Managed IT Services for Accounting and Tax Firms

01Why accounting and tax firms choose managed IT

From January to April, an hour of downtime is an hour you will not get back. Accounting firms need their tax software, client files and remote access to just work, and they need someone to call when they do not.

Tax preparers also hold exactly what criminals want: Social Security numbers, bank details and income records. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to most tax preparers and accounting firms that handle this kind of customer information, regardless of size.

02What we manage for accounting and tax firms

• QuickBooks, Sage and tax software workstations, without replacing your tools
• MFA and secure remote access for seasonal and remote staff
• Backups and recovery for client files and accounting data
• Monitoring for suspicious logins and mailbox rule changes
• Encryption on every device that holds client data
• Staff security awareness training

03Working with your software vendors

We keep the systems behind your QuickBooks, Sage, tax preparation software and client portals running, and we work directly with your vendors when a problem sits between their software and your systems.

04Security and compliance

The FTC Safeguards Rule asks covered firms to keep a written information security program with specific safeguards such as access controls, encryption, MFA, monitoring and staff training. IRS Publication 4557 gives tax professionals practical guidance along the same lines.

We manage the technical safeguards, keep records of how they are configured and give you what you need for your written plan. The plan itself, and the person responsible for it, remain with your firm.

05Onboarding

Before support begins, we review the systems around your QuickBooks, Sage, tax preparation software and client portals, list every admin account and backup, and plan fixes for anything risky. The office keeps working while we do it.

How onboarding works

06Pricing

Pricing for accounting and tax firms is built from separate monthly fees for supported users, workstations, servers and the network. A conference room PC or a warehouse scanner station is a workstation, even if no one owns it. Onboarding takes real effort up front, so agreements are longer-term.