When your day depends on tax software opening fast, files syncing correctly, and staff working without interruption, “IT trouble” is not a minor annoyance.
For a CPA firm, it is a direct hit to billable hours, client trust, and regulatory exposure. That is why so many partners feel stuck when their IT provider is clearly underperforming but the idea of switching feels even riskier.
That concern is understandable, especially if you have lived through a sloppy migration before. But the current threat environment has changed the math.
The Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2023 Business Impact Report found that 73% of small business leaders had experienced a data breach or cyberattack in the past year, a record high in the history of the study. At the same time, new research on downtime shows small businesses can lose up to 10,000 dollars per hour when critical systems are offline, once you include idle payroll, delayed client work, and reputational damage.
For a tax or accounting firm that lives inside Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake, ProSeries, CCH, or QuickBooks all day, “just living with” slow, unreliable IT is not a neutral choice.
Staying with a weak provider often means accepting recurring outages during busy season, unresolved security gaps, and a growing chance that a cyber incident or extended downtime will hit you at exactly the wrong moment.
Switching IT providers for a CPA firm means moving all of your systems, data, access controls, and support responsibilities from your current IT vendor or internal IT setup to a new managed IT partner in a way that preserves data integrity and minimizes disruption to client work.
Done casually, this transition can create downtime, data loss, and finger pointing between vendors. Done methodically, with an IT roadmap that fits how CPA firms actually operate, it becomes the fastest path to stronger reliability, better security controls, and clearer accountability.
Written for firm owners, partners, and administrators who want that move to be controlled, this article will delve into:
- Clear signs that your current IT provider is putting your firm at risk.
- Realistic timelines for switching MSPs at small and multi-office CPA firms.
- A practical, phase-based IT transition roadmap you can share with partners.
- A detailed IT transition checklist tuned specifically for accounting and tax practices.
- The main technical, operational, and compliance risks during a provider switch, with concrete ways to manage each one.
Along the way, we will look at how a specialized managed IT provider for accounting firms, such as Verito, approaches IT transitions so that CPA firms can move away from underperforming vendors without gambling on uptime, data security, or tax season delivery.
Table of Contents Show
Signs Your CPA Firm Needs to Switch IT Providers
Before you even look at timelines or transition checklists, you need to be bluntly honest about whether your current IT partner is still a fit. Most CPA firms do not wake up and decide to switch MSPs on a good day. There is usually a pattern of small failures that slowly turns into real business risk.
Below are the most common warning signs that it is time to start planning a move to a new IT provider or managed IT service for your accounting firm.
1. Slow Response Times and Repeat Issues
If your team has to chase IT just to get a ticket acknowledged, you already have a problem. If the same issues keep coming back, you have a bigger one.
Typical symptoms in a CPA firm:
- Tickets sit in the queue for hours while staff are stuck in front of frozen screens
- Vague answers such as “we are looking into it” with no root-cause analysis
- Users keep a mental list of things they never bother reporting because “IT will not fix it anyway”
For a professional services firm that bills by the hour, this is not a customer service issue. It is lost billable time. If you are consistently waiting for your MSP to respond instead of having issues resolved on the first or second touch, you should treat that as a clear trigger to evaluate other IT support providers.
2. Instability During Tax Season and Other Critical Deadlines
The real test of an IT provider for CPA firms is not how things run in August. It is how stable your systems are between January and April, during extensions, and in the final days before major deadlines.
Red flags include:
- Slow logins or frequent disconnects from hosted tax or accounting applications during peak hours
- “Maintenance” that takes systems down while staff are rushing to file returns
- No clear capacity planning for busy season, even though your usage spikes every year
If your IT partner does not treat tax season as a structured project with specific performance and uptime targets, you are carrying unnecessary risk. A specialized provider that understands the accounting calendar will design your environment and support model around those dates, not treat them as an afterthought.
3. Weak Security and Compliance Posture
Regulators and cybercriminals both see CPA firms as high-value targets. If your provider is not proactive about security and compliance, you are effectively carrying that burden alone.
Key warning signs:
- No written security roadmap tied to FTC Safeguards Rule and IRS Publication 4557 expectations.
- No, or inconsistent, multi-factor authentication on remote access, email, and critical apps.
- Old antivirus instead of modern endpoint detection and response (EDR).
- Backups that are not regularly tested for restore, or no clear recovery point and recovery time objectives.
- Little or no security awareness training for staff who handle taxpayer data every day.
If your MSP (Managed Service Provider) cannot clearly explain how your firm is protected, how often controls are tested, and how they would handle an incident, it is time to question whether they should remain your primary IT and cybersecurity partner.
4. Poor Understanding of Your Tax and Accounting Stack
Generic IT support is not enough when your business lives inside specific tax and accounting applications.
You are likely dealing with this problem if:
- Your IT team needs a long explanation every time there is an issue with Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake, ProSeries, CCH, QuickBooks Desktop, or similar tools.
- Upgrades and year-end rollovers regularly break integrations, printing, or performance.
- Vendors blame each other while your staff sit idle.
An IT provider that specializes in accounting firms will already know the usual network, printing, and hosting quirks of your core applications. If your current provider treats them like any other software, you will keep encountering friction that a CP- focused managed IT provider would avoid.
