We plan around the calendar
Upgrades, migrations, and hardware replacement happen in the quiet months. Nothing structural gets touched between January and April unless it is already broken.
CPA & accounting IT support · Northern Virginia & the DMV
Busy season is not the time to discover a problem.
We support the tax and accounting software your firm actually runs, keep client data protected the way the IRS and the FTC now expect, and make sure the written security plan you are supposed to have is real rather than a downloaded template.
- We know tax software
- Built to Pub 4557
- One flat monthly bill
Why firms call us
Ten weeks a year, downtime is not survivable.
The rest of the year an outage is annoying. In March it is a deadline, a client conversation, and an evening you were not going to get back anyway.
We know the tax stack
Multi-user installs, network shares, year-over-year rollovers, e-file transmission problems, and the hosting environments that firms rent seats in.
We build to the safeguards
Multi-factor authentication, encryption, access control, and logging—the specific items the IRS and the FTC expect a preparer to have, implemented rather than promised.
You get the written plan
A security plan that describes your actual firm, kept current, so the attestation you make at renewal is a true statement.
The software we support
The systems a firm bills through.
Installs, network shares, upgrades, hosting, and the annual rollover. These are the platforms we keep running for accounting and tax practices across the DMV.
Tax preparation
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Intuit Lacerte
Multi-user network installs, the shared data path, year rollovers, and the permissions that break when a workstation is replaced mid-season.
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Intuit ProSeries & ProConnect
Workstation deployment, e-file transmission troubleshooting, and keeping the desktop version stable while the firm evaluates cloud.
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Drake Tax
Network setup, backup scope that actually includes the client data directory, and multi-office access done safely.
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Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess
Cloud-first, so the work is identity, browser policy, bandwidth, and integration with your document and workflow tools.
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Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS
Server and workstation configuration, the shared data path, and coordinated version upgrades across the whole firm.
Accounting, audit & bookkeeping
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Intuit QuickBooks Desktop & Enterprise
Multi-user hosting mode, the database service, company-file performance, and backups that are not just the file sitting on a share.
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Intuit QuickBooks Online
Accountant access, client permissions, and clean separation between your firm identity and each client environment.
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Sage Sage 50
Older multi-user installs kept stable, and migration planning when the firm is ready to move on.
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Xero
Practice-level access, client onboarding, and integration into your workflow tools.
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CaseWare CaseWare Working Papers
Engagement file storage, network performance, and version control across an audit team.
Hosting, portals & workflow
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Rightworks
Hosted application seats, local printing and scanning, and the connection quality that decides whether hosting feels fast or awful.
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SmartVault
Client portal structure, document routing out of your tax software, and sharing permissions that hold up to scrutiny.
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TaxDome & Canopy
Practice workflow, client requests, and e-signature flows integrated with the rest of the firm.
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Progress ShareFile
Encrypted client file exchange configured so staff stop emailing returns as attachments.
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Microsoft Microsoft 365
Email security, multi-factor authentication, encryption, retention, and mailbox backup—the foundation the safeguards rules assume.
We are your IT partner, not a reseller. Licensing and the applications themselves stay your relationship with each publisher; we own the environment they run in and the escalation when something breaks.
What day-to-day looks like
Fast in February. Boring in July.
Sized for your worst week
Workstations, network, and hosting connection specified for peak season rather than the average month—because the average month was never the problem.
Clients stop emailing returns
A portal that is genuinely easier than an attachment, so secure exchange happens because it is the simpler path, not because of a policy nobody reads.
Access you can account for
Who can reach client data, on which devices, from where—recorded and reviewed. Paper records get the same treatment when the firm still holds them.
What you are actually required to do
Most firms are surprised by how specific the rules are.
Tax and accounting practices are held to obligations that name particular controls. These are the ones that come up, and what each one means in practice.
IRS Pub. 4557
Safeguarding taxpayer data
The IRS guide setting out what a preparer is expected to do to protect client information. It is the checklist your practice is measured against if something goes wrong.
FTC Safeguards Rule
You are a financial institution
Under 16 CFR Part 314 tax preparers fall within scope, which brings a named security officer, a risk assessment, encryption, and multi-factor authentication with it.
IRS Pub. 5708
The written plan (WISP)
A written information security plan is expected, and the IRS publishes a template. A template with your name typed into it is not a plan; we build one that describes your firm.
PTIN renewal
The annual attestation
Renewal asks you to confirm you are aware of your data-security responsibilities. That is easier to sign when the safeguards behind it actually exist.
Data theft reporting
If it happens
Preparers are expected to report data theft to their IRS Stakeholder Liaison quickly. Logging is what lets you say what was taken instead of guessing.
Cyber insurance
Underwriting questions
Multi-factor authentication, offline or immutable backups, and endpoint protection are now conditions of coverage rather than optional extras.
We are an IT partner, not your legal or compliance counsel. We implement and document the technical safeguards and help you write a security plan that reflects reality; the legal interpretation of your obligations stays with you and your advisors.
The honest comparison
What we usually find in February.
Not carelessness—just a firm that has been busy for ten years and never had anyone whose job was to own this.
