What should an accounting firm ask before choosing an IT provider?

Three beyond the usual: whether they have supported accounting practices through a busy season, what specifically changes on their side during your peak, and who would own your tenant, your domain and your data. The generic questions matter too; these are the ones that separate providers for a firm.

Seasonal experience is worth probing because the context genuinely differs. A provider who has worked with practices knows that October is not a month for migrations, understands why a slow machine matters more in the peak, and does not need the retention obligations explained. One without that background can still be excellent, and the test is whether they ask about your calendar unprompted or wait to be told.

Then the practical questions that reveal how the relationship will feel. What is the response arrangement for something urgent and what does urgent mean in their definition. Who answers, and are they local. What is included in the monthly fee versus billed separately, since project work billed hourly on top of a managed fee is where budgets surprise firms. And what onboarding involves, because a changeover during the wrong month is a bad idea regardless of who is doing it.

Two more that firms skip and should not. Ask for two references from practices your size and ring them, because in a market this size that is easy and unusually candid. And ask who owns your tenant, your domain and your data, and whether you would hold administrative access, since the answer determines how difficult leaving would be. If you would like to ask us those questions, call 1800 456 567.