An accounting practice is an unusual buyer because its year is not flat. For most of it the IT need is ordinary, and for a few weeks it is the only thing standing between the practice and a missed filing deadline for every client at once. That shape should decide the contract, and it rarely appears in a per-seat rate, because a rate is the same in January as it is in June while the cost of an hour of downtime is not.
Buy for the peak, not the average
The contract needs to say what happens in the busy weeks: whether the response commitment changes, whether out-of-hours cover can be pre-arranged for a defined window, and what it costs to have it. A provider that has worked with practices will have an answer ready. One that has not will treat the question as hypothetical, which is itself the answer.
The software list is the shortlist
Practices run tax and accounts production software, a practice management system and usually a portal clients upload to. Whether the provider supports those specific products, and knows what happens when the vendor pushes an update mid-season, matters more than any general sector claim. Ntiva publishes a page for IT support for financial services, which is the nearest published sector position in this record, and even that is not the same as knowing a particular tax package.
Client data changes the security conversation
A practice holds personal and financial data for every client, which raises the cost of an incident well above the cost of the downtime. Mail security, multi-factor authentication on everything, and a tested restore are the three that matter, and the third is the one most often assumed. Ask when the provider last did a test restore for a practice of your size and how long it took.
What to fix in the contract
A defined peak window with its own response commitment. The named software the provider supports. A test restore scheduled rather than sold as a project. And the seat minimum, since practices grow with seasonal staff and a rate that only works at a fixed headcount will not survive the year.
Questions people ask about it support for accountants
What should an accounting practice ask a provider first?
What changes in the busy weeks. If the response commitment and out-of-hours cover are the same in January as in June, the contract has not been written for a practice.
Does sector experience matter?
Only where it is specific. Knowing the tax and accounts production software you run, and what happens when its vendor pushes an update mid-season, is worth more than the word accountancy on a website.
What is most often assumed and not delivered?
A tested restore. Backup administration is standard; a scheduled test restore that somebody has actually performed for a practice of your size usually is not.