The setup we typically inherit
- Returns emailed to clients as password-protected attachments
- One shared login for the tax software so everyone can get in
- A WISP downloaded once, never edited, never read again
- No multi-factor authentication on email or hosting
- Backups covering the file server but not the tax data path
The Knockout way
- A portal clients find easier than email attachments
- Named accounts with multi-factor authentication everywhere
- A written plan that describes your firm and stays current
- Encryption and access control implemented, not just documented
- Backups verified against the paths your software actually uses
Flat monthly pricing per person, with catch-up project work quoted separately and scheduled outside busy season wherever it can wait.
Projects, priced separately
Three things firms usually need catching up on.
Support is the monthly relationship. These are the fixed-scope projects we most often quote alongside it, scheduled outside busy season wherever they can wait.
Ransomware-proof backup
A copy nobody can delete, a recovery time agreed in advance, and restore drills we run and report on.
See the full solution
Phone systems
Reception, direct lines, and after-hours routing designed before a handset is ordered—with every number you already have kept.
See the full solution
Server room refresh
The back room rebuilt properly—labeled at both ends, battery-backed, and handed over with a diagram you keep.
See the full solution
How switching goes
We would rather start in June than in March.
- 01
We review the firm
Which tax and accounting platforms you run, where client data actually sits, who can reach it, and what your current security plan says versus what is true.
- 02
You get a plan and a price
A flat monthly figure, plus a prioritized catch-up list. Anything that would be risky to change during season is scheduled for after it.
- 03
We fix the urgent things first
Usually multi-factor authentication, shared logins, and the backup gap. Those three close most of the distance and none of them require a season-long project.
- 04
We keep the plan honest
The written plan gets reviewed as the firm changes, the restore gets tested, and the access list gets checked—so renewal is a signature rather than a scramble.
Questions
Straight answers.
Do we really need a written information security plan?
Yes. Tax preparers fall under the FTC Safeguards Rule, and the IRS expects a written information security plan—Publication 5708 exists specifically to help you produce one. A downloaded template with your firm name typed in is not what is meant. It should describe your systems, your people, and your actual controls.
Can you help us build the WISP, or only the technology?
Both, and they are best done together. We document the technical safeguards because we are the ones implementing them, and we write the plan around what is genuinely true of your firm. Your legal or compliance advisor should review it—we are not offering legal advice.
Do you support Lacerte, Drake, CCH Axcess, and UltraTax CS?
Yes, along with ProSeries, ProConnect, and the QuickBooks family. That covers network and multi-user installs, the shared data paths, year rollovers, workstation deployment, and e-file transmission problems. Genuine application defects go to the publisher with us on the ticket.
We use a hosting provider. What is left for you to do?
Quite a lot. Hosting covers the application, not your email, your identities, your local machines, your printers and scanners, your internet, or your security plan. Most of what determines whether hosting feels fast or unusable is on your side of the connection, and that is the side we own.
Will you change things during busy season?
Only what is already broken. Migrations, hardware refreshes, and platform changes are scheduled for the quiet months. If you come to us in February we will fix what is urgent, stabilize the rest, and put the real project on the calendar for after the deadline.
What does IT support for an accounting firm cost?
A flat monthly figure per person covering help desk, monitoring, patching, security tooling, and vendor escalation. Catch-up work—multi-factor rollout, a server replacement, a portal deployment—is quoted separately so you can sequence it around the calendar.
Is emailing a password-protected PDF good enough?
It is better than nothing and it is not what the safeguards contemplate. Password-protected attachments get forwarded, the password usually travels in a second email, and you have no record of who opened what. A portal solves all three and clients generally prefer it once it exists.
Our cyber insurance renewal is asking hard questions. Can you help?
Yes, and this is a good reason to start. Insurers now ask specifically about multi-factor authentication, offline or immutable backups, and endpoint protection. We build to those, then give you the documentation to attach to the application.
Service areas
CPA and accounting firm IT support across Northern Virginia, Washington DC & Maryland
We support solo practitioners, tax practices, bookkeeping firms, and multi-partner CPA offices throughout the greater DMV. Based in Herndon, Virginia, we serve the greater DMV—Northern Virginia (including Loudoun, Fairfax, and all of NoVA), Washington DC, and Maryland (including Montgomery County and surrounding suburbs, Prince George’s County, and up to Baltimore), plus Virginia south to Fredericksburg. Remote-first IT support everywhere we cover; local engineers for onsite surveys, installs, and projects.
Related
Cybersecurity
The monitoring and hardening behind the safeguards—what actually stops the intrusion rather than documenting it.
View CybersecurityRelated
Ransomware-proof backup
Immutable copies and tested restores, scoped to include the data paths your tax software actually writes to.
View Ransomware-proof backupRelated
Law firms
The neighboring practice: same confidentiality pressure, different software and a different set of duties.
View Law firmsNext step
Tell us about your project.
Share a few details about your space and what you're trying to accomplish—we'll follow up to schedule a walkthrough or a call.
(703) 493-0536 hello@knockout-networks.com
Based in Herndon, VA—serving the greater DMV: Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland (Montgomery County and surrounding areas, up to Baltimore).