IT support and technology for accounting firms

Who this is for

Independent and multi-partner accountancy practices, bookkeeping firms and tax advisers in London and across the UK — typically 3 to 60 people, running a mix of practice software, cloud accounting platforms and a lot of client documents.

The technology problems accounting practices actually have

Most practices do not have an IT problem all year. They have four or five weeks where every problem becomes expensive at once.

The pattern is consistent across the firms we speak to: workload concentrates around self-assessment and year-end deadlines, temporary staff need access quickly, client records arrive in every format imaginable, and the practice software that everyone depends on is the least forgiving part of the stack.

• Performance complaints on hosted or desktop practice software exactly when throughput matters most
• Client documents scattered across email attachments, portals, WhatsApp, USB sticks and personal drives
• Seasonal staff and subcontractors who need access on day one and should lose it the day they finish
• Partners working from three locations with files that only exist properly on one machine
• A backup that has never been restored, so nobody actually knows whether it works

Protecting client data without slowing the practice down

Accountancy firms hold bank details, payroll data, identity documents and financial records for hundreds of people. That makes practices a deliberate target, and the most common attacks are unglamorous: a convincing invoice with changed bank details, a fake client email during a busy week, or a reused password on an old account nobody disabled.

We work through the controls that stop the realistic attacks first, rather than selling a security product and calling it a strategy.

• Multi-factor authentication on every account, including shared mailboxes and admin logins
• Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) so your domain is harder to impersonate to clients
• A defined process for verifying any change to bank details, out of band, before payment
• Device encryption and screen-lock policy on laptops that leave the office
• Access reviews so leavers, former subcontractors and old integrations do not keep a way in
• Secure file exchange for client documents instead of unprotected email attachments

Cyber Essentials, tenders and client due diligence

More practices are being asked about security by their own clients — particularly when acting for larger organisations, funds or public bodies. Cyber Essentials is usually the cheapest credible answer.

Teknikal prepares practices for certification: we assess against the five control areas, fix the gaps and document what auditors and clients ask about. We do not issue certificates ourselves — that comes from a certification body — and any provider claiming otherwise is worth a second look. Our Cyber Essentials guide for SMEs sets out the controls in plain English.

Backups and continuity that hold up in January

Cloud platforms are resilient, but resilience is not backup. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 will faithfully replicate a deletion or an encrypted file across every device you own.

For a practice, the question is simple: if the main file store were unusable on 25 January, how many hours until you are filing again? We design around that answer, then test it.

• Independent backup of cloud mail and files, retained beyond the platform's own recycle bin
• Backup of practice software data wherever it lives — on-premises server, hosted desktop or vendor cloud
• Restore testing so the recovery time is measured rather than assumed
• A documented plan for the days when the office, the internet or a key system is unavailable
• Continuity thinking that covers people too — no single person holding the only admin password

Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for an accountancy practice

Both platforms work well for practices. The decision usually comes down to what your practice software expects, how attached the team is to desktop Excel, and how you want to structure client files.

As a Google Workspace reseller we handle licensing, migration and admin directly, and we support Microsoft 365 environments too. If you are weighing them up, read Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace before committing.

Whichever you use, the structure matters more than the brand: client folders that mirror how you actually work, permissions by team rather than by individual, and shared ownership so a departing manager does not take a drive with them.

AI and automation for accountants — where it genuinely pays

AI is oversold to accountancy, but a few applications repay the effort quickly because the work is high volume, rules-based and currently manual.

We start with one workflow, measure it, and only expand where the numbers justify it. Every workflow keeps a human review step where a mistake would reach a client or HMRC.

• Extracting data from invoices, receipts and statements into your bookkeeping platform — see AI document processing
• Sorting and filing inbound client documents automatically rather than by hand
• Drafting routine client correspondence — chasers, information requests, deadline reminders — for review before sending
• Internal search across your own templates, guidance notes and precedents so juniors stop asking partners the same questions
• Onboarding paperwork: collecting, checking and chasing the documents a new client engagement needs

Onboarding and offboarding staff without the scramble

Seasonal hiring is where practice security quietly degrades. Accounts get created in a hurry, permissions get copied from whoever sits nearby, and nothing is removed afterwards.

We set up repeatable joiner and leaver processes: a standard account template per role, access granted by group membership, and a leaver checklist that revokes access, preserves the person's files and transfers ownership on the same day they finish.

Integrations and custom software when the tools stop fitting

Practices routinely run several systems that do not talk to each other — practice management, cloud bookkeeping, a CRM and a spreadsheet that quietly holds the truth.

Where that gap costs real hours, we build the connecting piece: a dashboard of jobs and deadlines across systems, a client portal for document collection, or an integration that stops one team re-typing another team's output. That work is described on custom software development.

How an engagement usually starts

The first step is a free IT and AI audit: a short call, then a review of how the practice currently works — systems, access, backups, the workflow that annoys everyone most.

You get a written picture of the risks and the quick wins, in priority order, whether or not you go on to work with us. If you do, we usually sequence it as: fix the security and backup gaps, stabilise the day-to-day support, then take on one automation project with a measurable outcome.