Here is a quick way to assess this:
| Question to ask your current provider | What a strong answer sounds like |
| “How many firms our size do you support?” | They can name similar CPA firms and talk about your software stack |
| “Which tax and accounting apps do you know?” | They list the ones you use and common issues they see and prevent |
| “How do you handle year-end upgrades?” | They describe a standard, tested process for staging and rollouts |
If your provider struggles with those questions, they are not truly aligned with your industry.
5. No Strategic Roadmap, Only Reactive Support
If your relationship with your MSP consists of tickets and invoices, you do not have a strategic IT partner. You have a helpdesk.
Warning signs:
- No quarterly or semi-annual reviews of your environment, risks, and upcoming needs.
- No documented IT roadmap that plans hardware refreshes, cloud migrations, and security improvements over 12 to 24 months.
- Surprise projects forced by expiring licenses, unsupported operating systems, or urgent compliance findings.
A good managed IT service for accounting firms will sit with partners at least a few times a year to discuss capacity, application plans, regulatory changes, and firm growth. If you never see that level of planning, you are probably overdue for a change in IT providers.
6. Limited Support for Remote, Hybrid, or Multi-office Work
Many CPA firms now have a mix of in-office staff, remote workers, and seasonal hires. If your IT setup still assumes everyone is on the same local network, productivity and security both suffer.
Signs your provider is behind the curve:
- Remote staff complain that access is slow, unreliable, or complicated.
- No standardized, secure method for new hires and seasonal workers to connect.
- Ad-hoc use of consumer tools for file sharing or messaging because employees find your official tools too painful.
Switching IT providers can be the moment you redesign remote access properly, with secure hosting, standardized endpoints, and a clear approach to onboarding and offboarding. If your current provider does not have a mature solution for this, you are likely working around the limitations instead of solving them.
7. Opaque Reporting and Weak Accountability
If you cannot see what your IT provider is doing for you, it is hard to judge whether you are getting value or just paying a monthly fee out of habit.
Common issues:
- No regular reporting on ticket volumes, response and resolution times, or recurring problems.
- No visibility into patching status, backup success rates, or security alerts.
- Lack of clarity about what is included in your managed IT contract versus what is billable project work.
A provider that is confident in its service levels will show you the data. If you repeatedly ask for transparency and get excuses or vague summaries, that is a strong indicator that you should start evaluating other managed IT options, particularly providers like Verito that are comfortable tying their offering to clear service-level commitments for CPA firms.
How Long Does it Take to Switch IT Providers for a CPA Firm
One of the first questions partners ask is, “How long will this actually take, and how much disruption should we expect?” The honest answer is that there is a range, but it is not a mystery.
Once you factor in firm size, number of locations, application stack, and how cooperative your current provider is, you can usually predict the transition window with reasonable accuracy.
In most CPA firms, the total journey from initial discovery to a stable “new normal” with your new managed IT provider falls somewhere between three and eight weeks. That does not mean weeks of downtime. It means a structured project with several overlapping phases, most of which happen in the background while your staff continue working.
What Drives the Timeline
The main variables that affect how long it takes to switch IT providers for a CPA firm are:
1. Firm Size and User Count
A five-person tax practice in one office is not the same as a sixty-person multi-office firm with audit teams and advisory services. More users mean more devices, profiles, and workflows to account for.
2. Number of Locations and Remote Users
Single location firms with a straightforward remote access pattern are faster to cut over than firms with several offices, satellite locations, or large remote teams.
3. Application and Infrastructure Complexity
If you rely on a small set of mainstream tools like Lacerte, QuickBooks Desktop, and Microsoft 365, migrations are simpler. If you have a mix of legacy apps, on-premises servers, and one-off integrations, discovery and testing will take longer.
4. Quality of Documentation From Your Current Provider
When network diagrams, admin credentials, and configuration details are available and accurate, your new provider can move quickly. If everything has to be reverse-engineered, the calendar stretches.
5. Security and Compliance Gaps That Must be Fixed During the Transition
If your new provider discovers missing backups, unprotected endpoints, or unsupported systems, they may need to address some of those issues before or during migration to avoid unacceptable risk.
Typical Timelines by Firm Profile
These are realistic, conservative ranges many CPA firms can expect when switching IT providers, assuming a competent new partner and at least minimal cooperation from the old one.
1. Smaller CPA Firm (1 to 10 Users, Single Office):
- Discovery and planning: about 1 week
- Configuration and staging: about 1 week
- Cutover and stabilization: about 1 week
In a straightforward environment, a smaller firm can often be fully transitioned in roughly three weeks, with actual “hands off” time for users limited to a few maintenance windows and short after-hours cutovers.
2. Growing or Multi-office Firm (10 to 75 Users, More Complex Stack)
- Discovery and planning: roughly 2 to 3 weeks
- Configuration and staging: roughly 2 to 4 weeks
- Cutover and stabilization: roughly 2 to 4 weeks
For these firms, the transition usually runs four to eight weeks end-to-end. Much of that time is spent in planning, documentation, staging, and testing rather than visible disruption.
