IT Planning for Accounting Firms Before Busy Season

Busy season puts unusual pressure on an accounting firm's technology. More work happens in less time, seasonal employees may join, remote access increases, software deadlines become less flexible, and a routine support problem can suddenly block time-sensitive client work.

The best time to improve that environment is before workload peaks.

Start 60–90 days before the busiest period

Create a short technology readiness review early enough that equipment can be ordered, software issues can be escalated to vendors, and security changes can be implemented without disrupting deadlines.

Review staffing and onboarding volume

Estimate permanent hires, interns, seasonal staff, contractors, and returning employees. For each role, define the required laptop, Microsoft 365 license, tax or accounting software, shared folders, printers, scanners, remote access, and other application permissions.

Order equipment early enough to configure, secure, and test it before the employee's first day.

Reconcile Microsoft 365 users and licensing

Make sure departing seasonal users were removed correctly, active employees have the right licenses, shared mailboxes have current owners, and new users can access required Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive resources.

Use our Microsoft 365 offboarding checklist when seasonal staff leave.

Test tax, accounting, and document applications

Do not wait for filing deadlines to discover that an application upgrade breaks an integration, workstation, printer, scanner, or remote-access workflow.

Confirm supported versions, vendor requirements, licensing, update windows, and escalation contacts for critical line-of-business platforms.

Review workstation health

Identify aging computers, low disk space, repeated hardware issues, unsupported operating systems, or devices with a history of performance problems.

High-utilization staff should not begin busy season with equipment already near failure or end of support.

Check remote-work readiness

Seasonal staff and employees may work longer hours or from different locations. Confirm that remote access, MFA, internet expectations, managed-device policies, and support procedures are documented.

Review security controls

Accounting firms handle sensitive personal and financial information and can be targeted by phishing, credential theft, payment fraud, and tax-related scams.

Review MFA, endpoint protection, patching, email security, employee awareness, administrative access, and the process for reporting suspicious messages.

Run a phishing and payment-verification refresher

Employees under deadline pressure are more vulnerable to urgent-looking requests. Reinforce how to verify payment changes, document-sharing prompts, tax-related messages, executive requests, and unexpected MFA notifications.

Confirm backup and recovery

Know which systems and data are protected, whether recent backup jobs are succeeding, and what the firm would do if a critical file, server, or application became unavailable during a deadline period.

For critical systems, recovery expectations should be discussed before busy season—not during an outage.

Document vendor escalation

Maintain current contacts and account information for tax software, document-management tools, internet providers, phone systems, cloud services, hardware vendors, and other critical third parties.

The helpdesk should know which vendor owns each issue and how escalation works.

Review printer, scanner, and office dependencies

Even firms that have moved heavily into digital workflows may still depend on high-volume scanning, printing, signature, mailing, or conference-room equipment. Test important devices and supplies before usage increases.

Clarify after-hours support

If employees regularly work evenings or weekends during busy season, understand which support coverage applies outside normal hours. Distinguish full helpdesk availability from critical-incident response and 24/7 monitoring.

See what 24/7 IT support actually means for a clearer breakdown.

Freeze unnecessary change near critical deadlines

Avoid elective migrations, major software changes, or infrastructure redesign immediately before the most time-sensitive period unless the change is required to correct a greater risk.

Create a busy-season readiness checklist

• Users and seasonal staffing confirmed
• Devices ordered and configured
• Microsoft 365 licenses and permissions reviewed
• Tax and accounting software tested
• Critical devices checked for lifecycle issues
• MFA, endpoint protection, and patching verified
• Employee security refresher completed
• Backups reviewed
• Vendor contacts documented
• After-hours support expectations confirmed

Two Factor's Managed IT for Accounting Firms combines employee support, Microsoft 365, cybersecurity, devices, vendors, and planning so busy-season readiness is part of normal IT operations rather than a last-minute project.