The businesses we know · Accounting firms
Accounting firms: IT support for CPA firms
Tax season does not wait for a computer to be fixed. Your firm has a team that knows the season, the software, and the deadline.
Already have an IT person? Keep them as the first call; we carry security, backups, nights and vacations. How we work with your IT person →
- $155
- per person, per month: Complete with Security + Compliance.
- Required
- for clients' tax and financial information, under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Safeguards Rule.
- 15 min
- usual answer, from someone who knows your setup. Our night team takes anything urgent.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · SOC 2 Type II · Founded in Florida in 1995
Thirty minutes, no pitch.
With Pedro, Bill or Leah, who look after new clients. You leave with a plan, and you meet your own team before you decide.
Pedro, Bill and Leah
Pick a time to talk- ✓ Your written security plan, from our template, kept current with you.
- ✓ Policies, training and a year of records, ready for the IRS or the FTC.
- ✓ 10 people: $1,550 a month, plus $370 in Microsoft licenses and security suites: $1,920 a month.
“I have been using the services of Protected Trust since 2010. They constantly deliver on the needs of my companies from SOC audits to employee onboarding and off boarding.”
IT support for accounting firms and CPA firms in Winter Haven, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Miami.
What the day is like
In February, a workstation that will not open the tax software is an emergency. It is treated as one.
Before the season
Seasonal staff, ready
New people are set up before they walk in, with their access and their license.
February to April
The emergency it is
Someone who knows your applications takes it on, and a loaner is on the way if the machine is the problem.
When the season ends
Access closed the same day
Seasonal staff are removed the day they leave, and their license comes off the invoice.
A WISP or an insurance form due, and nothing to show for it yet? Someone wants proof.
Does one person hold every password? Your IT person is leaving.
Your plan
Complete with Security + Compliance. Client financial information labeled and protected, records kept as long as the rules require, and the audit trail the FTC Safeguards Rule and IRS Publication 4557 expect a firm to have. Encrypted email for returns, statements, and anything with a Social Security number in it. Tax records are labeled and kept exactly as long as the rules require, then deleted after a review, and client details are stopped from leaving by email, chat, a USB drive or an upload. Complete is $125 per person, per month, with Security + Compliance at $30 per person on top; the pricing page has every line.
When someone asks for the proof
Federal law treats a tax practice as a financial institution. It requires a written information security plan; a firm with 5,000 or more clients also needs a written risk assessment and a yearly report to the partners. If a client's return is filed by a thief, the IRS and the FTC ask what was in place. With Security + Compliance the plan is current, the evidence for your risk assessment is on file, multifactor sign-in and encryption are on for everyone, and the record of who opened what is kept for a year.
Why it matters
What the proof is worth.
For a tax practice, the written plan is the law
Federal law requires tax professionals to keep a written information security plan. A firm with 5,000 or more clients also needs a written risk assessment and a yearly report to its owners. We keep yours current with you.
The list an examiner brings
GLBA and the FTC Safeguards Rule ask for a written program, encryption and multifactor sign-in, and from firms with 5,000 or more clients, a written risk assessment and a yearly report. Since May 2024, a breach touching 500 or more people must be reported to the FTC within 30 days.
The insurance claim
The application you signed is a promise. After an incident, the insurer asks for evidence that the controls were running. A year of records is where that evidence comes from.
Peace of mind
The day an auditor, an insurer or a large client asks, the answer is already on file. Nothing is assembled the week before, and nothing depends on one person remembering.
Complete protects. Security + Compliance proves.
Your plan: Complete, with Security + Compliance.
Everything in Complete stays. Security + Compliance adds four things, for everyone on your plan, at $30 more per person, plus Microsoft’s suites at Microsoft’s price.
| Complete$125 per person | With Security + Compliance+$30 per person, for everyone | |
|---|---|---|
| Deeper protectionMicrosoft’s security and compliance suites, set up and run by your team. | ||
| Sign-ins | Multifactor sign-in, with rules by device and location | Plus risky sign-ins stopped or challenged, even with the right password: a leaked password, an anonymous network, a guessing attack |
| Admin rights | Kept to the people who need them | Given only when needed, for a set time, and taken away after |
| Sensitive information | Labels your people apply; email with sensitive details encrypted or stopped | Found and labeled automatically, and stopped from leaving by a Teams chat, a USB drive or an upload |
| Someone quietly taking data | – | An early warning, and tighter controls for that person |
| An investigation months later | What the security center needs to act today | Six months of every computer’s history, searchable |
| Email attacks | A bad email pulled from every mailbox at once | Plus a campaign seen as one attack, traced and cleaned up across every mailbox |
| Microsoft reaching your data | Microsoft’s standard controls | Only with your approval |
| The proof, kept currentWhat an auditor, an insurer or a partner asks for, already on file. | ||
| Who did what in Microsoft 365 | Kept 180 days | Kept one year |
| Records | Email archived and kept | Email, files and chats kept as long as your rule says, locked when they must not change, then deleted after a review |
| Legal hold | Email, files and chats, with a case and a review | |
| Your rule’s checklist | – | Kept for you, scored, with the evidence in one place |
| An evidence report | – | For any audit period, when you or your auditor asks: training finished, practice phishing, policies signed, sign-ins |
| Your program, kept upThe work people do, so the rules never pile up. | ||
| Policies | – | A policy set from our templates, fitted to your business, reviewed with you every year, and signed by your people |
| Who can reach what | Changed when people join and leave | Plus accounts and settings reviewed as Microsoft changes its systems, and you kept current on what changed and why it matters |
| Training | Short, regular security training with practice phishing | Plus your rule assigned to your training: the courses, the practice phishing and the policy sign-offs mapped to it, and the evidence built as your people finish |
| When a rule changes | – | We tell you what changed and what it means for you, and what we changed |
| Once a year | Planning for next year | Plus a compliance review: what your rule asks, what we run, and what is still yours to do |
| When someone asks, or something goes wrong | ||
| Your insurance application | True answers about the controls we run | Plus the underwriter’s calls, the extra forms, and the evidence if you ever file a claim |
| An auditor, a regulator or a partner | – | We answer the technical questions with you, from the records and timelines in our systems |
| A security incident | You hear from us fast, and it is fixed | Plus your insurer’s claims line called first, the logs pulled, the timeline built with you, and the decision you make about who must be told recorded. That decision stays yours, with your attorney |
Part of your plan when you hold
- Patient information, under HIPAA
- Clients’ financial information, under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Safeguards Rule: CPA firms, tax preparers, lenders and advisers
- Criminal justice information, under the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy
- Defense contracts, under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC)
The rules ask for the written proof, not only the protection.
