Industry

IT support for accounting and CPA firms

You hold thousands of Social Security numbers and complete financial pictures for people who trust you with them. The IRS requires you to have a written information security plan. And for four months a year, an outage is not an inconvenience, it is a missed deadline.

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What we do for you

  • IRS and FTC Safeguards Rule WISP: written, implemented and reviewed annually
  • Tax software environment tuning and pre-season readiness checks
  • Secure client portal to replace emailed returns and source documents
  • Enforced MFA, encrypted endpoints and per-user access logging
  • Immutable backups sized for busy-season data volumes, with tested restores
What's different here

The parts generic IT support gets wrong

The WISP requirement is real and enforced

Every paid tax preparer must have a written information security plan under the FTC Safeguards Rule, and must attest to it at PTIN renewal. A downloaded template is not the same thing as an implemented plan.

Busy season has no slack in it

From January to April there is no good day to have a server fail. Capacity, backups and support cover need to be right before the season starts, not during it.

Tax software is demanding and particular

UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, ProSystem fx and CCH all have specific requirements for network shares, database performance and workstation configuration. Generic IT support gets this wrong regularly.

Client data moves by email by default

Returns and source documents sent as attachments is still the norm and still the biggest exposure most firms have. A secure portal takes an afternoon to set up.

Scope

What we take on

  • IRS and FTC Safeguards Rule WISP: written, implemented and reviewed annually
  • Tax software environment tuning and pre-season readiness checks
  • Secure client portal to replace emailed returns and source documents
  • Enforced MFA, encrypted endpoints and per-user access logging
  • Immutable backups sized for busy-season data volumes, with tested restores
  • Extended support cover through filing season

We write and implement the technical half of your WISP, keep the evidence current, and review it annually so your PTIN attestation is accurate. Where the plan needs a legal or governance decision, that stays with your firm.

FAQ

Questions people ask

Can you help us build a WISP?
Yes. We start from the IRS Publication 4557 and FTC Safeguards requirements, assess what you actually have, write the plan around your real environment, and implement the controls it commits you to. A plan that describes controls you do not have is worse than no plan.
Do you increase support during tax season?
Yes. We agree the arrangement in the autumn — extended hours, a pre-season readiness check, and priority handling from January through the filing deadline.
We use a hosted tax application. Do we still need you?
Often more than firms expect. Hosting the application does not cover your endpoints, your email, your network, your backups or your WISP obligations — and those are where the exposure actually is.
Services

The services that matter most here

Cybersecurity & compliance

Pass the insurance questionnaire honestly.

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Backup & disaster recovery

Backups that have actually been restored.

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Email & Microsoft 365 management

Mail that arrives, and does not get you phished.

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Help desk & IT support

Someone answers when your laptop dies at 8am.

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Find out what you're actually running

A 15-minute call, then a two-hour on-site assessment and a written picture of your environment. The findings are yours to keep whether or not you hire us.

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