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Call logging: A matter of record

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24th Jun 2006
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For an accountant, an accurate record of what is said over the telephone can make the difference between career success and disaster. In the first part of this feature, Steve Roth asked AccountingWEB members about how they do things. In the second part of the feature, Simon Hurst looks at some of the technological solutions.

The majority of accountants take written notes of telephone conversations. Ideally the note should be made contemporaneously. However, there can often be a substantial lag between a telephone conversation and putting notes on file. Furthermore, in the heat of conversation, it is not always obvious what is relevant ' and what might become relevant further on in the accountant-client relationship. For that reason some accountants are looking at technology to help record conversations. As we shall see, there are also operational advantages to moving away from a paper-based recording system.

In practise, the majority of accountants still rely on written records, which is fine as long as there is a strict system to ensure compliance. AccountingWEB member Alan Webb, a tax manager with a large national and international practice, uses a typical paper-based approach ' but with strict criteria. All conversations have to be written down on standard templates and placed on file and all records have to be signed off by a manager and a partner and everyone involved with the client receives a record of the conversation. Procedures are subject to six-monthly reviews.

Even with a system as strict as this, a substantial amount still depends on individual judgement as to what part of the conversation is relevant. Daren Peacock, senior tax manager with Afford, Astbury and Bond is typical of attentive, traditionally trained accountants. "It is always something I have done ' you are taught to write down every conversation, particularly if a client is disputing something." But he has no formal process for recording information. "I teach others as I was taught. How do you decide what to record? I think you just have to take a view. I write down the salient points that I believe are relevant. Recording conversations is not something that has been thought of at a policy level. We have enough to cope with on a day-to-day basis and that comes a way down the pecking order."

The problem becomes more acute when an accountant is on the move and takes a call on his or her mobile. Tom Trainer said he will turn on the record function on his mobile but only when he deems things to be relevant. In the office he uses a device called Reconphone, which he learned about on AccountingWEB, and which allows him to record calls, which are stored according to time and date. However, even this system is only a halfway house. 'If you have a caller ID device you can get it to put the call number in there. If during the conversation I decide that it's important, I will file it somewhere specific. However, in the normal run of events, it means that if I want to find a conversation, I have to remember the time and date of that conversation,' he said. "It does bother me and I would like to get it sorted out. I would probably like to get calls through the PC. When Skype becomes more I might build that into my processes."

Chris Caspell, a sole practitioner based in Oxford, uses another solution to collect and organise his records. "I use ACT. When I get a a telephone conversation I will open up an act screen and make notes that way. If it is advice, I give them a copy of the notes to make sure there is no confusion. However, you have to be faily strict in making the notes and making sure everything is filed properly." Stephen Walker, a sole trader based in Halifax, also says he is also thinking of using ACT, but as a new business says his practice is not yet large enough to make paper records an inconvenience.

Holden Associates, an accountancy practice based in Preston, is further down the road. Currently the team make written notes, says director Jason Holden. The practice is currently evaluating a system to record all calls with clients and store the record electronically. "Should anything of a litigious manner come our way, we don't want to rely on what we have scrawled down. With the new system we will have the evidence," says Holden. But there are more than purely legal advantages. "A lot of time we give advice over the phone and it is sometimes nice to have something to play back and be able to listen to your advice again,' says Holden "Sometimes you forget what you have talked about at the start of the day. But that is only one part of it. It also gives us the facility to review and listen in our own time. So it is better customer service. Sometimes when we listen we hear something we didn't pick up on the first time. It also saves time compared to writing out the conversation."

The system will go on automatically. Holden will then be able to drag and drop the files on to the client's records. The spec specified three attributes. 'We want to store the file in as small a format as possible. We want a drag and drop facility to assign and annotate the file, and during the conversation I want to be able to add notes to say this is really when I need to start listening."

To those who say that there practice is not big enough to warrant the cost he says: "You only need one client to sue. We are not massive and I think it needs to be the way forward."

It also makes good business sense. Although insurers do not impose criteria for recording conversations on the practices that they underwrite, they expect practices to work actively to minimise risk, says Rob Ward, managing director of brokers Sennet Professional Indemnity. "In so far as the insurance market is concerned, they have been keen to say that they give discounts to professionals who manage risk, and anything you can do to minimise that is a good thing," he says. In the current market the manner in which accountant records conversations is of little relevance, he says. But that may not always be the case. "At the moment the market is very soft ' there are a lot of people who want to offer very reasonable terms. If you go back to 2001/2 there was a crisis of capacity in the Lloyds and London market, so the market was hard. In those circumstances if there is a choice between writing someone who demonstrates good risk management and someone who does not, I would rather write one who does. That is really what it is about. In this market it doesn't make any difference, but in 18 months it could make all the difference in the world."

The technology trail. By Simon Hurst
We have considered the importance, and in some cases necessity, of ensuring that the contents of certain significant calls were recorded and retained. In some cases the need for this is obvious ' for example where a telephone conversation forms part of the audit evidence you wish to rely on. But there are many circumstances in which a firm of accountants may find a reliable record of a verbal conversation to be essential. Advice on investment and tax matters, and issues with relevance to the Money Laundering regulations spring to mind.

