The Vault is a great way to securely exchange documents with your clients. Even so there are times when you need to place PDF documents on your CPA website. These range from commonly used firm documents, to downloads to help capture a potential clients email (see upcoming series on how to do this effectively). Here is an update on using the FTP feature with your CPA website.

FTP Access via Portal

FTP. This stands for file transfer protocol. This feature is used to upload documents to a folder on your CPA website. These files can then be linked to from anywhere on your accounting website. See the FTP help section for complete step by step instructions.

What Files to Upload. PDF, Excel, and Word are the most commonly uploaded file types. These are not documents with any sensitive client information. These are documents that anyone can download from your CPA website.

Popular documents to link to on your CPA website are forms that you want your clients to fill out. These forms are usually created and uploaded as a PDF file that the client can print, fill out, and return to you.

If your client has software to edit PDF files then they could fill the form out electronically. The client then uploads the file to their folder within the Secure File Exchange. You get an email when the file is uploaded so that you know it is ready to download.

Older Versions. Having trouble getting the FTP feature to work? Your CPA website may be on our older server. The best option in this case is to migrate to our newer server. This is done at no cost to you and offers greater functionality. Contact support@cpasitesolutions.com or call 800-896-4500 if you are having trouble with FTP or want more information.

Plan on migrating your CPA website later when you are out of a busy cycle? No problem, you just need a third party FTP tool. Some suggestions would be WinSCP or, if you use Firefox, you try the FireFTP add-on.

If you use this option you need to email support@cpasitesolutions.com to get “white listed.” This means we make sure that you have access when you use this feature. Unless you do this last step, you won’t be able to upload any files.

Have some questions on how to use the FTP feature? Send a comment below or submit the question to the CPA Site Solutions new forum.

Your Firm and Client Portal has been upgraded this month. This completely new release is even easier to use and comes with the most advanced security features installed.

Sarbanes-Oxley and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Compliance

The laws governing websites for CPAs, accountants , and other financial services fall under unique privacy laws that other website owners don’t need to worry about. If you are transferring sensitive files into and out of a directory on your website, and you fall under the definition of a “financial service” (this includes, among other things, anyone who prepares taxes) you need to pay very special attention to online security.

If you don’t take good care of your client’s financial data online, you could be fined up to $100,000 for each violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. At that rate, it doesn’t take many violations to completely wipe you out.

At CPASiteSolutions are well aware of the responsibility you have to your clients, which is why our File Exchange System is continually updated. This is, after all, our responsibility to you. As a provider of websites to CPA and Accounting firms it is our job to keep you in compliance with the law, just as it is your job as an accountant to do the same for your clients.

That’s why we just spent more than $37,000 to develop a new portal system to protect you.

What is a Firm Portal?
The firm portal is your access to the secured area of your website. As a firm user you can not only share sensitive accounting documents safely and securely with your clients, you can also modify your website , transfer files into your root directory via FTP, and access your Email Marketing System .

The new portal was designed by a team of high level programmers and security experts. They went through every possible security threat and locked them all down so you can sleep comfortably at night.

In order to be compliant with the Sarbanes-Oxley and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act you need to have an audit trail of every user that accesses sensitive data. You now have a complete log of every access to the portal to keep you in compliance.

The Activity Log is both searchable and downloadable. For example… you can quickly search the log to see the last time one of your clients logged into the Vault File Exchange System. And you also have the ability to export a list of every access into Excel. You may never need to use the Activity Log, but it’s nice to know that it’s there keeping you in compliance.

Password Policies

All of the best security in the world becomes useless if you use weak passwords. It’s your responsibility to ensure the security and confidentiality of your client’s information. So if you allow your firm members or clients to access sensitive financial information with weak (easily cracked) passwords, you are in violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

That’s why we’ve implemented new password policies. You can choose how loose or tight you want your policy to be.

Here are the 3 levels…

Low : Average password strength (6 or more characters) required for all Firm and Client users.

Medium (Default): Strong passwords (8 or more characters with a symbol or digit) required for all Firm Users. But “Average” passwords required for Client Users (6 or more characters).

High : Strong passwords (8 or more characters with a symbol or digit) required for all Firm and Client Users.

The new password policy will be enforced the next time a user signs in. If the user’s password does not currently meet the policy, the user will be asked to change their password (to the stronger version) before logging in.

Firewall Friendly

The previous portal used “non-standard” high ports to enforce Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Security. The new portal uses standard ports for SSL security so you and your clients will not have firewall access issues.

Quickly Import Multiple Clients

The previous portal system required you to manually enter each of your clients. Now, that wasn’t too terrible if you only had to enter a few clients. But if you have hundreds of clients the process was mind-numbing and a waist of valuable time.

That’s why we built a client import system into the new portal. Now it only takes a few seconds to enter hundreds of clients.

Easy-To-Use Intuitive Design

The new portal interface uses simple Control Panel Icons instead of a complex menu system. So adding new users, changing access rights, or simply logging into an application is intuitive and easy.

I hope you like this new secure firm and client portal system we designed for you. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment on this blog or call us.