October 16, 2026
For a 10–30 employee accounting firm in Kentucky, managed IT support from Next Century Technologies typically costs $150–$175 per user per month. At that range, a 10-person firm would budget approximately $1,500–$1,750 per month, while a 30-person firm would budget approximately $4,500–$5,250 per month.
The actual cost depends on your number of users and devices, cybersecurity requirements, Microsoft 365 environment, compliance needs, backup requirements, and existing IT infrastructure.
For accounting firms, however, price shouldn’t be the only question. It’s equally important to understand what you’re getting for that monthly investment and whether your IT provider can protect the firm during tax season, secure sensitive client information, and help you plan for the future.
1. Start With the Per-User Cost of Managed IT
Many managed IT providers use a per-user pricing model because it allows IT costs to scale with the size of the business.
At Next Century Technologies, a typical range is $150–$175 per user per month.
Here’s what that looks like for accounting firms of different sizes:
| Employees | $150/User | $175/User | Approx. Annual Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $1,500/mo. | $1,750/mo. | $18,000-$21,000 |
| 15 | $2,250/mo. | $2,625/mo. | $27,000–$31,500 |
| 20 | $3,000/mo. | $3,500/mo. | $36,000–$42,000 |
| 25 | $3,750/mo. | $4,375/mo. | $45,000–$52,500 |
| 30 | $4,500/mo. | $5,250/mo. | $54,000–$63,000 |
These numbers provide a useful starting point for budgeting, but they are not a quote for every accounting firm. One-time projects, hardware, software licensing, infrastructure changes, and requirements outside the managed-services agreement can affect the total technology budget.
2. Understand What You’re Getting for the Monthly Fee
Two IT companies can quote similar monthly prices while providing very different levels of service. For an accounting firm, managed IT should address more than troubleshooting computers when something stops working. At Next Century Technologies, our approach includes areas such as:
24/7 North America-Based Support
Technology problems don’t always happen between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. This is especially important for accountants working extended hours during tax season. Having access to 24/7 North America-based support gives your team somewhere to turn when an IT problem interferes with their ability to work.
Cybersecurity
Accounting firms possess valuable financial and personal information, making cybersecurity a critical part of the IT strategy. Security should be considered across your users, computers, Microsoft 365 environment, remote access, backups, and other systems—not treated as a single software product.
Microsoft 365 Security
Microsoft 365 may contain email, documents, client communications, and other sensitive information. A managed IT strategy should therefore address how Microsoft 365 accounts are configured, protected, monitored, and managed.
Secure Remote Access
Accounting employees may need to work from home, particularly during busy periods. Remote work should provide employees with the access they need without unnecessarily exposing the firm’s systems or client information.
Backup and Recovery
Backups aren’t valuable simply because they exist. Your firm needs to know whether critical information can actually be recovered when something goes wrong. Backup and recovery planning should therefore be part of the firm’s overall IT strategy.
Compliance Support
Accounting firms also face requirements related to protecting client information. Your technology provider should be able to help you understand and implement the technical safeguards required by your firm’s security and compliance strategy while recognizing that technology is only one part of an organization’s overall compliance responsibilities.
Long-Term IT Planning
Good managed IT isn’t only about today’s help-desk tickets. Your provider should also help your firm anticipate aging equipment, security improvements, technology investments, capacity requirements, and other changes before they become emergencies.
3. Consider the 5 Factors That Can Change Your IT Costs
Why might one 20-person accounting firm spend more on technology than another 20-person firm?
There are five major factors to consider.
Factor 1: Number of Users, Devices and Servers
More employees generally mean more accounts, computers, security requirements, support requests, and systems to manage. But employee count isn’t the whole story. A 20-person firm where everyone works from one office can have different requirements from a 20-person firm with employees working from multiple locations and home offices.
The estimates above does not include any company-owned file servers and/or cloud-based file servers. Many accounting firms still host applications internally, so those costs must be factored in along with the backups for those servers.
Factor 2: Cybersecurity Requirements
The firm’s security environment can affect its overall technology costs. The important question isn’t simply, “Do we have antivirus?”
A better question is:
What layers of protection do we have if one security control fails?
That can include protecting identities, endpoints, Microsoft 365 accounts, email, remote access, backups, and other parts of the environment.
Factor 3: Compliance Requirements
Accounting firms handle sensitive client information. Technology controls may therefore need to support the firm’s broader compliance obligations, including requirements associated with protecting customer information. This can affect areas such as access controls, authentication, data protection, monitoring, backup and recovery, and documentation.
