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Accounting Software and Web Development

Accounting Software Development for CPA and Advisory Firms That Move Clients to Signed Engagements

DeveloperLook is an accounting software development company for CPA, tax, and advisory firms. We set up TaxDome and Karbon, build secure client portals, and design the websites and search programs that bring in clients.

  • 2X

    Faster new-client onboarding

  • 100%

    Logins and client data in your name

Book a free call

Industry leaders we work with

  • TaxDome
  • Karbon
  • Canopy
  • Ignition
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Xero
  • Stripe
  • DocuSign
  • Wealthbox
  • Salesforce
  • WordPress
  • Webflow

The Problem

Every New Client Gets Retyped Into Tool After Tool

The gaps rarely sit inside one product. They sit between your website, your inbox, your portal, and the practice platform your staff open every morning.

  1. Attachments

    Clients email tax documents as plain attachments.

    Attachments

    Clients upload to a portal on your domain, with MFA and encrypted storage.

  2. Retyping

    Staff retype website inquiries into your practice platform.

    Retyping

    Inquiries arrive in Karbon, Canopy, or TaxDome as prospects, answers included.

  3. Vendor address

    Your portal sits on a vendor address clients don't recognize.

    Vendor address

    The portal moves to your own domain, with your logo on the login page.

  4. Proposal handoff

    Accepted proposals still need someone to set up work and billing.

    Proposal handoff

    Acceptance creates the client, the work items, and the recurring invoice schedule.

It's March, and a client emails a scanned W-2 as a plain attachment, then calls to check you got it. Someone saves it to the right folder and chases the missing 1099s by hand. A website inquiry about monthly bookkeeping waits in a shared inbox until someone retypes it into Karbon. Your portal still sits on a vendor address clients don't recognize. And the proposal a client accepted last week still needs someone to set up the work and the billing.

We start by following one new client through your firm: the inquiry, the proposal, the engagement letter, the document request, and the first invoice. Then we fix the handoffs in the order that frees the most staff time. Inquiries arrive in your practice software as prospects, and an accepted proposal creates the client and the work. Documents come in through a portal on your own domain, with MFA and encrypted storage. Where two tools can't talk directly, we connect them through Zapier or their APIs. Where no product fits, we build the missing piece.

  • Files kept out of email

    Clients upload tax documents to a portal on your domain instead of sending attachments.

  • Each client entered once

    An inquiry becomes a prospect, and an accepted proposal becomes the client and the work.

  • Changes timed around deadlines

    We test organizers, reminders, and e-signatures before the filing rush, not during it.

Our Services

Portals, Practice Software, CRMs, Websites, Search, and Security for Your Firm

Start with the handoff that costs your staff the most time: a portal, an Ignition or practice software link, an AI workflow, a CRM, a site, search, ads, and lead programs, or security. Each piece connects to the next.

Portals & Software

01 / 06

TaxDome portals on your domain, Ignition and practice software links, AI for accountants, advisors, insurers, agencies, and MSPs, and portals with MFA.

Need something else? Talk to us

Who We Build For

Stacks Built Around Your Busy Season and Billing Model

A seasonal tax practice, an RIA, and an architecture studio need different pieces first. Choose the tab closest to your firm to see the stack we'd build and a typical timeline.

  1. 01 / 05Tax Practices

    The stack we usually build

    5 services, one project plan

    All services

    1. Website

      CPA Website Design Services

      Tax and bookkeeping pages, booking, and a portal login on every page.

    2. Client portal

      TaxDome Client Portal & Website Integration

      TaxDome on your domain, with organizers and KBA e-signatures for Form 8879.

    3. Local search

      Local SEO Services for Accountants & CPAs

      Your Business Profile, hours, and tax-season posts kept current.

    4. Search

      SEO for Accounting Firms & CPAs

      Pages for business returns and tax planning, tracked by service line.

    5. CRM

      CRM for Accountants

      Prospects tracked to signed engagement letters and tagged by service line.

    Get every return's documents in without email attachments

    Your busiest months run from January to April, and much of that time goes to chasing documents. You need one branded portal for uploads, organizers that send their own reminders, and Form 8879 signed online.

    Tax practices and enrolled agents: You file most returns between January and April. Your staff spend the season chasing documents that arrive as email attachments.

    • Documents uploaded to your portal, not emailed
    • Organizer reminders sent without staff time
    • Form 8879 signed online after identity checks
    Plan this setupTypical timeline: 3 to 10 weeks

  2. 02 / 05Advisory Firms

    The stack we usually build

    4 services, one project plan

    All services

    1. Website

      CPA Website Design Services

      Advisory, CFO, and bookkeeping pages with a retainer tier table.