Here is a simplified view that partners can use in internal discussions:
| Firm profile | Discovery and planning | Build and staging | Cutover and stabilization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 users, single office | ~1 week | ~1 week | ~1 week |
| 10 to 75 users, single or multi office | ~2 to 3 weeks | ~2 to 4 weeks | ~2 to 4 weeks |
A good managed IT provider will refine them after a proper assessment of your environment.
How Verito and Other Specialized Providers Compress Risk
Specialized IT providers for CPA firms, including Verito, structure the transition so that risk is front-loaded into planning rather than dumped into the cutover weekend. In practical terms that often means:
- Locking down administrator access, backups, and documentation before any notice is given to the current provider.
- Bringing monitoring, patching, and core security controls under their management early in the project.
- Staging new environments, whether on premises or hosted, and testing logins, performance, and key workflows with a subset of users.
- Scheduling cutovers outside of peak filing periods whenever possible, and using after-hours windows to limit visible disruption.
In many cases, core protections and reliable support can be in place within the first one to two weeks after the necessary access is granted, even if some back-end migration work continues behind the scenes.
When to Start if You Want Zero Drama at Busy Season
If you want a different IT provider in place before the next major filing deadline, you should work backwards from that date and plan to have:
- Discovery and assessment completed at least 60 to 90 days in advance
- Most of the build and staging work completed 30 to 60 days in advance
- Final cutovers, testing, and staff training wrapped up at least two to three weeks before your busiest period.
That buffer gives you time to address surprises without cutting it close to tax deadlines.
If you already know your current IT provider will not survive another busy season, this is the point where it makes sense to get specific. A focused IT transition planning session with a CPA-centric provider like Verito can turn the rough ranges above into a concrete project plan that fits your firm size, software stack, and deadlines, so you are not guessing about timing when the pressure is highest.
Switching From In-house IT vs Switching From a Managed IT Provider
Not every CPA firm starts from the same place. Some are moving from a single internal IT person or a small internal team to a managed IT provider. Others are replacing an existing MSP that never properly understood accounting workflows. The transition steps are similar, but the risks and politics are not.
When You Are Moving From In-house IT
Here, your starting point is usually a single overextended IT generalist or a small team that has grown up with the firm. They know where everything is, but very little is formally documented and many processes exist only in that person’s head.
Typical characteristics:
- Heavy dependence on one or two individuals for all IT knowledge
- Informal processes for backups, patching, and access control
- Ad-hoc solutions that worked at 10 users but do not scale at 30 or 50
- Decisions driven by short-term fixes rather than a formal IT roadmap
Key risks in this scenario:
1. Knowledge Bottleneck
If that person leaves, falls ill, or resists cooperating with the new provider, critical information can be hard to extract.
Legacy servers, unsupported applications, and improvised “quick fixes” tend to surface during migration.
3. Cultural Shift for Staff
People are used to walking down the hall to ask for help. Moving to a structured helpdesk with tickets and SLAs may feel like a big change at first.
Mitigation points:
- Involve your internal IT person early, and position the change as a way to give them backup, not to undermine them. Some firms keep that person as an internal liaison and project owner while the managed provider handles day-to-day support and infrastructure.
- Require your new managed IT provider to run a structured discovery that produces real documentation, including network diagrams, password vaults, and asset lists, not just a quick look around.
- Communicate clearly to staff that they are gaining a team instead of losing access, and explain how support requests will work in the new model.
For many CPA firms, this shift is the moment they move from “best efforts” IT to a more disciplined, compliance-aligned environment. A provider like Verito that already has a standard onboarding process for accounting firms can use that structure to catch and correct years of accumulated technical debt while you still have access to your in-house expert.
When You Are Replacing One Managed IT Provider With Another
If you already work with an MSP, the situation is different. You probably have some tools and documentation in place, but you also face contractual and compliance complications.
Common characteristics:
- Existing remote monitoring, backup, and security tools that belong to the current provider
- A managed services agreement with notice periods, auto renewal, and assistance clauses
- Staff who are already used to opening tickets rather than going to an internal IT person
Key risks in this scenario:
1. Loss of Access and Cooperation
Once you give formal notice, some providers are slow to cooperate or hand off credentials and documentation.
2. Tool and Platform Lock-in
Your current MSP may use proprietary or bundled tools for backups, security, or remote access that cannot simply be transferred.
3. Blame Shifting During Issues
For a period of time, both providers may be involved, which creates room for finger pointing if something breaks.
Mitigation points:
- Review your contract carefully before doing anything else. Understand notice periods, termination dates, and any obligations around transition assistance.
- Work with your incoming provider to secure administrator credentials, configuration exports, and fresh backups before you give formal notice. This is not about hostility, it is about control and risk management.
- Agree on a clear division of responsibilities between old and new providers during the overlap period, with the incoming provider acting as the technical lead wherever possible.
