IT Solutions for Accounting Firms

What should a CPA or tax practice put in its information security plan?

Axus recommends organizing a tax practice’s plan around 5 responsibilities: data inventory, access, secure exchange, recovery and incident response. Use IRS Publication 4557 to guide the discussion, name an owner for each task and retain evidence of implementation. The written plan and daily practice must agree, especially when seasonal staff join.

Make the written plan usable

The IRS directs professional tax preparers to maintain a written information security plan and points to Publication 4557 for safeguarding taxpayer data. The publication covers practical security measures and the FTC Safeguards Rule context. Scope the obligations to your firm’s services and applicable rules with its responsible adviser; a downloaded template is a starting point, not evidence that the work is complete. IRS Publication 4557 and IRS guidance on the written plan.

Name the person responsible for coordinating safeguards. Inventory taxpayer data, assess risks, set controls, evaluate relevant service providers and update the plan as the environment changes. Use the firm’s actual tax software, file stores, portals and remote-work arrangements to make each assignment concrete.

A tax-season readiness checklist

This is an original implementation checklist. It is not a representation that a particular firm has met every regulatory requirement.

Connect the plan to the software

Document your tax-preparation application, document system, accounting platform, client portal and remote-access tools. Identify which party manages updates and backups for each. Before a busy period, test a representative file with the vendor-supported application version and confirm licensing and authentication dependencies.

Use multifactor authentication where supported, managed endpoints and restricted administrator access. Give temporary staff the access their assignments need, with a named approver for changes. Establish a separate verification process for requests to change payment details or send sensitive documents. Review vendor access and client-sharing defaults before inviting new users.

Experience informing the scope

For a tax practice, Axus provided IT support and cybersecurity that helped the team focus on clients. When scoping similar work, identify which routine support and security responsibilities should move to the provider, and document those responsibilities before comparing proposals.

Test the plan before the filing rush

Choose a synthetic return or vendor test file. Rehearse a missing-document report, a locked account and restoration from an approved backup. Confirm the restored file opens in the intended application. Record the results and unresolved actions, then assign owners and dates. Keep actual taxpayer information out of training and demonstration environments.

Bring the written plan, application inventory and unresolved actions to an Axus accounting IT discussion. Define the firm’s retained decisions alongside the provider’s support responsibilities.