IT support for accountants
IT Support for Accountants and Accountancy Firms
For the practice of three to thirty people where every laptop holds client records, the tax software has to work in January, and nobody's job is the IT. A person picks up when you ring, backups are proven, and the price is on the page.
£55 a person a month, every machine that person uses. A person picks up. Run to Cyber Essentials standards. Twenty years of NHS and government systems.
What's different about IT support for an accountancy practice
An accountancy practice runs on a handful of applications that cannot be down in January: the practice management system, the tax and accounts software, the bookkeeping platforms your clients use, and a mailbox full of documents you’re supervised for holding. IT support for accountants is mostly about keeping those four things running, backed up and locked down, and knowing which vendor to ring when one of them misbehaves.
The regulatory side isn’t complicated but it’s real. AML supervision means client due-diligence records have to be kept and produced. Making Tax Digital means the software link to HMRC has to work every quarter. UK GDPR and the ICAEW and ACCA standards expect client data to be protected and provably so. None of that needs a compliance department. It needs the sign-in security on, the backup tested, and somebody who can write down what’s in place when the supervisor asks.
What IT support for accountants covers
The same managed IT support every small office gets, with the parts that matter to accountants done deliberately.
Somebody who knows accountants' software
When IRIS won't open the client or the Xero bank feed has stopped, you ring and a person picks up. Most fixes happen on your screen in minutes, and if it's a vendor problem, we ring the vendor so you don't have to.
Client files that come back
Working papers, tax returns, the document management system: backed up daily, off the machine, and tested by restoring something. A dead laptop in January is an afternoon, not a disaster.
Sign-in security for client data
Multi-factor authentication on every Microsoft 365 account, encrypted laptops, and access that ends the day a leaver leaves. The controls the AML supervisor and the PI insurer ask about, actually on.
Evidence for the supervisor
A written record of what's in place, run to Cyber Essentials standards, so the annual AML review and the insurer's questionnaire are a document rather than a scramble.
Microsoft 365 and the cloud accounts platforms
Licences matched to what people use, SharePoint for the files, secure sharing with clients instead of email attachments. Xero, QuickBooks and the practice portal working together rather than around each other.
Quiet in January
Updates done outside the busy periods, monitoring that catches a failing disk in November rather than the last week of January, and a person who understands why you can't have downtime that month.
IT support around accountants’ software and their rules
Software you’ll find us comfortable with: CCH, IRIS, Digita, TaxCalc, Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, BrightPay, Dext.
The rules that shape the IT: AML supervision (ICAEW, ACCA, HMRC), Making Tax Digital, UK GDPR, professional indemnity insurers.
IT support from us means we look after everything the software runs on, keep the sign-in secure, and handle the vendor when the application itself misbehaves. On the rules, the job is to have the controls on and written down, so the supervisor, the insurer or the inspector gets a document rather than a scramble.
£55
a person, a month
Every machine that person works on. Billed monthly. Two partners and four staff is £330 a month. A server holding old client files is priced on its own once we've seen it, and often the honest advice is to retire it into SharePoint. After your first year, rolling 30-day notice, no exit fees.
IT support for accountants
Servers and network kit per box, only if they need it.
Already have IT support? Keep them, and add the specialist
A lot of accountants have somebody: an in-house person, a provider, a shared service. Co-managed IT support keeps what works and adds what’s missing, usually the security layer, the cloud work and the compliance evidence, with a senior engineer your person can ring. The boundary is written down on day one so nobody’s guessing whose alert it is.
If you’d rather one firm handled all of it, that’s managed IT support from us end to end. Eric will tell you which fits on the call.
IT support for accountants: the questions people ask first
Do you support CCH, IRIS, Sage and Xero?
Yes. We look after the machines, the network and Microsoft 365 they run on, and we handle the vendor when the application itself misbehaves. We don't pretend to be the software's own support desk, but you won't be left ringing them yourself.
Can you help with Making Tax Digital?
With the IT side of it: the software's link to HMRC, the sign-in, the machines it runs on. Which software to use is your call as the accountant; keeping it working every quarter is ours.
What about our AML supervisor's questions on IT security?
That's most of why practices ring. The controls a supervisor wants to see, sign-in security, encrypted devices, tested backups, leaver access removed, are part of the service, and we write down what's in place so the annual review has an answer.
How much does IT support for an accountancy practice cost?
£55 a person a month, every machine that person uses. A six-person practice is £330. Servers and network kit priced per box on top, only if they need looking after, and you'd know the whole number before agreeing to anything.
We already have an IT company. Can you work alongside them?
Yes, as a co-managed arrangement: they keep the day-to-day, we run the security layer and the evidence, and the boundary is written down. Or if you'd rather one firm handled it all, that's the managed service.
Have a chat with Eric
Fifteen minutes on the phone. A straight answer on whether it’s worth it, and the number if it is.
That didn’t send. Ring 0151 452 3060 and you’ll get me directly, or email [email protected].
IT support for accountants by town: Wirral Liverpool Chester Warrington
Ring 0151 452 3060 and a person picks up
IT support for accountants across the Wirral, Liverpool and Cheshire. From £55 a person a month. Backups proven, sign-in secured, the evidence written down, and somebody on your screen in minutes when it goes wrong.