How the Transition Focuses on Changes
The core technical tasks in an IT provider changeover remain similar in both scenarios, but the emphasis shifts.
| Scenario | Main transition challenges | What to prioritize first |
|---|---|---|
| From in-house IT to managed IT provider | Extracting undocumented knowledge, handling technical debt, cultural shift for staff | Deep discovery and documentation, stabilizing backups and security, change management with employees |
| From one MSP to another MSP | Securing access, tool handoff, managing overlapping responsibilities | Locking down credentials and admin rights, agreeing on timelines, clarifying roles during the handoff |
Understanding which of these paths you are on helps you frame the project correctly with partners, staff, and your new provider. It also influences how aggressive you can be with timelines and how early you bring leadership into contract discussions.
The CPA Firm IT Transition Roadmap: Step-by-step
Once you have decided that your current provider is no longer a fit, the real work starts. The goal is simple: move from your current IT vendor to a new managed IT provider without data loss, unplanned downtime, or compliance gaps. The way you get there is by treating the transition as a structured project, not a loose collection of tickets.
Below is a practical, CPA-specific roadmap you can follow or adapt with your chosen provider:
Step 1: Inventory And Assess Your Current Environment
You cannot control what you have not mapped. The first task in any provider change is a thorough, written inventory of your environment.
At minimum, document:
- Servers, workstations, and laptops
- Tax and accounting software (Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake, ProSeries, CCH, QuickBooks Desktop, CaseWare, etc.)
- File shares and document management systems
- Email platform and collaboration tools
- Network gear such as firewalls, switches, Wi-Fi access points, VPNs
- Remote access methods, including portals, RDP, or hosted desktops
- Backup systems, schedules, and retention policies
Where possible, capture versions, locations (on premises vs cloud), and which teams rely on which systems. This is not busywork. It is what allows your new managed IT provider to estimate timelines and risk accurately instead of guessing.
A simple way to structure this is:
| Asset category | Examples | What to capture |
|---|---|---|
| Core applications | Tax, audit, bookkeeping, billing | Name, version, where it runs, key dependencies |
| Infrastructure | Servers, storage, network gear | Location, owner, support status |
| Access paths | VPN, portals, hosted desktops | Who uses it, when, and for what |
If your current provider cannot or will not give you this information, your new provider may need more time up-front to build it themselves.
Step 2: Gather Critical Documentation And Credentials
The second major task is getting control of the keys to your environment. Too many firms give notice to their existing provider before they have full administrator access and current documentation. That is how transitions turn ugly.
You and your incoming provider should work together to gather:
- Domain registrar and DNS logins
- Admin accounts for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or other email systems
- Admin access for line of business applications and their databases
- Configuration exports or admin access for firewalls, VPNs, and switches
- Backup system consoles and reports
- Documentation for site-to-site VPNs, branch offices, and remote access
Store these securely in a password manager or vault that your firm owns, not one controlled solely by the outgoing provider. Insist on fresh exports and recent passwords, not old screenshots from years ago.
If you do nothing else before giving notice, make sure this step is complete.
Step 3: Define Security And Compliance Targets Up Front
A provider transition is the best time to reset your security and compliance posture. Before anyone moves a server or changes a DNS record, decide what “good” looks like.
With your new provider, define specific targets for:
- FTC Safeguards Rule expectations for risk assessments, access control, encryption, and vendor oversight
- IRS Publication 4557 alignment for protecting taxpayer data, including secure remote access and storage
- Endpoint protection, including modern EDR on all workstations and servers
- Multi-factor authentication for remote access, email, and sensitive apps
- Backup recovery objectives such as maximum acceptable data loss (RPO) and maximum downtime (RTO)
- Logging and alerting for security events
This is where a CPA-focused provider like Verito can add real value. A provider that already designs environments for tax and accounting firms will have a standard control set for FTC and IRS expectations, rather than inventing it from scratch for your firm.
Document these targets. They become the yardstick for evaluating whether your transition was successful.
Step 4: Select a Specialized Managed IT Provider for CPA Firms
At this point, you know what you have and what “good” should look like. Now you need a partner who can operate at that standard.
When evaluating providers, look for:
- Demonstrated experience with firms similar to yours in size and service mix.
- Deep familiarity with your tax and accounting applications.
- Clear service-level agreements on response times, resolution times, and escalation paths.
- A defined security stack, not a one-off mix of tools for each client.
- Regular reporting and business reviews
For a CPA firm, there is a strong case for choosing a provider that specializes in accounting rather than a general MSP. Providers like Verito focus specifically on accounting and tax firms, combine managed IT with secure hosting where required through its VeritComplete offering, and build processes around tax season realities, not generic office hours.
Step 5: Build a Joint Migration Plan With Your New Provider
Once you have chosen a new provider, treat the migration plan as a co-authored document. It is not something the MSP writes in isolation.
A solid migration plan for a CPA firm should include:
- Systems and applications listed by priority, with clear “move first” and “move later” items.
- Specific maintenance windows for each cutover activity, aligned with staff schedules and deadlines.
- A communication plan for partners, staff, and any critical vendors.
- A backout plan for each major change, so you can temporarily revert if a cutover exposes an unexpected problem.
- Responsibilities for the outgoing provider, incoming provider, and your internal stakeholders.
For example, moving to a new remote access solution or hosted desktop platform should only happen after a pilot group of users has tested logins, performance, printing, and scanning in the new environment.
