As the tax and accounting profession continues its transition to SaaS (Software as a Service), client data continues its move outside the walls of firms and into the “cloud.” All firms should be concerned about data security and compliance regarding their client’s data. Even though the power, convenience, and cost-effectiveness of SaaS applications is widely accepted, professional standards call for healthy skepticism when it comes to safeguarding client data.

This is nothing new as data security has been a long-time concern within the tax and accounting profession—oftentimes slowing the adoption of SaaS among less well-informed firms. The reality is that data security is reliant not only on the application itself, but also on the vendor’s internal controls for handling the data. Fully aware of the profession’s concerns, many leading SaaS vendors have taken significant steps to ensure security of client data and help firms comply with rapidly changing ethical, legislative, and regulatory mandates.