ShareFile has been selected as the exclusive secure file-sharing partner of BYF.  As part of the partnership, ShareFile customers will be eligible to participate in BYF educational webinars throughout 2013.  These webinars will feature best practices for generating higher profit margins, improving office efficiency and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.  As part of the arrangement, these webinars are not only completely free for ShareFile clients — they count towards CPE credits as well.

Build Your Firm is kicking off their webinar series this month with webinars on topics including how to double industry-average profit margins and how to properly ask for client reviews.

Read more and sign up for a webinar today.

It’s imperative that firm leaders conduct a careful review of their risk in handling confidential client information and ensure that they have appropriate tools and controls in place to manage the risk. It’s critical to understand that email alone, in the absence of additional protective measures, is inherently insecure and inadequate. Transmitting client information via email attachment does not meet the specified legal requirements and fails to live up to the certified public accountant (CPA) commitment to client confidentiality. Alternative means of electronic document transfer must be used.

The Problem of Transmitting Sensitive Client Information: Protection of Confidential Information

For anyone who has ever worked in an accounting firm in any capacity, part of the day one orientation deals with the importance of protecting client confidentiality. CPAs have always, and quite correctly, taken their obligation to safeguard sensitive client information very seriously. In the not too distant past, most of this information existed in paper form, and its transmission was either physical (through the mail or hand delivered) or verbal over the phone. Safeguarding this type of information was relatively straightforward, and most firms had well thought out policies to ensure security. Today, of course, the world is no longer so simple. Firms of all sizes have the prospect of working globally with a highly mobile workforce and client base, and handling information may exist only electronically. Working efficiently in this environment, while still maintaining the highest standards of client confidentiality, is a far more difficult challenge.

To learn more about how to restore security and improve workflow, read this whitepaper on client confidentiality, written by Ken McCall of Boomer Consulting and Laura Ivey of ShareFile. This paper will review some of the major components of the risk associated with handling confidential client information and suggest ways to mitigate it.

Still have questions or want to learn how to protect your clients’ confidentiality? Give us a call today 1-800-441-3453.

Register for a session now by clicking a date below. Each webinar will last approximately 30 minutes.

Wednesday, December 7th 3:00pm EST

Wednesday, December 14th 3:00pm EST

Wednesday, December 21st 3:00pm EST

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Bulk Client & Folder Setup: Your time is already stretched. So, to save a few extra steps, we can help you create your folder structure and users in bulk. With ShareFile’s Bulk Folder Upload option, you can have all of your client users and their portals setup in a single step. Read more here.

Outlook Plug-in: The Outlook Plug-In is an easy way for all of your employees to communicate directly with clients using Microsoft Outlook. With the Outlook Plug-In, you can send files from your desktop, receive files, and even send files that are already stored in your ShareFile account. Learn more about our plug-in here.

Dynamic Folder Templates: This tool allows you to create a default set of subfolders that may be added to new or existing folders on your account to allow for easy folder structure set up when the same subfolders are frequently used. Click here to read more about this new and exciting feature.

ShareFile Desktop Sync: Like most accountants, you probably have a DMS that you use on a daily basis to manage your files. Wouldn’t it be easy if you could extract that data from your DMS into ShareFile? With ShareFile Desktop Sync, you can simply “Save As”, “Print To”, or “Export” directly from your DMS into the folders on your desktop. Get ahead of the curve and learn more about Sync here.

Consolidated Notifications: We realize that keeping up with the activity on your account is a must. However, you are far too busy to sift through hundreds of emails each day. There is a feature in the ‘My Settings’ link of your navigation bar that lets you consolidate those email notifications into a more manageable format. To get more information on this feature, visit our Knowledge Base.

Passwords in emails: As a trusted professional of your clients’ personal information, it is important to provide a high level of security. This feature will send an email to your clients with the password stripped from the email and instructing the clients to contact their accountant for their password. Please contact our support team or your account manager for further details!

Reports: With plenty of items demanding your time, we want to make it as simple as possible to monitor the activity of your ShareFile account. Our reporting tools located in the ‘Admin’ section, will keep you up to date on upload, downloads, and various other activity types. To learn more about our Reporting feature, visit our Knowledge Base

As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions. Thanks again for choosing ShareFile and good luck with the upcoming tax season.

ShareFile for Accountants was specifically designed for Tax & Accounting Professionals to exchange confidential or large business files. Documents are available for encrypted, password-protected download by clients via a custom branded client portal or securely through email with a Microsoft Outlook Plug-in. ShareFile is a 2010 Sleeter Group’s Awesome Quickbooks Add-on Winner and is endorsed by K2 Enterprises, RootWorks, and Boomer Consulting group, among others.

As the nation’s largest network of small business technology consultants, The Sleeter Group has members throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The awards will be formally announced at the 2011 Accounting Solutions Conference in Las Vegas, an annual event that draws hundreds of accountants, bookkeepers, consultants, and IT professionals, providing them with educational opportunities presented by industry experts, thought leaders and technology developers.

“It’s more important than ever for businesses and professional practices to find technologies and services that help them be more efficient and productive,” said Doug Sleeter, the founder and president of The Sleeter Group. “ShareFile for Accountants was selected as one of this year’s Awesome Add-Ons because it allows users to easily send and receive QuickBooks, PDF, and Excel files with SSL encryption. By specifically targeting the file transfer and secure data sharing needs of accountants and their clients, ShareFile has developed a winning, easy-to-use tool for the accounting profession.” Technologies receiving the Awesome Add-Ons recognition are vetted by The Sleeter Group’s consultants to ensure that they meet the highest standards of design, ease-of-use, and conformance with appropriate accounting and security standards.