we’re all in this together.
by donny shimamoto, cpa, citp, cgma
on cybersecurity for accountants
center for accounting transformation
i’ve been warning accountants about the treasure trove of taxpayer information they are entrusted with since 2014. that was the first year i spoke at an aicpa conference about it risk management and the need to self-assess information security risks. every year since then, via numerous conference sessions and webinars, i’ve taught both non-techie accountants and it professionals about the cybersecurity jargon, key threats, how to understand the risks, and how various types of administrative and technical controls help mitigate those risks.
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as quickly as cybersecurity practices mature, new threats, threat delivery vectors and other schemes arise. what many people don’t realize is that identity theft is a lucrative business. whether taxpayer identification (e.g., social security numbers), bank account information, credit card information or healthcare information—these records have value on the dark web. fraudsters will pay handsomely for this type of information.
when i started intraprisetechknowlogies llc (itk) in 2001, i wanted to concentrate on the small and mid-sized business (smb) space. we were focused on automation technologies and developing adjunct accounting system solutions—those that worked to complement the core accounting solution. i’m purposely not calling it an enterprise resource planning (erp) solution because those solutions are often designed for big organizations. i used the experience i gained from being a part of pwc’s audit department and later its department of defense consulting practice, to develop solutions for the smb space that balanced innovation with internal controls—right-sized for the smb space.
historically itk worked directly with smbs directly—not accounting firms. we partnered with accounting firms to help their clients with innovation projects. we were a “safe” referral because we didn’t offer any traditional accounting services. we would also coordinate with the referring firm to ensure that whatever solutions we put in place didn’t disrupt their services to the client.
as the use of cloud accounting apps grew, the risk posture of accounting firms also changed. beginning around 2014, we started having accounting firms approach us not just to help their clients but to help the firms themselves. at first, my reaction was, “oh, i’m honored you’d ask, but we don’t have any experience working with accounting firms.” but these firm leaders countered with, “you work with smbs, and our firms are smbs—plus, we don’t want more of the same thing we hear from the typical consultants to the accounting industry. we want you to bring perspectives from other industries that you work with and use that to help us evolve what we’re doing.”
the light bulb in my mind went off, and i saw the potential value that we could bring, so i agreed. we’ve been working with a variety of sizes of firms, from sole proprietors to firms with 200+ people since then.
as tax practitioners, you have a duty to protect your clients’ information. litigation abounds when there is a data breach, and the level of disruption from a ransomware attack can also be crippling for a small firm.
it will take all of us…the irs, state and local tax authorities, financial institutions, cybersecurity professionals, cybersecurity software vendors, it professionals, and most of all, all of you—tax practitioners—to stop these cyber criminals. together we can make it as difficult as possible for these criminals to get taxpayer information—giving peace of mind to our clients that they are protected when they do business with us.