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Challenges of Managing Accounting Data

The safety of customer data is a business-critical issue for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs).  In addition to regularly processing tax returns for individuals, CPAs handle returns for small and large businesses, and any delays in returns due to data loss result in serious penalties and other ramifications, for the accounting firm as well as for the business client. 

Tape backup has traditionally provided the means by which accounting firms protect their IT infrastructure, but in the era of digital information, usage quickly outgrows storage capacity and tape backup becomes grossly inefficient.  For protecting large volumes of critical data, tape is simply too problematic:

• Tape is unreliable, with failure rates as high as 20% to 50% for data recoveries
• Backup tapes remain vulnerable to physical damage or theft
• Tape backup is slow, labor-intensive and results in large backup windows, costing your firm productivity and profitability from the administrative overhead

Complete Data Protection for Accounting Firms

CRC’s online backup offers CPAs and firms many immediate advantages over tape backup.  First and foremost, our Enterprise Data Backup & Recovery securely transfers data offsite to a fully redundant, disaster-hardened data storage facility, ensuring the integrity of your information.

CRC’s online backup works differently from other backup and restore processes.  It doesn’t require that you install and run software on each and every machine.  Instead, an authorized administrator-user can protect an unlimited amount of servers, databases, desktops and laptops from a single point using agentless backup technology.  It eliminates the grossly inefficient process of backing systems up to individual tapes and having them shipped offsite via truck to a tape library, and frees up valuable human and network resources to improve your firm’s productivity.

Some of the technical features of CRC’s online backup service include:

• Two (2) Secured, Redundant Data Centers
• N+1 Hardware Grid for Backup Performance
• Continuous Data Protection for More Current Recoveries
• WAN-Optimized Architecture for Reduced Backup Windows
• Hot Database Backup for Protection of Online Systems

Achieving SOX Compliance for CPAs

Additionally, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation passed in 2002 resulted in the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which now oversees regulation, registration and inspection of all CPAs.  The PCAOB saddled accounting firms with new challenges that compounded the inherently difficult task of internal auditing.  CRC DataProtection addresses those challenges with features optimized to help accounting firms achieve regulatory compliance:

• Record Alteration or Destruction – CRC’s long-term archival process creates digital certificates for destruction of data, creating a clear audit trail for any manipulation of data
• Retention of Complaints – CRC DataProtection provides for the long-term retention of relevant complaint records in file servers or databases
• Production of Records – Electronic financial records are kept current, are backed up, and are available for retrieval or restore at the touch of a button
• Message-Level Restore – CRC DataProtection provides fine degrees of specificity in data recovery, to the level of a single email communication for maximum compliance

By virtue of the fact that it is designed for maximum usability and audit control, accounting firms gain credibility and peace of mind simply by utilizing CRC’s SOX-compliant Enterprise backup & recovery solution.

Reduce CPA Data Backup Costs While Gaining Enhanced Levels of Protection

CPAs simply get better protection of accounting and financial data with CRC’s online backup than with tape.  Critical customer data is always safe, and always available, and with remote management of data backup processes, accounting firms save administrative overhead while reducing disaster risk significantly.

If you or your accounting firm wants to implement a more reliable accounting disaster recovery strategy while reducing costs, contact us today. Evaluate our service, and we’ll show you just how easy it is to guarantee that your most valuable business asset - information - is always available, no matter what.