While the use of client portals is most frequently associated with the transfer of tax documents, their potential scope extends far beyond that.

In addition to serving as client extranets, portals can offer better content management and collaboration tools to accounting firms, in addition to aiding in document retention requirements and securing private data.

Experts say that by utilizing client portals, a CPA firm not only gains a secure electronic storage space, but also bi-directional file exchange capabilities that ease delivery and reception of client documents.

"Portals are an exciting area for growth," said Brian Zeve, managing director of the professional services industry at Microsoft.

Zeve explained that portals serve to bring a team together in a virtual environment by aiding in enterprise content management, virtual collaboration and client engagement. "It is something of an evolution," he said.

Experts say that portals ease the user experience by distilling down the complexity and security of content management via their use, while allowing delivery and access through multiple locations. Zeve pointed out that while content management has traditionally been slow, portals allow users to communicate in real time.

CLIENT HUBS

Craig Witty, chief legal administrative officer at global CPA and business advisory firm Grant Thornton, which uses Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server, said that the firm utilizes portals in the form of what it calls "client hubs" - versions of its client sites through which clients can access their documents.

Witty described those hubs as "gateways" for the firm's clients. Client documents can be copied, shared and updated through the hub, or portal, which makes it easier to track the hundreds of documents. "Through that hub, the client can get access," he said. "We can manage multinational clients with the same basic system."

At the end of the client engagement, the internal engagement team can see all the documents because the portal provides access to several levels of oversight.

"The client portal is very engagement-specific," said Shawn Ivey, director of technology strategy and architecture for Grant Thornton. The client sites are unique to the client as well as being secure, Ivey added.

COMPLIANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Managing all sorts of engagements through the use of client hubs also helps in the critical legal and compliance arenas, particularly in regulatory mandates that dictate the archiving guidelines for workpapers. Portals offer tightened security and client data protection.

In addition, technology experts point out that an increasing number of states are enacting laws governing the transfer of sensitive customer information, such as tax returns, through unencrypted e-mail.

As a result, more firms are opting for secure portals, as opposed to implementing more complicated data encryption processes.

Client portals can also cover gaps that may exist with other document retention and tracking methods that are not centralized.

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