Industries / Accounting
IT Support for Accountants & CPA Firms
A CPA firm runs on tax software, client portals, and deadlines that do not move. From January to April, an hour of downtime is billable work you never get back, and every workstation holds client financial data that attackers want. ACS delivers accounting IT support built for tax-season uptime and FTC Safeguards Rule compliance: 24/7 monitoring, hardened workstations and hosting, and a written security program that stands behind your PTIN attestation. Remote-first, nationwide.
Why CPA firms need specialized IT
A general IT shop does not understand a business where the busiest four months of the year are also the least forgiving.
Deadlines do not wait for tickets
When Lacerte hangs or the server drops on April 10, a next-business-day response is not support, it is a missed filing deadline. Tax-season IT problems are emergencies, and your provider has to treat them that way.
Client financial data is a target
Social Security numbers, income details, and bank accounts for every client, all in one place. Criminals target tax preparers specifically, because one compromised firm yields the raw material for hundreds of fraudulent returns.
The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to you
Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tax preparers and CPA firms are financial institutions. That means a written information security plan (WISP) is a legal requirement, not a best practice, regardless of firm size.
What accounting IT support should cover
Everything a firm needs to stay secure, online, and compliant, under one partner.
Tax & accounting applications
Workstations, servers, and hosting managed around QuickBooks, Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake, ProSeries, and CCH Axcess, with vendor support coordinated for you.
Managed IT & 24/7 helpdesk
Monitoring and support with patching and maintenance scheduled around filing deadlines, never during them.
Cybersecurity
Endpoint protection, email and ransomware defense, MFA everywhere, and dark-web monitoring for firm credentials.
Cloud & backup
Encrypted, immutable backups and secure cloud hosting so a failed server or ransomware event never loses a return in progress.
WISP & Safeguards Rule
A written information security plan built, implemented, and kept current, with the risk assessments and documentation the rule requires.
Flat, predictable pricing
Per-seat monthly pricing that covers busy season and slow season alike, no hourly break-fix surprises in April.
Software we support
Whether your firm runs QuickBooks Desktop or Online, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, Drake Tax, ProSeries, or CCH Axcess, we manage the environment those applications depend on: the workstations, servers, hosting, networking, backups, and security around your tax and accounting stack. When an issue sits inside the software itself, we coordinate directly with Intuit, Thomson Reuters, Drake, or Wolters Kluwer support so your staff is not stuck on hold mid-deadline.
That includes the decisions around the stack, too: whether to keep QuickBooks Desktop on a local server or move it to hosted infrastructure, how to give seasonal preparers secure remote access, and how to keep multi-user tax databases fast when the whole firm is in them at once. We build in layered cybersecurity and tested backups underneath it all, and we schedule updates and maintenance for May, not March.
The Safeguards Rule & your WISP, handled
Compliance you can hand to an examiner, not a binder that gathers dust.
A real, written plan
The FTC Safeguards Rule requires financial institutions, explicitly including tax preparers and CPA firms, to maintain a written information security program. We build your WISP, designate the required elements, and keep it updated as your firm changes.
The IRS Security Six, implemented
IRS Publication 4557 spells out the baseline: antivirus, firewalls, multi-factor authentication, backups, drive encryption, and VPN for remote access. We implement all six and document them, so the plan on paper matches the reality on your machines.
Stand behind your PTIN attestation
PTIN renewal now asks every preparer to attest to their data security responsibilities, including the legal obligation to have a data security plan. With a documented, implemented WISP, you check that box knowing it is true.
Compliance is our home turf
We bring CPA firms the same compliance-first discipline we bring to healthcare: risk assessments, written policies, technical safeguards, and evidence, maintained continuously instead of scrambled together before a review.
Getting started takes one call
No obligation, no jargon.
IT support for accountants: questions, answered
What does IT support for accountants include?
Managed workstations, servers, and hosting for your tax and accounting software, a 24/7 helpdesk, layered cybersecurity, encrypted and tested backups, and the written information security plan the FTC Safeguards Rule requires. One partner, one flat monthly price, covering the whole environment your firm works in.
Why does a CPA firm need specialized IT support?
Because the stakes and the calendar are different. A generalist provider treats a down server as a routine ticket; for a CPA firm on April 10 it is missed filings and lost billable hours. We know the tax software stack, schedule maintenance around deadlines, staff for busy-season urgency, and handle the Safeguards Rule compliance a generalist has never heard of.
Is a WISP really required for tax preparers and CPA firms?
Yes. Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the FTC Safeguards Rule treats tax preparers and CPA firms as financial institutions and requires a written information security program, regardless of firm size. IRS Publication 4557 reinforces it, and PTIN renewal asks you to attest to your data security responsibilities. We build and maintain the WISP so the attestation is backed by a real, implemented plan.
What happens if our systems go down during tax season?
We treat it as an emergency, not a routine ticket, because for a tax firm in filing season downtime is unrecoverable revenue. More importantly, we work to keep it from happening: 24/7 monitoring, maintenance scheduled outside busy season, immutable and tested backups, and fast remote response so an outage is minutes, not a lost day of returns.
How much does IT support for a CPA firm cost?
Flat, predictable per-user monthly pricing, with no hourly break-fix surprises and no busy-season premium. See pricing or book a free assessment and we will scope it to your firm size and software stack.
Make your firm's IT invisible, even in April.
A free 30-minute assessment of your tax software environment, security posture, and Safeguards Rule readiness. No obligation.
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