We know we have to do it but what's the best way? Illegible jottings on scraps of paper fall short of the ideal. The traditional approach of proper handwritten or typed notes correctly filed will be perfectly adequate for many organisations. Where matters of particular significance are dealt with in this way it would make sense to ensure that the other party confirms in writing their agreement to the version of events that you have recorded, with this agreement obviously being incorporated into the permanent record.

Taking this a step further, many firms are already using document and knowledge management systems to address the significant shortcomings of paper-based filing. In addition, many practices are using the contact management facilities built into their practice management systems, or using standalone contact management packages. These will facilitate the making of contemporaneous notes on any form of contact, and can ensure these notes are automatically date and time stamped, and of course automatically filed as part of the contact's electronic record.

However, both the manual and electronic methods have an important weakness ' they rely on the individual firstly to make any sort of record at all, and secondly to include all the relevant information in that record. As we mentioned earlier, there is also the issue of refutability. Unless the contents of the record are confirmed with the other party, there is plenty of scope for different recollections and interpretations. For this method to work therefore, there has to be significant reliance on adherence to procedures and a very effective training and awareness program involving all levels of staff.

So is there a technological answer? Unsurprisingly there is. We could record all telephone calls to and from our organisation. Few people can have escaped the transition from hearing Vivaldi's Four Seasons whilst being kept on hold, to being informed that your forthcoming conversation could be recorded. Obviously, automatic recording of all calls removes the onus on staff to make their own notes, and addresses the issues of recollection and interpretation.
For small organisations a range of devices is available to ensure that calls on individual phones are recorded, and for those moving towards Internet telephony, applications are starting to appear to allow calls to be recorded directly to your PC. For larger organisations centralised systems are available to manage the recording, storage and retrieval of phone calls. A quick trawl of the Internet found several sites advertising solutions ranging from a single phone to the ability to handle hundreds of lines, record direct to a network or to DAT and DVD-RAM, and integrate the system with SQL databases. For an extensive range of call recording solutions have a look here
There is a link from this site to another site dealing with smaller systems: Telephone Recorders Direct
In case you were wondering how effective any corporate phone recording system could be when so many conversations now take place using mobile phones, you will also find solutions that cover the recording of conversations from corporate mobiles.

In terms of the infrastructure that you will need to implement an automated solution, this will vary greatly depending on the sophistication required. If you are using VoIP then you could use a cheap or free software utility to record calls. For a simple solution for an individual phone you can get tape based systems from about £50. Systems that record to your PC and provide search and index facilities, as well as integration with existing CRM or database solutions cost from about £200 upwards. Multi-line recorders ' often requiring the use of ISDN lines ' start in the early thousands. Alternatively, phones are available with built in recording capability, linked to a PC. Larger systems are likely to cost many thousands of pounds and require specialist hardware, dedicated network servers to hold the recordings, and advanced CTI (computer telephony integration) software to manage storage, indexing and retrieval.

Of course, even an expensive high tech solution does not come without significant human, management and legal issues. You will no doubt seek your own legal advice if installing such as system, but you will certainly have an obligation to inform your own staff and make a 'reasonable' effort to inform those calling you that the calls are being recorded. Nevertheless, you may find that the result outweighs the effort

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Replies (11)

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By David Carter
20th Feb 2006 09:49

why transcribe?
Why transcribe from voice recording into text?

My guess is that you could get 10 minutes worth of conversation onto each page of A4 text. So 10 minutes to listen to the tape, but only 30 seconds to scan through the A4 text.

Agreed, though, that it's a long way off. I tried booking a cinema seat over the weekend. Odeon have voice recognition, and it asked me what town I'm in. I had to say Hemel Hempstead very slowly a couple of times before it worked.

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Dennis Howlett
By dahowlett
15th Feb 2006 20:24

Skype + recording
If you use Skype or another IM system, you could use HotRecorder which is incredibly cheap - free if you don't mind ads and a proprietary file format. If you pay ($20?) then you get an inbuilt MP3 conversion tool.

If you're on the Mac platform, it's a bit more complicated but still cheap.

You could use iTunes as a way of filing MP3 files.

We use it for podcasting - which is no more than a conversation distributed over the Internet. This week your tech editor John came on to discuss the self assessment thing. You can find it here: 15 Minute RoundUp

The MYOB solution is a lockin - and while I see the value for larger practices, for the vast majority of smaller firms, it's a big tax to pay.

On the issue of MP3 to text, Dragon NaturallySpeaking was designed specifically with that in mind. But anything requiring T2S means training. The software is getting better but I find this is a hurdle too great for people to overcome - and I agree with that sentiment. But at a more fundamental level, why would you transcribe unless you need to? ICAEW guidelines don't force transcription as far as I can tell.

There's plenty of alterntatives at: Telehpone Recorders Direct

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By digitalabacus
10th Feb 2006 22:01

Telephone conversation and litigation
The negative aspect of this thread can be seen as the continuing need to cover the accountant's posterior. The more positive view would be to ensure a complete picture of the development of the service to the client.