Step 6: Decide When And How To Give Notice To Your Current Provider
The worst time to think about notice is after you have already sent it. Contractual details will dictate some of your timing, but good preparation can prevent most drama.
Key points to get right:
- Review the existing agreement for term, auto-renewal rules, and termination notice requirements
- Identify any clauses related to transition assistance, data return, and tool decommissioning
- Do not give formal notice until you have:
- Current admin credentials and documentation under your control
- At least one recent, tested backup of critical systems
- A written migration plan from your new provider
Agree with your incoming provider on how to communicate the change to the outgoing MSP. It should be professional and factual. The message is that you are changing partners, not cutting them out of access abruptly. At the same time, your new provider should be prepared to step in as the technical lead during the overlap period so there is no confusion about who is responsible for what.
Step 7: Execute The Cutover With Tested Backups And Staging
The actual “cutover” is what most people think of when they imagine switching IT providers, but it should be the shortest and least surprising part of the project.
Your new provider should:
- Stage new infrastructure or configurations in advance, whether that is a new hosted environment, a new firewall, or a new remote access method.
- Perform test logins, application launches, printing, scanning, and file access with a pilot group.
- Schedule cutovers outside business hours whenever possible, and never during critical filing days unless there is no alternative.
- Run through a pre-cutover checklist that confirms recent backups, rollback options, and vendor contacts are all in place.
On the day of cutover, measure success by how quickly staff can log in and resume normal workflows. Some minor issues are inevitable, but a prepared provider will resolve them quickly and avoid firm wide outages.
Step 8: Post Migration Validation And Optimization
Once the dust settles, you are not done. The first 30 to 60 days after a provider change determine whether the new arrangement is delivering what you expected.
Build a short post-migration program that includes:
- A validation checklist: application performance, error logs, access control, backup reports, security alerts.
- A short feedback loop from staff about responsiveness, usability, and any recurring pain points.
- Additional staff training for new tools, portals, and procedures
- A formal review meeting between partners and the new provider to compare the original goals, risk list, and timelines with actual outcomes.
This is also the right time to plan phase two items that were deliberately postponed from the initial cutover, such as deeper workflow changes, further cloud migrations, or advanced security projects.
A strong provider will drive this review process, not wait for you to request it.
Key Risks When Switching IT Providers (And How To Avoid Them)
Switching IT providers does not automatically create risk. Poor planning does. The same problems show up again and again when CPA firms change MSPs: unplanned downtime, data loss, security gaps, and cost surprises. The good news is that almost all of these are predictable and manageable if you treat the transition as a controlled project.
Below are the main risks you should expect, along with specific actions to keep them under control:
Risk 1: Unplanned Downtime During Critical Deadlines
For a CPA firm, an hour of downtime in late March is not the same as an hour in July. Partners feel it immediately in missed deadlines and lost billable hours.
Recent industry data shows that the average cost of IT downtime for many mid-sized businesses is now estimated at around 9,000 dollars per minute, or roughly 540,000 dollars per hour. Even if your firm is smaller, the proportional impact on revenue and client trust is still significant.
What this risk looks like in practice:
- Staff cannot log in to tax or accounting systems during business hours
- Remote access changes cause widespread lockouts
- Cutovers to new hosting or firewalls happen too close to filing deadlines
How to reduce this risk:
- Map your busiest periods and hard deadlines, then schedule major cutovers outside those windows
- Insist that your new provider performs staging and pilot testing with a small user group before any firm wide changes
- Require a written pre-cutover checklist that includes backup verification, test logins, and a rollback plan
- Ask for after hours or weekend cutovers, with engineers on standby when staff return to work
A provider that specializes in CPA firms, such as Verito, will routinely plan around tax season and build your cutover schedule around return volumes.
Risk 2: Data Loss or Incomplete Backups
Changing providers often means changing backup platforms, storage locations, and retention policies. If this is rushed, you risk discovering that something was never backed up correctly only after you need it.
IBM’s latest Cost of a Data Breach analysis shows the average global breach cost has climbed to about 4.88 million dollars per incident, with financial and related sectors facing even higher average costs. Even at smaller firms, a serious data loss event can be existential once you include regulatory, legal, and reputational impact.
Warning signs during a transition:
- No documented list of what is backed up, where, and how often
- Inability to show recent test restores
- Rushed decommissioning of old backup systems before the new ones are fully validated
How to reduce this risk:
- Before giving notice to your current provider, require:
- A fresh full backup of critical systems
- At least one successful test restore supervised by your new provider
- Keep legacy backup systems running in parallel until the new backup platform has passed restore tests and your provider signs off in writing.
- Standardize recovery objectives (RPO and RTO) with your new provider and verify that backup schedules and storage locations actually meet those targets.
Risk 3: Security and Compliance Gaps During the Transition
The period between providers is often the weakest from a security and compliance standpoint. Old tools are being removed, new ones are not fully deployed, and attackers do not care that you are “in transition”.
