 |
| 4 | Mar 15, 89.00, "CANVA* 0412". New charge. Business design tool? | Yes, menus and flyers | Canva posts to software subscriptions |
| 5 | Mar 19, 2,400.00, "PARTY RENTAL CO". Invoice please, plus: one event or several? | Sent invoice, one wedding | Code from invoice; no standing rule |
| 6 | Mar 22, 64.18, "TARGET 0193". Business or personal? Default: personal | Personal, sorry | Target on this card defaults to owner draw |
| 7 | Mar 28, deposit 3,100.00, "MOBILE DEPOSIT". Which customer or event? | Smith anniversary party | No rule; ask each time for mobile deposits |
Two details in that table are worth copying. Question 6 states a default, so even with no reply the line would have been coded. And rows 5 and 7 show that not every answer becomes a rule. Some lines, like mobile check deposits from different customers, will always need a question.
Send the list together with, or just before, the month's report. The guide to a monthly bookkeeping report for clients shows a one-page layout where open questions sit in their own short section, so the client sees them next to the numbers they affect.
Turning ask my accountant answers into coding rules
Each answer on an ask my accountant list is only worth the time if it stops the same question next month. The step that does that is writing the answer down as a rule the same day it arrives: the payee text, the account it maps to and any condition, such as the card it came from.
A rule needs three parts to work reliably:
- The match. The description text that identifies the line, chosen so it catches the vendor's variations. "RESTAURANT DEPOT" catches every store number; "RESTAURANT DEPOT #118" catches one.
- The target. The account in that client's chart, not a generic name. One catering client's food stock may be cost of goods sold while another tracks it as inventory.
- The scope. Which account the rule applies to. A Target charge on the business card may be personal while the same store on the business checking account is cleaning supplies.
Keep the rules per client. A vendor that is a cost of goods for one business is an office expense for another, and a rule copied across clients causes quiet miscoding. In AutoBankConvert, each client has its own rules and history, and approving a suggested category in the review queue teaches that client's rules, so the same vendor is categorized on its own the next month.
Fitting this into the week helps. A short block on rules after replies come in, scheduled in a weekly bookkeeping routine, keeps answers from piling up in your inbox until the next close, when you no longer remember which question they belonged to.
Track whether the list is shrinking
A simple count per month shows whether the rules are working. For a small catering client, a healthy pattern would be 22 questions in January, 11 in February, 7 in March and around 5 after that. If the count stalls, sort last month's questions by type. The type that repeats most is where the next rule should go.
Questions that should skip the ask my accountant list
Some questions should not wait for the monthly ask my accountant list. Anything that might be fraud, a missed payment, a bounced payroll or a deadline that falls before the next close needs its own message the day you see it. Batching is for routine coding questions, not for problems that get worse with time.
These items warrant an immediate message or a call:
- Charges the client may not have made. An unfamiliar vendor in another country or a run of small card charges can be card fraud. The client needs to contact the bank now, not in three weeks.
- Returned items and overdrafts. A bounced payment or a negative balance can trigger fees or a missed vendor payment.
- Large unexpected movements. A tax authority debit or a big withdrawal the client may not know about.
- Anything with a deadline. A notice that arrives with a due date, or a 1099 question in January.
The opposite mistake also happens. Some bookkeepers save every question for the list, including ones they could settle with a two-line email the same afternoon. If a single answer would let you finish a client's month early, ask it on its own.
When the client asks what a number means
An ask my accountant list sometimes triggers questions in return, such as "Why is my profit so different from my bank balance?" Those deserve a proper answer rather than a line in the reply. The guide on how to explain financial statements to clients gives a short walkthrough of the profit and loss, balance sheet and cash for exactly those conversations.
If most of your list each month comes from unclear statement lines, fewer of them need to reach the client in the first place. AutoBankConvert converts each client's statements, applies their own rules and holds only the uncertain lines for review, which leaves a shorter, sharper list to send.