An accounting firm’s technology has a calendar. The systems that idle in July are the ones that cannot fail in March, and the data on them, Social Security numbers, bank details, payroll and returns, is exactly what criminals go looking for. The IRS expects every tax professional to have a written information security plan, clients expect their documents handled carefully, and your insurer expects both. We provide managed IT services and cybersecurity for CPA firms, bookkeepers and tax practices across the Twin Cities, priced per device at a flat monthly rate with no long-term contract.
Every business loses money when its systems go down. A firm loses billable hours in the busiest weeks of the year, and sometimes an extension that a client did not want. Every business handles sensitive data. A firm handles a client’s entire financial life, under the FTC Safeguards Rule and the IRS requirement for a written information security plan, with penalties that land on the firm rather than the vendor.
The work is also unusual: a stack of specialised applications that must all update at the same time each year, portals that clients use once and forget the password to, remote preparers during the season, and a hard cutoff after which nothing can be down. Support that treats a CPA firm like any other office learns these things at the worst possible moment.
Help desk that knows your firm. One dedicated technician who learns your tax and practice software, your client portal and your people, backed by a team so nobody waits when that person is busy. Remote support resolves most issues in minutes; on-site visits when hardware needs hands.
Tax season readiness. Software updates tested before the season starts, workstations checked, remote access confirmed for every preparer, and a freeze on changes during the weeks that matter.
Microsoft 365, done properly. Email, OneDrive and SharePoint set up with multi-factor authentication, sensitivity labels for client documents and ongoing Microsoft 365 support.
Backups you can restore. Servers backed up off site and Microsoft 365 backed up daily, verified, and tested with a real restore rather than a green check mark. See our cloud backup services.
Security that satisfies the Safeguards Rule. Endpoint detection with a 24/7 response team, email security, encryption on every laptop, and the written plan the IRS asks for.
Firms are targeted because a single mailbox can hold hundreds of returns. The attacks we see most are business email compromise aimed at diverting client refunds or payroll, phishing that steals portal and email credentials, and ransomware timed for the season, when a firm is most likely to pay. Our managed cybersecurity services layer the defences: Huntress managed detection and response on every computer and server, SentinelOne antivirus beside it, Microsoft 365 accounts watched for suspicious sign-ins and forwarding rules, email filtering in front of every mailbox, and security awareness training with phishing tests so the person who receives the fake “updated W-9” knows what it is.
Two free checks show where a firm stands today: the cyber insurance readiness check and the email spoofing check, which reads whether criminals can send email as your domain.
IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule require a written information security plan that names a responsible person, assesses risk, and describes the controls in place. Most firms have a template they downloaded and never finished. We help finish it honestly, map each control to what is actually running, and keep the evidence, so the plan survives a client’s due-diligence questionnaire, a peer review, or an insurer’s renewal form. Firms that need a named security lead can add our vCISO service.
A firm that adds seasonal preparers needs accounts created and removed on time, laptops encrypted before they leave the office, and remote access that works from a kitchen table without exposing the server to the internet. We build the onboarding and offboarding steps into the help desk, so a departing preparer’s access ends the same day, and we set up portals and secure file transfer so clients stop emailing scans of their driver’s licence.
April 15 does not pause for a server failure. Our business continuity planning defines how fast each system comes back, where the backups are, who calls whom, and how preparers keep working from another location while the office is dark. The plan is tested before the season, not discovered during it.
We price by device, not by partner or preparer, at a flat monthly rate with no long-term contract. A firm with twelve workstations, a server and a firewall can see a ballpark in about a minute on our managed services pricing calculator, and the security and backup layers are priced separately so you pay only for the ones you choose. Our pricing page publishes every rate.
We support sole practitioners, multi-partner CPA firms, bookkeeping and payroll services and tax practices across Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs, with remote support for preparers wherever they are working. OAC Technology has supported Twin Cities businesses since 2000 and is audited every year under SOC 2, which governs how we control access to client systems and handle client data, the same standard your clients’ auditors recognise.
Yes, along with CCH Axcess, Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite, Sage and the document and portal systems that connect to them. If you run something we have not named, ask; the answer is usually yes.
Yes. We map the IRS Publication 4557 checklist to what is actually running in your firm, close the gaps, and keep the plan current so it is ready for a client questionnaire or an insurer.
Yes. Our own SOC 2 audit covers how we handle client data, and we will sign your engagement terms as well.
Yes. We support on-premises servers, hosted servers and Microsoft 365, and we will tell you plainly when a server has reached the point where the cloud is cheaper and safer.
An office down, a server offline or a suspected breach goes to the front of the line, and we freeze non-urgent changes during the season so nothing is disturbed by an update.
If you are evaluating IT support for your firm, or your current provider has never asked about your written information security plan, call 952-548-5558 or contact us for a free consultation. We will review your current setup, tell you plainly what we would change, and give you a flat monthly price.
