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ACCOUNTING IT Β· GLBA Β· IRS PUB 4557

Accounting Firms & CPAs

From single-CPA practices to 200-partner firms. Tax season uptime + IRS-grade safeguards on one contract.

Specialized IT security for accounting professionals handling sensitive financial data and client tax information.

SOC2GLBAIRS Publication 4557

CPA firms across Metro Vancouver (BC + cross-border US clients), Greater Toronto, South Florida, Orlando, and LA β€” peak-season-tested.

$5.9MAvg. financial-services breach cost (IBM 2023)
100%Of our accounting clients have a current IRS Pub 4557 WISP on file
0 incidentsTax-season ransomware events across our accounting client base since 2023
What you can count on

93% of tickets touched within 15 minutes. 100% of after-hours messages acknowledged the same business day. Every engagement staffed by a named senior engineer.

What we see in accounting firms & cpas

Pain you're probably already feeling.

Tax season is your peak β€” and threat actors know your calendar.

Phishing volume targeting CPAs spikes 4x in February and March every year. The cost of a 30-minute outage during return prep isn't just the missed billables β€” it's the client who switches firms next April.

IRS Publication 4557 is no longer optional.

Since 2023 the IRS treats Pub 4557's Written Information Security Plan (WISP) as a compliance requirement, not a recommendation. Firms without one are exposed at the next licensure review. Most firms we audit are running on a 2018 template that misses the 2023 multi-factor and incident-response updates.

Your client portal is the back door if MFA isn't on it.

Returns, K-1s, source docs β€” all sit behind portal credentials that get reused by clients across every other site they use. If MFA isn't enforced on the portal AND on your file-sharing app AND on your tax software, one client password breach is your data breach.

What we install on day one.

Phishing Simulation & Training

Realistic phishing tests and employee education

Included
Email & Communication SecurityTrainingSecurity

Why this matters for accounting

  • Employee susceptibility to phishing attacks
  • Lack of security awareness training
  • Difficulty measuring security awareness
Learn more

Secure Business Messaging

Encrypted instant messaging and file sharing

Included
Email & Communication SecurityMessagingEncryption

Why this matters for accounting

  • Insecure business communications
  • File sharing security risks
  • Compliance in messaging platforms
Learn more

Automated Patch Management

Comprehensive vulnerability and patch management

Included
Endpoint & Device SecurityPatch ManagementVulnerability Management

Why this matters for accounting

  • Unpatched security vulnerabilities
  • Manual patching complexity
  • System downtime from patches
Learn more

Data Archiving & Retention

Intelligent data lifecycle management and archiving

Included
Business Continuity & BackupData ArchivingLifecycle Management

Why this matters for accounting

  • Growing storage costs
  • Compliance retention requirements
  • Data lifecycle management
Learn more

Multi-Factor Authentication

Advanced authentication security and access control

Included
Identity & Access ManagementMFA2FA

Why this matters for accounting

  • Password-based security risks
  • Account takeover attacks
  • Compliance authentication requirements
Learn more
Compliance, line by line

What each framework actually asks for β€” and what we do about it.

IRS Publication 4557 (WISP)

What it requires

Written Information Security Plan covering data inventory, risk assessment, employee training, vendor management, MFA, encryption, incident response β€” reviewed annually.

How we help

We draft your WISP the first week of engagement, run the annual review with you, and keep the evidence binder current so the next IRS or state-board inquiry is a 24-hour turnaround.

GLBA Safeguards Rule

What it requires

FTC's June 2023 update added explicit MFA, encryption, access logging, and breach-notification requirements for any firm handling consumer financial data.

How we help

MFA enforced tenant-wide, encrypted email + file transfer, audit logs retained 1 year, and a documented 30-day breach-notification runbook tied to your malpractice carrier.

AICPA SOC 2 (for advisory + outsourced-CFO firms)

What it requires

Evidence of operating controls over security + availability for any firm providing financial services to other businesses (CAS, fractional CFO, family-office work).

How we help

Evidence collector runs year-round; typical first-time SOC 2 Type II at 9-12 weeks for a 50-200 person CPA firm.

Additional compliance services

Advanced Email Security

AI-powered phishing protection and email filtering

Details β†’

VoIP Security & Management

Secure voice communications and call management

Details β†’

Collaboration Platform Security

Secure Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom environments

Details β†’
Free self-serve tools

Score your risk. Price your downtime. No call required.

Two short diagnostics built by our senior engineers. Answer a handful of questions, get a scored report with next steps β€” yours to keep either way.

Questions we always get

Before the call.

Straight answers so the health-check call can skip the basics.

Do you support our tax software (UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, ProSeries, CCH Axcess)?

Yes β€” all five plus the more niche ones (TaxWise, ATX, MyTAXPrepOffice). We don't resell, but we manage the integration: workstation provisioning, license tracking, vendor coordination during peak season, and patch windows that respect your billing cycle.

Can you have us ready for tax season starting 90 days out?

Yes. The 90-day pre-season runbook is the most-requested engagement we run β€” workstation refresh, MFA enforcement, phishing-sim baseline, backup validation, and tax-software readiness on a documented schedule. Most firms are operationally ready by late December if we start in October.

What happens if our client portal is breached during peak?

Documented incident-response plan activates: portal isolation within 30 minutes, malpractice carrier notified, regulatory clock started (state + federal), client-by-client notification queue prioritized by risk. We've rehearsed this with every client via tabletop in October β€” the worst time to rehearse is in March.

Do we need to be SOC 2 if we only do tax + audit?

Probably not for traditional 1040 work. If you offer outsourced-CFO, advisory, family-office, or audit-support to public-company clients, SOC 2 is increasingly being asked for in the engagement letter. We can scope a fast-path readiness assessment to tell you definitively in 30 minutes.

Can you handle multi-state firms with mixed regulatory footprints?

Yes β€” we maintain a state-by-state matrix of CPA-board IT requirements (NY, CA, TX, FL all differ) and coordinate so a single control set satisfies the strictest state in your footprint.

Ready for accounting firms & cpasIT that doesn't surprise you?

Free 90-minute health check. Scored roadmap. A real senior engineer. No sales maze.