The finance and accounting sectors are already high priority targets. One recent analysis cites Department of Homeland Security data indicating that finance and accounting organizations see some of the highest incidence rates of cyber breaches, with more than three quarters of large firms in those sectors experiencing at least one cyber breach in the past year. At the same time, penalties for failing to comply with regulations such as the FTC Safeguards Rule can include substantial fines and injunctive relief, with some guidance noting potential penalties up to 100,000 dollars per violation.
During a provider switch, common security failures include:
- Leaving remote access open without updated MFA
- Turning off old endpoint tools before the new stack is installed everywhere
- Delaying patching because “we will fix it after the migration”
- Losing track of who is responsible for incident response during the overlap period
How to reduce this risk:
- Agree with your new provider on a minimum security baseline that must be in place before any major cutovers, including EDR, MFA, and monitored backups on all critical systems.
- Document exactly when old tools will be removed and when new ones will go live, with no gaps in coverage.
- Assign one provider, usually the incoming one, as the lead for incident response throughout the transition period.
- Include FTC Safeguards and IRS Publication 4557 alignment as explicit goals in your migration plan.
Risk 4: Losing Control of Admin Accounts and Documentation
Many ugly provider transitions have the same root cause: the firm does not control its own keys. Admin logins, DNS records, firewall rules, and backup consoles live entirely inside the outgoing provider’s systems.
When that relationship ends, you can end up with:
- Delayed or partial handoff of credentials and documentation
- Limited ability for the new provider to make changes without involving the old one
- Confusion about who owns licenses and subscriptions
How to reduce this risk:
- Treat credential and documentation collection as a non-negotiable early phase of the project.
- Ensure all key accounts for domains, DNS, email, and critical applications are owned by the firm (with provider access delegated) rather than the provider owning the account outright.
- Store all credentials in a password manager or vault that your firm controls and can share securely with the new provider
- Require your outgoing provider to deliver updated network diagrams, configuration exports, and license lists before termination
A provider change can expose all the IT work that was quietly deferred for years. If that work is not clearly separated from the core transition, you can end up with budget shock and tension between partners and the new MSP.
These are the typical patterns:
- The proposal covers “standard onboarding” but not legacy server remediation, unsupported operating systems, or complex application upgrades.
- Partners assume all IT issues will be fixed in the first month, even if they were never in scope.
- The firm is surprised by project invoices during or immediately after the transition.
How to reduce this risk:
- Ask your potential providers to separate their proposals into:
- Fixed fee or clearly defined monthly services
- One time transition and remediation projects with estimated timelines and costs
- Insist on a written scope that distinguishes “must do now to switch providers safely” from “should do later as improvement projects”.
- Review the contract, SOW, and pricing model with partners before signing, including how change requests and out of scope work will be handled.
Risk 6: Staff Confusion and Resistance
Even a technically successful transition can fail if your people do not know how to get help or how to use the new tools. For CPA firms, where seasonal staff and remote workers are common, this quickly turns into lost productivity.
What this risk looks like:
- Staff do not know how to open tickets or call for urgent help
- Password policies and login flows change with no explanation
- Remote staff feel like an afterthought and resort to workarounds or personal tools
How to reduce this risk:
- Treat communication and training as part of the migration plan
- Have your new provider provide clear instructions for:
- How to contact support
- Expected response times
- What information to include in tickets
- Schedule short, focused training sessions or recordings for key workflows such as logging in remotely, accessing hosted applications, or using a new MFA app.
- Ask for a short period of “hypercare” after go live where the provider deliberately overstaffs support to handle increased questions.
Here is a quick summary you can keep in front of partners during planning:
| Risk area | What to watch for in a transition | Non-negotiables to put in your plan |
|---|---|---|
| Downtime during deadlines | Cutovers close to filing dates, no pilot testing | After hours cutovers, pilots, tested rollback plans |
| Data loss and weak backups | Unclear backup scope, no test restores | Fresh backups, supervised restore tests, parallel backup systems |
| Security and compliance gaps | Tool gaps, unclear incident ownership | Early deployment of security stack, clear incident lead, FTC/IRS targets |
| Loss of admin control | Vendor owned accounts, limited documentation | Firm owned accounts, credential vault, updated diagrams and exports |
| Scope creep and cost surprises | Vague SOW, “we will fix everything” promises | Clear separation of onboarding vs projects, written scope and pricing |
| Staff confusion and resistance | Poor communication, no training, inconsistent support | Simple support instructions, brief training, post go live hypercare |
How Verito Handles IT Provider Transitions for CPA Firms
So far, the guide has been provider agnostic. In practice, the quality of your transition depends heavily on the way your new partner runs onboarding. Verito is built specifically for CPA and tax firms that cannot tolerate surprises during busy season, and its process reflects that.
Below is how a typical IT provider transition looks when a CPA firm moves to Verito:
1. Discovery That Focuses On Real Risk
Verito starts with a structured discovery that covers the usual asset lists, but the emphasis is on risk to billable work and compliance, not just what hardware you own.
In the first stage, Verito will typically:
- Build a detailed inventory of servers, workstations, tax and accounting applications, and access paths.
- Map where each workload runs today, for example on premises servers, third-party hosting, or SaaS platforms.
- Review your current backup setup and attempt at least one supervised test restore.
