Secure file sharing for accountants is decided in the week before a filing deadline, when clients send tax documents by whatever means is nearest and the firm sends returns back the same way. This page says what file sharing for accountants must do so that client records stay inside a log, how cloud storage for accountants compares with a portal, why file sharing for law firms follows the same rule with a matter number instead of a client year, and how a single file sharing for accountant practice differs from a five-partner firm. The free document capture worksheet on this site sizes the backlog; Batesio Pro keeps the portal for $19 a month.
The tax season problem, and the portal that solves it
Clients send W-2s and statements by email, text and photo, and the firm sends returns back as attachments, so by April the firm's most confidential documents are spread across a hundred inboxes it does not control. A client portal turns that into one upload page per client and one download link per return, each logged. The firm's document keeper can see which clients have uploaded and which have not, and the file arrives numbered and filed rather than as an attachment called scan.pdf.
Cloud storage for accountants against a portal
Dropbox publishes its Standard team plan at $15 per user per month with 3 TB for the team and Advanced at $24 with 15 TB, and either holds the firm's files perfectly well. What storage does not do is give the client a place to upload without an account, log the client's open of a return, or carry a retention date. A portal on top of the storage does those, and a firm needs both: the storage for the files, the portal for the sharing and the record. File sharing for law firms is the same shape with a matter number rather than a client year on every page.
One accountant, or five partners
A single file sharing for accountant practice can run on a portal, a numbering rule and a retention rule written on one page. A five-partner firm needs the same three plus the log that says which partner's staff opened which client's file, and an export the firm can hand to its own adviser. Batesio Pro is $19 a month for the whole firm either way: the client portal, the Bates number on every page, the access log and the retention record, on top of whatever storage the firm already uses.
Questions people ask about secure file sharing for accountants
Is Dropbox secure file sharing for accountants?
It is secure storage. The portal that lets a client upload without an account and logs their open of a return is the sharing layer on top.
How do we get clients to use the portal instead of email?
One link per client to their own upload page, no account, and a note in the engagement letter that returns arrive by portal link.
Does file sharing for law firms need something different?
The same portal and log, with the matter number on every page instead of the client year.
What does Batesio cost for a five-partner firm?
$19 a month for the whole firm, no per-user fee; storage is whatever the firm already pays for.