Cyber Essentials for Accountants

Why accountancy and bookkeeping firms get certified

Accountants hold exactly what attackers and clients care about: financial records, payroll, personal data and access to money. Clients, professional bodies and insurers increasingly expect Cyber Essentials as proof you protect it.

Client due diligence. Larger clients now send security questionnaires before sharing their books; a certificate answers most of it in one line.
Professional-body expectations. ICAEW, ACCA and AAT all push members toward demonstrable cyber security; Cyber Essentials is the recognised baseline.
HMRC and Making Tax Digital. Handling client tax data through MTD raises the bar on protecting it.
Fraud and money movement. Practices are prime targets for invoice and payment fraud; certification covers the controls that block the common routes.

The security benefit is real and worth having. But the honest reason most accountancy and bookkeeping firms certify is commercial: work, funding or clients increasingly depend on it.

Prepared properly, passed first time

We scope it with you, tell you plainly what needs to change, and prepare a clean submission so you pass first time rather than paying to resubmit. You are guided by a certified IASME assessor for both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Assurance, someone who knows exactly what the assessment checks, not an account manager and not a junior with a checklist.

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment against five technical controls, certified annually. Cyber Essentials Plus covers the same five controls but adds an independent, hands-on technical audit of your systems: the level a growing number of buyers now specify. We will tell you which one your buyers actually require, rather than pushing the higher tier by default.

What it covers

Five controls that block the great majority of commodity attacks: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control, and malware protection. Straightforward for most organisations, provided someone tells you honestly what needs changing before you submit.

How it works

Certification is largely remote, so it adds no travel to your invoice. We agree the scope with you, we help you get the controls in order and support you through the assessment on the IASME portal. Where Cyber Essentials Plus applies, the technical audit is scheduled around you. Turnaround is days rather than weeks when your controls are already in order.

Where it fits

For most accountancy and bookkeeping firms Cyber Essentials is the right first step. Where clients or funders want evidence of more than the baseline, Cyber Assurance is the next rung and stands in for ISO 27001 at SME cost. If you hold anything genuinely sensitive, test it with a proper penetration test.

Common questions

Will Cyber Essentials help us keep and win clients?

Increasingly, yes. Larger clients and referrers now ask whether their accountant is certified before handing over financial data, and it is becoming a standard line in professional due-diligence.

Do we need Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus?

Whatever your buyer specifies. Many requirements accept Cyber Essentials; larger clients, primes and some public bodies require the audited Plus. We check the actual wording rather than pushing the higher tier by default.

How quickly can we be certified?

If your controls are already in order, Cyber Essentials can often be turned around within days. If they are not, we tell you exactly what to fix first. See our urgent certification page if you are against a deadline.

How do you actually help us get certified?

We scope it with you, tell you plainly what needs to change, help you close the gaps, and — with a certified IASME assessor for both schemes guiding you on exactly what the assessment checks — get you through it first time rather than resubmitting.