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Client financial data, a filing season that doubles your load, and a written security plan the IRS now expects you to have. We have supported a large accounting firm for over nine years — we know what the season does to a network.
An accounting practice holds Social Security numbers, bank details, full financial pictures and signature authority, for hundreds or thousands of people at once. There is almost no richer target in a small-business market, and attackers know the calendar as well as you do — phishing aimed at tax preparers rises sharply in the run-up to filing deadlines, when everyone is tired and moving fast.
This is also one of the few small-business sectors with genuine written obligations. The IRS expects tax professionals to maintain a written data security plan, and Massachusetts law requires a Written Information Security Program from any business holding personal information about a Massachusetts resident. Both of those rest on technical controls that either exist or do not.
The IRS expects a written data security plan and Massachusetts requires a WISP. We build the technical controls underneath both: encryption, access control, MFA and logging. Then we document what protects what.
WISP requirements explained →Capacity, remote access and support hours planned around your peak, not your average. Seasonal staff onboarded and offboarded cleanly, with access that actually gets revoked.
Hosted or on-premise, multi-monitor workstations, and the performance tuning that stops a return from taking forty seconds to open in March.
Explore managed IT →A real client portal instead of emailed attachments containing tax returns. Encrypted in transit and at rest, with a record of who accessed what.
Restore-tested backups and a retention approach that matches how long you are actually required to keep records, not whatever the default was.
Read the security guide →Credible, fast and clear, with local SEO so nearby businesses looking for a CPA find you. Quiet professionalism, not stock photography.
Explore web design →IT, security and web for accounting practices — 9+ years supporting a large accounting firm.
Start a conversation →What clients tell us
One of our longest-standing clients is a large accounting practice we have supported for over nine years, through every filing season in that stretch. That is the real measure in this sector, not a certification on a wall, but a firm that has been through nine Aprils with the same provider and has not needed to look for another. References available on request.
Filing season is a load test you cannot opt out of. Everything that is marginal in November fails in March: the workstation that was already slow, the internet connection with no failover, the backup that takes so long it never finishes, the temporary staff member sharing a login because provisioning took too long. None of these are surprises, and all of them are cheaper to fix in the autumn.
The staffing pattern matters too. Seasonal preparers arrive, need access to genuinely sensitive data quickly, and leave again. Access that is granted informally and never revoked is one of the most common findings we see when we take over an accounting firm’s environment — accounts still live for people who left two seasons ago.
And the security controls are not optional extras here. Multi-factor authentication on email and remote access, encryption on every laptop that leaves the building, and a documented plan are the baseline for a practice holding this kind of data. We would recommend all three regardless of what any regulation said.
The IRS expects tax professionals to maintain a written data security plan, and publishes guidance on safeguarding taxpayer data to that effect. Separately, Massachusetts requires a Written Information Security Program from any business holding personal information about a Massachusetts resident. We build and document the technical controls both depend on — we are not attorneys, and we would not present this as legal advice.
Yes, and the useful work happens before it. We review capacity, connectivity, backups and remote access in the quiet months, fix the weak points, get seasonal staff provisioning sorted in advance, and make sure you know exactly how to reach us when it matters.
It depends on how many people need simultaneous access, how they work remotely, and what your internet connection looks like. Both are legitimate. We will give you the honest trade-off rather than steering you toward whichever we would rather sell.
It is better than nothing and worse than a portal. A password-protected attachment still puts the document in two mailboxes indefinitely, and the password usually travels in a second email. A proper client portal is not expensive and removes the whole category of problem.
The first thing we would do is ask them for the date of your last tested restore, your MFA coverage, and a list of accounts with access to client data. If those answers come back quickly and specifically, you are in good hands. If they do not, that is the answer.
Related: Massachusetts WISP requirements · Small business cybersecurity · Managed IT & support. Serving eighteen North Shore towns from Middleton.
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