Secure Client Portals for Accounting Firms and Clients

When you’re looking for the best client portal software out there, your first choice should be a cloud-based system. Some accountants don’t trust cloud-based software and prefer to use on-premises software, but while that made sense in the early days of cloud computing when secure systems weren’t in place yet, modern cloud-based software is increasingly safer than on-premises software.  

Mango Practice Management is a cloud-based system designed by accountants for accountants. There are numerous benefits to working with cloud-based software. If you have remote employees, they can access the software from anywhere. This also means your clients can use their client portals wherever they’re at: on their smartphones while walking their dog, or on their iPad while catching up on tasks at the end of the day. They can pay you as soon as they receive an invoice in their client portal software, and you get paid in minutes instead of days. 

Other cloud-based software benefits include: 

• All of your company’s information is in one place, so you can access what you need from anywhere for all your project management needs 
• You won’t experience backup failures from a hard drive on the fritz because your organization’s data is stored safely behind encryptions in the cloud 
• Sensitive data won’t be lost due to natural disasters in your area 
• Easier to scale software tools as needed to grow with your firm 
• 24/7 monitoring of your systems so that hackers are caught immediately before any customer data becomes stolen 

One of the best reasons to adopt client portals is to improve your client relationships. Mango’s secure customer portal software offers powerful collaboration tools to offer better communication so users can tailor their experience at your firm to meet their needs. 

• Recurring billing: If clients don’t want to worry about paying invoices on time, they can store their payment information in the customer portal. Instead of manually invoicing them, you can automatically charge the amount owed (or the agreed-upon retainer fee) every month. 

• Secure file sharing: A client may not want to call you with every single question that they have. Upload sensitive financial documents to the client portal with secure file transfers so they can look through them and check the status to answer their questions as needed. 
• E-signature: It’s a hassle to have to drive to your office to sign a document or send a signed document back through secure mailing services. When you use customer portals, clients can sign documents through the portal and send them back to you in minutes. Plus, there will be no signing errors because they won’t be able to send the document back unless every area is filled out correctly.  
• Secure messaging: Send messages and update progress through the client portal so all communication remains safe. 

Plus, Mango offers multiple software tools designed to improve client experience, including project management tools, document management software, task management workflows, and time and billing software. Utilize all the products you need to run your accounting firm in one comprehensive software. 

Mango takes security seriously so you can build strong relationships with your clients. We use 256-bit, bank-level encryption to secure all of your files and folders, the same encryption used by U.S. security agencies to keep top-secret files out of the wrong hands. On top of this, we use advanced firewalls to add an extra layer of protection to our cloud-based software. 

An important part of our client portal software is our e-signature functionality. To make these signatures secure and legally binding, Mango conducts an audit trail that tracks and compiles unique identifying information for your client, including: 

• IP addresses 
• OS and browser information 
• Geographic coordinates 
• Time and date stamps 

These steps guarantee that you can always validate the identity of the signer and prevent tampering. 

To top it off, our ACH processing within the customer portal is secure, tokenized, encrypted, and fully PCI compliant. We ensure that your clients feel safe storing their financial information in our client portal. 

Client portals outperform regular email every time. First of all, if you’re sending sensitive documents through Gmail or another insecure platform, you may be putting your clients’ information at risk. When you use email, you can try to encrypt it and password-protect the file, but your clients will likely forget the password that you told them (or worse, write it down somewhere and compromise the security of the document).  

A client portal is a secure place where clients can receive and send documents. They only have to know their portal password, which they control and can reset on their own if needed.  

Another concern with using email is that file sizes of accounting documents can be quite large. If you try to send it over email, it may be too big, load slowly, or say it’s loaded when really it has only sent a portion of the document. Client portals like Mango have unlimited storage sizes, so you can upload as many large documents as you need.  

Yes! 

Mango’s client portal can be accessed from anywhere on our mobile apps, and you don’t need WiFi to use it. Check documents in the portal from your home, the car, or even a sporting event. You can securely share or add files and pull up documents needed to answer questions quickly for a client. Take that personal day with the peace of mind that you can handle a client crisis from afar if necessary. 

While it’s not fun to have to take a work call when you’re off the clock, sometimes it’s unavoidable. That’s why Mango’s client portal function works on mobile devices. Save pertinent financial documents and upload multiple files to the customer portal at once, so if a client is in crisis, you can answer their questions quickly and get back to enjoying your personal time. 

The client portal accepts many popular forms of payment, so your clients can choose what’s best for them. Mango accepts all major credit cards and they can link their bank accounts to pay straight from their checking or savings accounts.  

With the addition of ACH payments, you and your clients can set up recurring invoicing so that a retainer fee or other amount can be taken out of a client’s account automatically each month. Skip the hassle of trying to track down payments and offer automation through retainer invoicing to speed up the billing process. 

When you handle taxes for clients, you must comply with current state and local regulations. Mango Practice Management helps you plan in advance for changes and ensure that your firm stays compliant by using our software. 

For example, in June 2018, the state of California signed the California Consumer Privacy Act. This act required companies to reveal what data they’re collecting from California residents, if they’re selling that data to private entities, and give clear opt-out options for data sharing if people were uncomfortable with how their data was sold. 

This had a significant impact on accounting firms. They had to follow additional requirements including categorizing personal data and ensuring reasonable security practices were in place. Mango helped accounting firms prepare with our encrypted customer portal software. This made data much harder to access and protected it from being sold by websites and other businesses.  

When you use our secure client portal, you protect your clients from hackers and other nefarious sources who want to take their information. This allows you to stay compliant with standards and practices in your area. Plus, we’re always on the lookout for new laws that affect accounting firms so we can offer data security solutions to keep your business compliant. 

Mango offers multiple types of support to meet your needs in the best way possible. If you want to call with a question, you can reach our support agents by phone at 877-520-1525 ext. 2 or by email at support@mangopractice.com. Our business hours are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (EST) Monday through Friday, and we’re closed on the weekends. If you leave a voicemail over the weekend, we’ll get back to you ASAP on Monday. 

Sometimes, you need more personalized help than just a phone call. If you need us to look at your screen while you ask your questions, you can create a meeting for a Mango technician to access your computer.  

We also offer scheduled training sessions to ensure you’re making the most of your client portal experience and the rest of the great software features that Mango offers. Stay on top of the learning curve by checking out our support site for the current list of scheduled trainings and signing up for the ones that interest you.