Coming from a large firm background, I have always noted telcons although as I progress in years and telephone calls seem to get longer and tax becomes more complex the difficulty is in finding the piece of paper and then deciphering the rapid scribble.

The avoidance of paper mountains can occur through using the Notes within Microsoft Outlook or being brave enough to open a clean sheet wihin Microsoft Word and tapping away at the salient points during the telephone call. It is always wise to summarise the call at the end of the call in a polite way just in case there are matters to be acted on and , more importantly, who should action them - you or the client.The actionable items could be entered on your document workflow.

A large Budget could run to recording all calls but then you would need to state that fact at the start of all calls " ... for training and...purposes " I suppose. The problem with telephone calls is that there is such a thing as a verbal contract and that serious urgent advice can be given over the phone which may later be relied on.

Saving your Outlook notes and/or Word document to a client folder seems eminently sensible, I have a separate folder for emails and faxes as well for good measure, but that's another story... and if you wanted to search for any keyword in those impressive notes you could do far worse than use Copernic Desktop Search to archive and search all of your desktop and data.

If you want to get really hitech you could always save the document in pdf format, then using the amazing Adobe Acrobat program have the document electronically read out to you over speakers.

The unspoken part of all this current subject is probably however how to ensure that all data and knowledge is kept for the purposes of our duties under the various POCA and Money Laundering regulations.

I notice that H.M.Revenue & Customs do keep meticulous records of conversations especially when it comes to VAt control visits and so on.

Just for now though ..where did I put that note ?

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By tomtrainer
15th Feb 2006 10:56

Voice-Recognition Software
David - Given that voice-recognition software has to be trained to understand each user, I would have thought it was still a bit of a way off yet.

However, when it can, I'm buying it.

Does anyone have any idea how it would cope with a conversation between a voice it knows, and one it doesn't; would the unfamiliar side be gobbledy gook or just have one or two few errors?

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By tomtrainer
13th Feb 2006 10:47

June Bradshaw
None of my comments were tongue-in-cheek. Why did you think they were?

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By tomtrainer
14th Feb 2006 10:48

June Bradshaw
Hi June - The question was phrased like this "no-one heard of....Skype?".

I did not know whether it meant "Has anyone heard of Skype?", "Has no-one heard of Skype?" or something else. That is why I expressed uncertainty as to what it meant.

I can't say I share your interpretation of my expression of uncertainty, but I apologise for causing you to feel patronised.

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By tomtrainer
13th Feb 2006 17:48

Viztopia Practice Management CTI module
What does it cost, and is any additional hardware required?

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By AnonymousUser
10th Feb 2006 14:45

Sage CRM Mid-Market Edition
We are a fairly young company, having formed in late 2002 and we started recording our client contact history on an Excel spread sheet. It was not long (within the first year) that this spread sheet had become unmanageable, with 1,000’s of lines and 100’s of columns.

It was then that we made the decision to invest in a CRM solution and having looked and tried a number of solutions including ACT!, BusyDesk, Click and others, it soon became clear that the most configurable and easy to use solution was to be Sage CRM MME.

We found that Sage CRM MME (formally known as ACCPAC CRM) had all the key features that we needed:

• The ability to store clients under their own name or by company with multiply contacts.

• Functionality to record all conversations an correspondence against both the client and their company.

• A true Internet solution, meaning that we would be able to access our information from the office, home and more importantly while on our customers sites.

• The system we required would need to be configurable, allowing us to change and add new fields to our database as required.

• We had proved in the past that we had both business and sales procedure that worked. We wanted a CRM solution that would allow us to map these procedures and use them day-by-day as a work-flow to the run our business.

• Previously, all our quotes & marketing/sales letters were produced in Word and because we had all these templates, it was great to see that Sage CRM MME could continue to use these. An added benefit was that once the letter/quote has been produced, a copy is stored against the contact for future reference. Again, idea for gaining access to and updating this information when on a customers site.

• Occasionally, other documents, relating to a client were received by post or fax. We were able to scan these and add them to our customers contact history by simply dragging-and-dropping the document.

• Reporting was also something to think about? Sage CRM MME offered both system “snap-shot” reports and the ability to write detailed reports in Excel, directly linked to our MME data.

• We always used to use Microsoft Outlook for our diaries and email, the final thing that we needed was full integration between the CRM and Outlook solutions – With Sage CRM MME, this was never a problem.

Having now used this solution for a number of years, this software has met with our expectations, and more. We now not only have this linked to Outlook, we also have links directly though to our back-office accounts solution, meaning that we have a complete view of all our clients’ data, from one screen.

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Dennis Howlett
By dahowlett
10th Feb 2006 16:34

no-one heard of....
Skype?

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By tomtrainer
10th Feb 2006 16:48

Skype
Not sure what your question means Dennis. Do you mean you have never heard of it? If so, see www.skype.com.

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By David Carter
14th Feb 2006 16:42

no voice recognition software yet?
Steve, do you know how far off we are from having a package that will take your MP3 recorded message and transcribe it into a text file in Word?

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