Recommended in writing when
- An insurer asking for more than the application
- A client’s or a partner’s security questionnaire
- Card payments, under the card industry’s standard (PCI DSS)
- Personal information, under the Florida Information Protection Act (FIPA)
For these, the choice is yours. Answering your cyber insurance application truthfully is in every plan.
Quoted separately, as projects: a formal risk analysis, a security program written from scratch, a penetration test, data kept in another region, readiness for a CMMC Level 2 assessment, and acting as your FTC Qualified Individual.
Under the proof, everything in Complete
Your team and everything we do, in the $125.
Who you will know by name
Florida businesses have trusted us since 1995.
We know what it is like when the one person who knows your IT is out. So you get a team, and you know every one of them.
Our organizations switch to Protected Trust was years past due. … It's not just about the services with PT, they build relationships.
Chris Bridges
Concierge Lead
I keep your business running so you never have to think about technology.
Javier Pereira
Concierge Lead
I take on the projects and the stubborn problems, and explain them in plain English.
Jonathan Jones
Concierge Specialist
I handle the big moves: migrations, mergers, new devices, and everything Microsoft 365.
Chris Munoz
Service Engineer, on site
I set up new machines, sort out the network, and come on site when it needs a person.
Your team, from the first call. This is who you will know by name: Chris Bridges and Javier Pereira as your Concierge Leads, with Jonathan Jones and Chris Munoz, the people who know your setup. The whole company is behind them.
Clients join us, and they stay. Our longest relationships go back more than twenty years.
Let's talk
And the whole company behind them.
Your leads know your setup. When something needs more hands, the rest of the company is right there, and every person on our side is named on the team page, with the year they joined.
Meet everyone →How it works
Three steps, and the team is yours.
A 30-minute call
Tell us what is working and what is not. We will tell you honestly if we fit.
Your first month
Day one, you meet your team by name. Most offices are set up within a few weeks; larger ones within 30 days.
Your team takes it from here
You reach out, and someone who knows you takes it on, usually within 15 minutes.
Your plan
Complete, with Security + Compliance.
$125 for Complete plus $30 for Security + Compliance, per person, per month.
For clients' financial records
Complete + Security + Compliance
$155per person, per month
Everyone starts here
Complete
$125per person, per month
Your own IT team, security in every plan, Microsoft licenses as their own lines.
For the people who use it
Copilot, AI for work
+$30per person, per month
Microsoft Copilot set up safely, only for the people who need it.
Not ready to talk yet?
Do you have the keys to your own IT? Or does someone else?
Most owners think they know, until the one person who does is out on a Friday.
Leah writes to you once, by name. Nobody adds you to a list.
Questions people ask
Plain answers.
Do we need Security + Compliance?
Yes, if you prepare returns or hold clients' financial information. The FTC Safeguards Rule asks for the written plan, and from firms with 5,000 or more clients a risk assessment and a yearly report, not only the protection, so Security + Compliance is part of your plan. Answering your cyber insurance application truthfully is in every plan.
What does IT support for accounting firms cost?
$125 per person, per month for Complete, and we recommend adding Security + Compliance at $30 per person for the records the FTC Safeguards Rule and IRS Publication 4557 expect. IT support for CPA firms in February is treated as the emergency it is; the pricing page has every line.
Do you write the IRS written information security plan for us?
Protected Trust helps you write it, and makes it true. The controls IRS Publication 4557 expects are already running, so the plan describes what is in place rather than what you hope to do.
What happens in February when a workstation will not open the tax software?
It is treated as urgent. Someone who knows your applications takes it on, and a loaner is on the way if the machine is the problem.
Can you set up seasonal staff quickly?
Yes. Seasonal staff are set up before they walk in and removed the day they leave, with their access and their license.
Can we send tax returns securely?
Yes. Encrypted email for returns, statements, and anything with a Social Security number in it, sent from Outlook with nothing for the client to install.
Everything we do, in one place.
Managed IT
Security + Compliance
Industries Healthcare, Medical practices, Law firms, Financial services, Professional services, Construction, Government, Real estate.
Thirty minutes with a real person.
Pick a time that suits you. We will tell you honestly if we fit.
Pick a time Or call 863-594-1141
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