Factor 4: Microsoft 365 Environment
Microsoft 365 is often central to a firm’s daily operations. How it is licensed, configured, secured, and managed can therefore affect the firm’s overall technology budget. An accounting firm should look beyond simply asking whether it “has Microsoft 365” and determine whether the environment is configured appropriately for the firm’s security and operational requirements.
Factor 5: Backup, Recovery and Existing Infrastructure
A firm with aging servers, inadequate backups, unsupported equipment, or other infrastructure problems may need additional work beyond recurring managed IT services. That’s one reason a proper IT assessment is important before comparing providers solely on their monthly price.
4. Compare Managed IT With Break/Fix and Internal IT
Accounting firms generally have three broad ways to handle IT.
Break/Fix IT
With break/fix support, the firm calls an IT provider when something breaks and pays for the work required to fix it. This can make IT spending less predictable because the relationship is largely reactive.
Managed IT
With managed IT, the firm pays a recurring fee for an agreed set of services. The goal is to manage, support, secure, and plan the technology environment continuously rather than waiting for something to fail.
For a 20-user accounting firm, using our typical pricing range, that means roughly $3,000–$3,500 per month, or $36,000–$42,000 annually, for the managed-services portion of the firm’s technology budget.
Internal IT
A firm can also hire its own IT employee or build an internal IT department. That changes the cost structure because the firm becomes responsible for salaries, benefits, recruiting, training, coverage, tools, and the breadth of expertise required to support and secure the environment.
The right model depends on the firm’s requirements. The important thing is to compare the total responsibilities and services provided, rather than comparing a managed-services monthly fee with only one component of another IT model.
5. Build a Realistic Managed IT Budget in 3 Steps
You can get a preliminary estimate for your accounting firm’s managed IT costs with a simple three-step calculation.
Step 1: Count Your Users
Start with the number of people who will require ongoing IT support.
For example:
20 employees
Step 2: Apply the Per-User Range
Using our typical range:
20 × $150 = $3,000 per month
20 × $175 = $3,500 per month
That creates an estimated managed IT range of:
$3,000–$3,500 per month
or:
$36,000–$42,000 per year
Step 3: Identify Costs Outside the Recurring Agreement
Next, determine whether your firm needs additional technology investments. Depending on your environment, those could include hardware, software licensing, infrastructure upgrades, migrations, or other one-time projects. This distinction is important when comparing MSP proposals. If one provider’s quote appears significantly cheaper, don’t immediately assume it’s the better deal.
Ask: What is included—and what isn’t?
A Real Accounting Firm Example
Price matters, but the least expensive technology isn’t necessarily the technology with the lowest total business cost. Next Century Technologies has worked with a Lexington accounting firm that needed changes to its IT environment, including moving away from a remotely hosted server arrangement. By replacing that arrangement with a local server solution, the firm improved system performance while eliminating a $350-per-month hosting expense.
That’s $4,200 per year in eliminated hosting costs.
The important lesson isn’t that every accounting firm should use the same infrastructure. It shouldn’t. The lesson is that an IT provider should look at the firm’s entire technology environment rather than simply adding another monthly service. The right solution depends on how your people work, what applications you use, what information you’re protecting, and what the business needs over the long term.
What Should an Accounting Firm Ask Before Comparing MSP Prices?
Before choosing an IT provider based on price, ask these questions:
- What exactly is included in the monthly fee?
- Is support available 24/7, and where is the support team located?
- What cybersecurity protections are included?
- How will you secure our Microsoft 365 environment?
- How do you support employees working remotely?
- How do backup and recovery work, and how are they tested?
- How do you help with the technology components of our compliance requirements?
- Which costs aren’t included in the monthly agreement?
- How will you help us plan future technology expenses?
- What experience do you have supporting accounting firms?
Those answers make it much easier to compare two proposals fairly.
Managed IT Support for Accounting Firms in Central Kentucky
Next Century Technologies has been in business for over 25 years and is locally owned and operated in Lexington, Kentucky.
We provide 24/7 North America-based support and help businesses with managed services for IT, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 security, secure remote access, backup and recovery, compliance-related technology needs, and long-term IT planning.
For accounting firms with approximately 10–30 employees, our managed IT pricing typically ranges from $150–$175 per user per month, depending on the firm’s environment and requirements.
If you’re evaluating your current IT provider or trying to determine what your accounting firm should budget for IT, the next step is to evaluate your current environment and determine exactly what would—and would not—be included in your managed-services agreement. Learn more about our managed services for Accounting & CPA firms here.