- Identify gaps against FTC Safeguards expectations and IRS Publication 4557, especially around encryption, access control, and vendor oversight.
- Document specific patterns of downtime or instability during prior tax seasons.
Because Verito works exclusively with tax and accounting professionals and similar compliance-driven firms, the questions are tuned to CPA realities, including how your staff uses Lacerte, Drake, UltraTax, QuickBooks Desktop, CCH, and other industry software in day-to-day work.
2. Security-first Stabilization Using VeritGuard and VeritShield WISP
Before major cutovers, Verito focuses on stabilizing security and compliance. The goal is to reduce your risk exposure early in the project, not leave you half-protected while tools are being swapped.
Typical early stage actions include:
- Deploying VeritGuard managed IT services to bring endpoints, servers, and core infrastructure under 24/7 monitoring and patching.
- Rolling out modern endpoint detection and response on all supported devices.
- Enforcing multi-factor authentication on remote access, email, and other critical systems wherever technically possible
- Validating backup coverage and aligning recovery objectives with your business expectations
- Beginning work on a Written Information Security Program through VeritShield WISP, so your governance documents match your technical controls
This work sits on top of Verito’s SOC 2 Type II certified infrastructure and security stack, which is designed to help firms meet updated FTC Safeguards and IRS Publication 4557 requirements without building everything from scratch internally.
3. Staged Migration of Hosting and Remote Access
Once security and basic stability are in hand, Verito moves into the staged migration of your workloads. For many CPA firms, that includes moving tax and accounting applications onto VeritSpace dedicated private servers or adopting VeritComplete for a combined hosting plus managed IT model.
The migration sequence typically looks like this:
- Dedicated VeritSpace servers tailored to your tax and accounting stack
- Migrate a pilot group of users first, validating logins, application performance, printing, scanning, and file access.
- Tune resources so heavy tax season loads do not slow down the environment, using VeritSpace’s ability to scale CPU and RAM as needed
- Gradually cut over the remaining users, often outside business hours, while monitoring for performance issues or configuration gaps
Because Verito controls both the hosting layer and, through VeritGuard, the managed IT layer, there is a single team responsible for end-to-end performance and stability.
Here is how the phases typically align with Verito’s offerings:
| Transition phase | What Verito focuses on | Primary services involved |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and risk assessment | Inventory, risk mapping, compliance gaps | VeritGuard onboarding, VeritShield WISP |
| Security and stability baseline | EDR, MFA, backups, monitoring, documented controls | VeritGuard, VeritShield WISP |
| Hosting and access migration | Moving apps and data to dedicated private servers | VeritSpace, VeritComplete, VeritGuard |
| Post migration optimization | Performance tuning, reporting, roadmap, user experience | VeritGuard, VeritSpace, VeritShield WISP |
4. Tax Season-aware Scheduling and White Glove Cutover
Verito treats your calendar as a hard constraint. Cutovers are scheduled around filing deadlines, extension periods, and partner availability.
During cutover windows, Verito typically provides:
- After hours or weekend migrations for high-impact changes
- Live support presence when staff-first log in to the new environment
- Clear escalation paths so partners can reach a decision maker quickly if needed
This is backed by Verito’s support model, including the VeritCertified program that trains engineers specifically on accounting software, server management, cybersecurity, and compliance awareness. The result is sub one minute average response times, high first-touch resolution, and a support experience that feels like an in-house IT team that already understands how an accounting firm runs.
5. Post Migration Review, Reporting, and Roadmap
After the initial transition, Verito does not simply switch to reactive ticket handling. The first 30 to 60 days are used to validate that the new environment is delivering what partners expected.
Post migration work usually includes:
- Reviewing ticket patterns to identify recurring issues that need root cause fixes.
- Showing backup status, security alerts, and patching coverage in plain language.
- Confirming that recovery time and recovery point objectives are realistic and achievable.
- Updating your IT roadmap so hardware refreshes, additional migrations, or deeper security projects are planned instead of reactive.
The combination of VeritGuard managed IT, VeritSpace hosting, VeritComplete bundling, and VeritShield WISP gives CPA firms a single partner for infrastructure, day-to-day support, and compliance documentation rather than juggling several vendors and trying to coordinate them during a transition.
A Practical Next Step With Verito
If you are already convinced your current IT provider cannot carry you through another busy season, the next move is not to flip a switch overnight. It is to turn this guide into a specific CPA firm IT migration plan that reflects your size, software stack, and deadlines.
A focused planning session with Verito will typically result in:
- A clear timeline for switching IT providers for your firm
- A prioritized list of security and compliance gaps that must be closed before or during the transition.
- A concrete IT transition checklist, tailored to your environment, that you can take back to partners for sign off.
If you want your next tax season running on infrastructure that simply works, securely, this is the point where involving Verito directly makes sense. They can own the heavy lifting of the transition while you stay focused on running the firm.
Switching IT Providers is Less Risky Than Standing Still
Staying with an underperforming IT provider is not neutral for a CPA firm. It means accepting recurring outages, unresolved security gaps, and a higher chance that something will break at the exact moment you are filing returns or handling sensitive client work. The risks are already there. Switching providers does not create them. It gives you a controlled way to reduce them.
