An accountancy practice in Southampton had reached the point many small practices reach: the owners were wearing many hats, and IT was the one area where they could not afford to get it wrong.

The situation

Accountants hold some of the most sensitive information a business has: bank details, payroll, tax records and personal data. A data breach would be damaging to clients and to the practice, and the owners wanted certainty rather than assumptions. In their words:

"Like many business owners, we've been trying to wear too many hats and be the master of everything - but IT was the one area where we simply couldn't take any risks, especially when it came to our clients' data."

What we did

We carried out a full audit of the practice's IT systems, put strong cyber security measures in place, and set up a solid backup solution in case the worst ever happened. The practice's feedback:

"Martin carried out a full audit of our IT systems and implemented watertight cyber security measures, along with a solid backup solution should the worst ever happen."

What an IT audit looks at

If you are wondering what an audit of your own setup would cover, these are the kinds of questions it answers:

  • Who can get in? How accounts are protected, including whether two-factor authentication is switched on. See two-factor authentication explained.
  • Who can see what? Whether client files and Microsoft 365 are shared more widely than they should be.
  • How are devices protected? Whether computers are updated, protected against malware and encrypted.
  • What happens if something goes wrong? Whether backups exist, are separate from your main systems and have been tested. We explain why this matters in backup and disaster recovery explained.
  • How would you spot a problem? Whether anyone is monitoring for unusual activity.

The result is a clear list of what is fine, what is not and what to fix first, so you can make decisions without needing to be a technical expert.

Where to start

For accountancy practices in particular, protecting client data is both a professional duty and a business risk. Our page for IT support for accountants covers how we work with practices, and you can see what Cyber Essentials involves on our Cyber Essentials support page.

If you would like to talk about your own practice, book a complimentary IT call. We support businesses across Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham and the wider area. Client names are kept confidential, and the quotes above are taken from the practice's own review.