Eight state CPA associations have signed deals with LeapFile, a company that provides secure file transfers, to offer some of its services to their members for free.
The company said that CPA societies in Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, South Dakota and Wisconsin have joined the partnership program for its SecureSend service. It is also in talks with CPA associations in other states, and has a deal with Sage Software. The service allows CPAs to securely transfer files, such as QuickBooks data, to their clients. LeapFile charges extra for the ability to receive files from clients and other features.
"It's free for all the members of the association to sign up," said LeapFile director of marketing Tony Yang. "Accountants deal a lot with confidential files that they need to send back and forth with clients. A lot of CPAs tend to do that by e-mailing the files, but that may not be the most efficient way to do it. Also, if you're sending a large file through e-mail, there may be some file size limitations on the CPA's end. Whoever they're sending it to may also have some file size limits as well."
The service allows CPAs to avoid having to call clients to make sure they have received the files. It functions as an alternative to not only e-mail, but also FTP sites and expensive courier services, Yang noted. LeapFile has already set up a site for the Maryland Association of CPAs at
The service is free for sole practitioners, and single users within firms, who belong to the eight state CPA associations. However, LeapFile charges extra for more than one gigabyte of file transfers per month, as well as for firm-wide accounts, file-sharing portals for clients, and the ability to receive files. The company shares revenue with the CPA societies for the optional services its members elect to buy.
