Use cases
Accountants: dictate the letter, type the figures
Accountancy is more writing than arithmetic once you count the correspondence. The rule that makes dictation safe here is simple: never dictate a number.
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The one rule
Never dictate a number. Not a figure, not a UTR, not a company number, not a date, not a percentage.
This is not a limitation of any particular app. Speech recognition misrecognises digits in ways that are grammatically plausible and visually unremarkable — "fifty-four thousand" and "fifty-four thousand four hundred" differ by one unstressed word. A wrong figure in a client letter is a different order of problem from a wrong word, and it will survive a read-back because it looks fine.
What is actually worth dictating
- The covering letter. The part the client reads. Always written last, always rushed, and it is the thing that determines whether they understood the accounts.
- Explaining a figure. Why the tax bill is higher than last year. This is the most valuable writing an accountant does and it gets compressed into one line because typing it takes twenty minutes.
- File notes. What was discussed, what was advised, what the client decided against. Professional protection, and always thin.
- Correspondence with HMRC and other advisers. Long, structured, prose-heavy.
- Onboarding and engagement explanations. The same four paragraphs, retyped.
- Meeting notes after a client call. Within five minutes, not at the end of the week.
Typed, under time pressure
Please find attached your accounts and tax return. The liability is higher than last year. Let me know if you have questions.
Dictated in 45 seconds
Please find attached your accounts and tax return. The liability is higher than last year for two reasons, neither of which is a mistake. First, you took more out as dividends and the rates changed in April. Second, last year included a loss brought forward that has now been used up, so there is nothing to set against this year's profit. There is nothing to do about either now, but if you want to look at the dividend and salary split before the next year end, that conversation is worth having in about February rather than next January.
The second one is what the client needed and what generates the follow-on work. It was never typed because typing it costs fifteen minutes at the end of a compliance job.
Confidentiality
Client financial information is confidential by professional obligation as well as by data protection law. A cloud dictation service processing a spoken client letter is a third-party processor in that chain — one that was never assessed and that the client did not agree to.
On-device recognition means no transfer occurs. It is a materially shorter conversation with a compliance partner than any assurance about a vendor's encryption. See dictation for confidential work.
Setting it up for a practice
- Teach it the vocabulary HMRC, VAT, CT600, SA100, PAYE, UTR, dividend, disposal, your software's names, your clients' company names. Accountancy vocabulary is rare in general English and mangled by default.
- Decide the house form for acronyms HMRC or H.M.R.C.; VAT or V.A.T. One vocabulary entry each, and the inconsistency across a practice disappears.
- Build snippets for the standard paragraphs Engagement explanation, payment terms, the deadline reminder, the "we need these records" list. Worded properly once.
- Set history retention deliberately Dictated client correspondence sits on the disk. Decide the period; FileVault or BitLocker regardless.
- Establish the no-numbers rule with everyone It is the one thing that turns this from a time-saver into a risk if it is not understood.
Questions
Can I dictate figures safely?
No, and this is the one firm rule on this page. Speech recognition misrecognises digits in plausible ways that survive a read-back. Type or paste every figure, reference and date, and dictate the prose around them.
Does it work in Xero, Sage, IRIS and CCH?
It types into any text field, so free-text notes, letters and email work everywhere. Structured numeric fields should be typed, for the reason above.
Is client information sent anywhere?
With on-device recognition, no — the audio is recognised on your Mac or PC and nothing is transmitted. With a cloud dictation service, spoken client financial detail is sent to that vendor.
Is it suitable during busy season?
That is when it earns its place, because the covering letter is what gets cut when time is short. A forty-five second dictated explanation is the difference between a client who understands their bill and one who rings you about it.