IT support for accounting and tax firms in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Fairoaks IT provides managed IT and cybersecurity for CPA, accounting, bookkeeping and tax firms across Greater Boston, MetroWest, Worcester County, the South Shore and Rhode Island from our office in Franklin, MA. We’ve been independent and owner-led since 1991, accounting firms have been part of our client base from the start, we won the Soteria Award for Most Trusted MSP in North America, and founder and president Tom Crossley leads our accounting work.

Accounting and tax IT support

Yes. Our Franklin office sits close to the Rhode Island line, so firms in Providence, Cranston, Warwick, East Greenwich, Lincoln and Woonsocket are a short drive away. Most issues are solved remotely in minutes, and when something needs hands on it, especially during tax season, we send a technician.

Schedule a discovery call

Yes. Multi-office firms get the same standards everywhere: the same tax software setup, client portal, security tools and support team. What changes is the state law. Massachusetts and Rhode Island each have their own rules for protecting client and employee information, and your written security plan should cover both.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island data rules

Plan it like the engagement it is. Decide which tax software, client portal and file structure survive, then migrate client data carefully, with backups taken before anything moves. Bring the other firm’s users onto your security standards, including multi-factor authentication, and update your written security plan to cover the combined firm. Time the move for the off-season so nobody is learning a new system in March.

Schedule a discovery call

Because tax season is not the time to wait for a technician who’s three states away. A local, owner-led provider can get someone into your office when remote support isn’t enough, and gives you the same team every time. Fairoaks IT’s average time to start on a support issue is under 12 minutes, with live support during business hours and after-hours support available.

How our support works

Our Massachusetts office is at 1000 Franklin Village Dr, Suite 303, Franklin, MA 02038, between Boston, Worcester and Providence. It serves accounting and tax firms across Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Give us a call or schedule a discovery call below.

Get directions

Yes. 201 CMR 17.00 applies to any business that owns or licenses personal information about Massachusetts residents, and an accounting firm holds plenty of it: client and employee Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and bank account numbers. The regulation requires a written information security program and specific safeguards, including encrypting that information on laptops and when it travels over public networks or Wi-Fi. Your attorney has the final word on how it applies to you.

Your written security plan

Yes, if it’s built that way. The two overlap heavily: both call for a written program, someone responsible for it, a risk assessment, employee training, access controls, vendor oversight and encryption. 201 CMR 17.00 adds specifics like rules for records taken out of the office, and the FTC rule adds items like the Qualified Individual, security testing and FTC breach notification. We help firms build one plan that covers both, instead of maintaining two.

Get the WISP outline checklist in our guide

Massachusetts law requires you to notify affected residents, the Attorney General’s office and the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay. On top of that, the FTC must be notified within 30 days if unencrypted information about 500 or more consumers was taken, and the IRS wants to hear from you through your Stakeholder Liaison. Call your attorney the moment you suspect a breach.

Get the data theft response checklist in our guide

Rhode Island’s Identity Theft Protection Act requires businesses that hold personal information about Rhode Island residents to maintain a risk-based information security program with reasonable security procedures, along with sensible retention and secure destruction of records. After a breach, affected residents must be notified within 45 calendar days of confirming it, and the Attorney General must be notified when more than 500 Rhode Islanders are affected. Your attorney can confirm what applies to you.

Managed security services

Plan for the snow day before it happens. Nor’easters tend to arrive right in the middle of tax season, so make sure staff can work securely from home with company laptops or a hosted environment, multi-factor authentication and access to the client portal. Put the office server and network on battery backup, keep a backup internet connection if the office has to stay open, and test remote access before February, not during the storm.

Remote and seasonal staff questions