Accounting Doesn't Have to be a Risky Business
Geni Whitehouse
Founder at The Impactful Advisor, ITA President, BDCoCPA Winery consultant, Speaker
As accountants, we spend a good bit of time thinking about risk. We use audit tools and internal-control engagements to minimize risk. We often look at businesses and processes in terms of worst-case scenarios, always keeping in mind what could go wrong. We pay errors and omissions insurance to help protect us from unseen risks in our own practices. Risk aversion is part of our DNA and is reinforced by our training, but it seems like there are new challenges to our peace of mind every day. It’s a wonder we can sleep at night.
As tax preparers know, client identity theft has become a common form of fraud. (We often find out only after an e-filed tax return bounces back from state or federal authorities). That makes protecting information like Social Security numbers critical. Every time we send a tax return or W2 or 1099 electronically, there’s a risk of exposing that number to others. And if the risk of theft isn’t bad enough, there’s also the potential of sending confidential client information to the wrong client. Lose your clients’ trust and you can damage your firm’s reputation.?
Accountants exchange client information via attachments all day long. And then there are all those client files downloaded to local hard drives on staff remote computers. How secure are those? And what about all that client data?
Why is it that I only notice an email typo or error the moment AFTER I push the send button?
On top of the risk associated with the everyday movement of data between firms and their clients, there’s always the risk of forgetting something like getting the requisite signatures from clients for:
·????????Engagement Letters
·????????E-File Authorization (Form 8879)
·????????Power of Attorney
Failures like that can expose an accountant to liability claims or even penalties.
Thankfully, the right tools can help provide both you and your clients with peace of mind.
A tool like ShareFile, with its secure file exchange capabilities, can help make client collaboration safer. Its secure portal eliminates the challenge of moving large files between parties while protecting sensitive client information in any format. By providing a single place to store client content, ShareFile eliminates the need for staff to download client data locally. At the same time, clients can securely share documents as they are received (rather than once a year at tax time) and review them as needed, making it easier to be productive without compromising on security.
Firms can also help keep their existing email app secure via a ShareFile plugin. Users can then automatically encrypt messages and convert attachments to secure links with just a few clicks.
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Firms can put policies in place to allow access via a secure link from any team device, and you can easily remove these centralized files if a device is lost or stolen. As an added layer of protection, you can even require passcodes for content access and set expiration dates for file access.
Accountants should also work to make the process of collecting electronically signed forms as easy as possible for clients. An automated workflow built around a secure electronic signature solution should be a minimum requirement for firms looking to minimize exposure to risk.
ShareFile gives accountants and their teams peace of mind thanks to seamlessly integrated solutions that move documents from firms to clients for signing and stores them in a secure, accessible portal, that can be managed and accessed by those with permission to do so. If a device with access to critical information is compromised, you can quickly and easily remove files or eliminate device access.
With a solution like ShareFile, information is accessible only to those who need it and is protected by the highest levels of security including:
Accountants everywhere are free to turn their attention to watching old Tom Cruise movies and leave the risky business to others. That means a better night’s sleep for us AND our clients and more time to help owners, leaders and teams create the business of their dreams.
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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Progress ShareFile . ?All opinions are mine and are based on my?knowledge of accountant and client needs and expectations and are drawn from my own experience in using the product.
About Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM
Geni Whitehouse is a consultant to wineries in the Napa Valley through?www.bdcocpa.com, is a co-founder of a bookkeeping company for wineries and is a keynote presenter, tech company consultant, and author.?She frequently works as a paid consultant for tech companies to create and share content about products that serve a unique need in her own business or that of her clients.