Cybersecurity Exemptions for Orgs with Less than 5,000 Clients

You may be off the hook, but not out of the woods.

By Donny Shimamoto

Management consulting company AON described an exemption for some of the FTC requirements for firms that handle the personal identifiable information (PII) of less than 5,000 consumers.[i]

The Safeguards Rule provides an exception from certain requirements if the covered financial institution maintains customer information concerning fewer than 5,000 consumers. A consumer is defined in Section 314.2(b)(1) of the Safeguards Rule as “an individual who obtains or has obtained a financial product or service from the financial institution that is used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, or that individual’s legal representative.”

MORE:  How Hacker-Proof Is Your Firm? | Unleashing the Power of Technology: Transforming Accountants into Trusted Advisors | Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA FirmsStaff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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Essentially if you handle less than 5,000 social security numbers, then it would appear that you can take advantage of this exemption. AON went on to report that if you fall under this exemption, then you do not need to address the following requirements:

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How Do Firm Leaders Learn?

The four essential pillars for continuous learning

By W. Michael Hsu, CPA

As a firm leader, you know that you need new software, services, processes, and tactics…something that is going to take your firm to the next level. But how do You get there?

MORE W. MICHAEL HSU: Seven Principles to Work Less and Achieve MoreHow Do Firm Leaders Learn?Why Your Approach to CAS and CFO Services Is WrongWhen it Comes to Pricing, it’s About ‘Can’t Afford Not To’Your Client Base Is Global |

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The tools and processes you use to get you to the next level have to come from or are signed off by You. So, who is teaching you? If you took the leap into a new service area and don’t know where you will land, you can’t turn to staff. They are looking to You for the answers.

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In “AiCCOUNTANTS,” Hitendra Patil Demystifies Artificial Intelligence for Accountants

Learn More | Buy Now

How to make artificial intelligence work in the real world.

By CPA Trendlines Research

CPA Trendlines senior advisor and best-selling author Hitendra Patil is launching his latest book, “Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS™ – Accountants Augmented by Artificial Intelligence (AI) | The What, Why, and How of Artificial Intelligence for Accountants,now available in paperback or Kindle editions here.

MORE: How Much Advice Should Your Firm Provide? | Battling CAS Cost Pushback | Will My Clients Find CAS Expensive? | CAS: Much More than Bookkeeping | You Don’t Need a CAS Sales Pitch | Get Clients to Toot Your CAS Horn | Seven Ways to Market Your CAS Offering | How to Choose Your CAS Processes | Nine Ways to Measure Client Experience | Twelve Clues It’s Time to
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One of the accounting profession’s top 100 most influential, Patil is a weekly columnist at CPA Trendlines, and author of “Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide,” available here, and “Accountaneur,” here.

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16 Steps to Creating a Partnership Path

BONUSES: 12 questions to ask staff about the future. Advancing from staff to senior to manager.

By Marc Rosenberg
How to Bring in New Partners

“I think nothing is more important than what a firm does to create partners. I mean from Day 1 of someone’s career. Or maybe when a person is identified as a star. It’s critical what the firm does to nurture that person so that they become a partner someday.” – Harry Steindler, partner, MichaelSilver (Chicago)

MORE: Nine Ways to Measure Staff Performance on the Path to Partner | Three Types of Skills You Need to Become a Partner | Seventeen Basic Expectations of Partners | Nine Ways to Woo a Prospective Partner
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Here is what the best firms do to create a path to partnership. These practices are not ranked strictly, but items at the top of the list are more common and effective than those toward the bottom. However, all the items are important.
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Five Ways to Increase Audit Efficiency

Keep your financial statement audit off the naughty list.

By Sarah Timmons

Timmons

Sarah Timmons is a chief auditor with AuditClub.cpa, which provides on-demand audit and assurance review support for work papers, financial statements and engagement quality control reviews, as well as quality control and training services, and more to audit departments of CPA firms of all sizes.

As December flies by and busy season quickly approaches, it’s time to reflect on the successes and shortcomings of the past to plan for the first quarter of the new year.

MORE: Six Benefits of an Internal Audit | The Ten Financial Controls That’ll Make You a Hero | Five Cash Reports You Can’t Live Without | When an Audit Is a Great Thing
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Effective and efficient audits are the result of proper planning and, most of all, communications – with your staff, your client and, sometimes, your therapist.

Here is a checklist of some simple tasks to help make the audit season a bit less stressful:

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