This guide has walked through the full lifecycle of a provider change: the warning signs that your current MSP is no longer fit for purpose, realistic timelines by firm size, a step-by-step transition roadmap, and the concrete risks that appear in almost every MSP handoff. None of this is guesswork. If you follow the phases and checklists, you replace vague fear with specific tasks and clear checkpoints.
For CPA and tax firms, the most important decision is not simply to switch IT providers, but to pick one that actually understands your applications, regulatory obligations, and tax season realities. A generic MSP that treats your firm like any other small business will reintroduce many of the same problems under a different logo. A specialized partner such as Verito, with managed IT, dedicated private hosting, and security programs built around accounting firms, can turn what feels like a high risk move into a tightly managed project.
Use the checklist in this article to map your environment, secure your admin access, validate backups, and set security targets. Then work with a CPA-focused provider to turn that into a concrete migration plan that respects your deadlines and appetite for change.
If you are already thinking, “We cannot go through another busy season like the last one,” the next step is clear. Take this guide, sit down with a provider like Verito, and turn it from a reference into a plan with names, dates, and outcomes that partners can sign off on. The sooner you start that conversation, the less you will be relying on hope when the next filing deadline arrives.
tl;dr
- Staying with a weak IT provider is usually riskier for CPA firms than executing a controlled switch.
- Clear warning signs include slow response times, recurring issues, unstable tax season performance, weak security, and poor understanding of your tax and accounting stack.
- Most firms can switch providers in about three to eight weeks, depending on size, locations, application complexity, and how well the current environment is documented.
- A safe transition follows a structured roadmap: inventory and documentation, admin access and backups, security and compliance targets, joint migration planning, careful notice to the existing MSP, staged cutovers, and post migration review.
- Main risks during a switch are downtime near deadlines, data loss, security gaps, loss of admin control, cost surprises, and staff confusion, all of which can be controlled with specific safeguards.
- The IT transition checklist in this article can be used as a project plan with any provider, but CPA firms benefit most from MSPs that specialize in accounting, such as Verito.
- A focused planning session with a CPA centric provider can turn this guide into a firm specific IT migration plan that is aligned with busy season and compliance obligations.
FAQ:
1. How do we switch IT providers without causing downtime at our CPA firm?
You avoid downtime by front loading planning instead of rushing the cutover. That means completing a full inventory, securing admin access and documentation, validating backups with test restores, and running a pilot in the new environment before any firm wide changes. Cutovers should be scheduled outside business hours, with your busiest tax deadlines treated as hard constraints, not suggestions. A provider that works regularly with CPA firms, such as Verito, will also overstaff support during go live so issues are resolved quickly while staff adjust.
2. When is the best time of year for a CPA firm to change IT providers?
The safest window is usually after extensions are filed and before year end projects peak, which for many firms means late spring through early fall. The key is to give yourself enough runway. Ideally you start discovery and planning 60 to 90 days before any major filing deadlines you want to protect, finish most migration work 30 to 60 days before, and leave at least two to three weeks of buffer before your busiest period. If you are in crisis with your current provider, you can still switch, but you need a very disciplined plan and a provider that is comfortable doing controlled changes around critical dates.
3. How much notice should we give our current MSP, and when?
You follow the contract, but you do not let the contract drive the technical sequence. Read the agreement for term, auto renewal, and notice requirements, then plan your project so that formal notice is given only after three things are true: your firm controls all critical admin accounts, recent backups and test restores have been validated, and you have a written migration plan from the new provider. That way, if cooperation drops after notice, you are not dependent on the outgoing MSP for basic access or recovery.
4. Do we have to move everything to the cloud when we switch IT providers?
No. Switching IT providers is a change of who manages your environment, not automatically a move to public cloud. Many CPA firms still run a mix of on premises servers, hosted desktops, and cloud applications. The transition is a good opportunity to reconsider what should live where, but that decision should be driven by performance, security, and cost, not hype. Some firms keep certain workloads on local servers, others adopt dedicated private hosting platforms like VeritSpace, and many end up with a hybrid model. The important thing is that your new provider can support the mix you choose and document the tradeoffs clearly.
5. What should be in an IT transition checklist for an accounting firm?
A useful checklist is organized by phase, not a random list of tasks. At minimum it should cover: environment inventory, security and compliance baseline, admin credentials and documentation, backup verification and test restores, contract and vendor review, detailed migration plan with timelines and rollback steps, pre cutover checks, go live validation, and a post migration review with updated roadmap. The checklist section in this guide is designed so you can print it and use it directly with your chosen provider, or adapt it with a CPA focused MSP such as Verito.
6. How can we tell if a new IT provider really understands CPA and tax firms?
You do not accept generic answers. Ask for references from firms similar to yours, and verify they support your specific tax and accounting applications. Ask how they handle year end tax software rollouts, busy season performance, and FTC Safeguards or IRS Pub 4557 requirements in practice. Request a sample security stack, sample WISP outline, and example reports they give to partners. A provider that lives in the accounting vertical, like Verito, will answer these questions in concrete terms, not broad promises, and will be able to show how their onboarding process handles MSP transitions for CPA firms specifically.
