Accounting for Cloud
What is the approach when auditing your SaaS provider? Did you create a check-list?
Cloud computing is getting a lot of attention in the tax & accounting world. Whether as a freshly incorporated SME business or an established practice with decades of experience, you are waking up to the reality that without adopting SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, you may essentially not be in business at all.
Practically every area of your field is enjoying some kind of automation through software be it accounts production, accounts audit, tax return preparation, company statutory records maintenance & forms lodgement, trust and pension fund administration, statistical sampling in forensic accounting, and insolvency management & reporting.
Any new SaaS product will quickly become your daily operating tool for many years
Taking the time to research and acquire the best applications means choosing a supplier with software that is transparent in usage and efficiently integrates with other systems and software. Crucially, however, it must satisfy your overriding concern that wherever your applications and data are offsite, the internal as well as external transmission channels are secure.
NCSC’s guidance on risks of adopting a range of popular SaaS applications is a helpful tool
For cyber criminals, SMEs are an entry point into larger corporations as the integrated digital system grows and becomes a more complex network. SMEs are encouraged to connect with internal systems of myriad companies they interact with and indeed most departments within an organisation. It is the tax & accounting professions which often have access to the most sensitive data.
There are many exciting accounting applications available and in following the “SaaS Security Principles” created for users by the National Cyber Security Centre, we recommend you undertake their assessment approach when considering subscribing to cloud software.
Our Memo provides further insight.