    2. Proposals to work

      Ignition Integration Services

      Accepted Ignition proposals create the client and the work in Karbon.

    3. Client workspace

      Secure Client Portal Development for CPAs & Firms

      Monthly document requests, e-signatures, and card or ACH invoices.

    4. Search

      SEO for Accounting Firms & CPAs

      Service line pages for CFO and advisory searches, published all year.

    Sell monthly advisory work and set it up without retyping

    You're moving clients from one return a year to monthly bookkeeping, CFO, or advisory retainers. Each new engagement means a proposal, a letter, recurring billing, and a work template, and your staff still build each one by hand.

    Advisory firms and fractional CFOs: You're adding monthly CFO and bookkeeping retainers, but your CPA firm software doesn't pass a signed proposal on to billing.

    • Accepted proposals create the client and the work
    • Recurring billing starts from the signed engagement
    • Advisory pages that bring inquiries outside tax season
    Plan this setupTypical timeline: 4 to 12 weeks

  3. 03 / 05Wealth Advisors

    The stack we usually build

    5 services, one project plan

    All services

    1. Website

      Financial Advisor Website Design Services

      Fee, fiduciary, and Form CRS pages, with a log of each approved version.

    2. Search

      Financial Advisor SEO Services

      Retirement and wealth planning content, reviewed before it goes live.

    3. Client portal

      Secure Client Portal Development for CPAs & Firms

      Client folders behind MFA logins, with a record of every download.

    4. Security

      Cybersecurity for Financial Advisors and RIAs

      A Reg S-P incident plan, customer notice steps, and vendor oversight.

    5. CRM

      CRM for Financial Advisors

      Households and review workflows built, with your planning tools connected.

    Publish pages compliance approves, then book the discovery call

    If you're an SEC-registered adviser, your website counts as advertising under the Marketing Rule, and you keep copies of what you publish. You need fee and fiduciary answers up front, content your CCO signs off, and a secure place for client documents.

    Wealth advisors and RIAs: You need financial services website development your compliance team can review page by page, with Form CRS easy to find.

    • Fee and fiduciary questions answered before the call
    • Planning content logged for compliance review
    • Client documents shared behind MFA logins
    Plan this setupTypical timeline: 4 to 12 weeks

  4. 04 / 05Multi-Office Firms

    The stack we usually build

    5 services, one project plan

    All services

    1. Client portal

      Secure Client Portal Development for CPAs & Firms

      Entity-level access plus Karbon, QuickBooks Online, or Xero links.

    2. Practice software

      CPA Practice Management & Workflow Integration

      Custom API links with webhooks, and open work moved from old tools.

    3. Website

      CPA Website Design Services

      Office pages, with intake sent straight to your practice software.

    4. Local search

      Local SEO Services for Accountants & CPAs

      A Business Profile and location page for each office.

    5. Search

      SEO for Accounting Firms & CPAs

      Office pages and cost per new client by practice area.

    Run intake, files, and billing the same way in each office

    Each office grew with its own inbox, forms, and habits, so partners can't see work in progress across the firm. You need one intake path, one portal, and one client record that every office uses.

    Multi-office firms and regional practices: You've merged with or opened new offices, and each one still takes inquiries, collects files, and bills its own way.

    • One client record across every office
    • Capacity and WIP reports for partners
    • Staff sign in with Microsoft 365
    Plan this setupTypical timeline: 8 to 16 weeks

  5. 05 / 05Architecture Firms

    The stack we usually build

    4 services, one project plan

    All services

    1. Website

      Architecture Firm Website Design

      Case studies, zoomable drawings, and RFP intake with file uploads.

    2. Speed

      Website Speed Optimization

      Image, caching, and script fixes as your portfolio keeps growing.

    3. Search

      SEO Services for Architects

      Project and sector pages that win searches from clients and RFP teams.

    4. Security

      Website Security Audit Services

      Form, plugin, and hosting checks before RFP files start arriving.

    Win commissions with project pages that stay fast

    Your best work lives in photographs and drawings, and a slow gallery hides it. You need case studies organized by sector, full-size images that still load quickly on phones, and an RFP form that collects project files.

    Architecture firms and design studios: You pitch developers and public clients, but your current site shows small, slow images of work that deserves full-size photography.

    • Case studies organized by sector
    • Full-size photos that load quickly on phones
    • RFP details and files collected up front
    Plan this setupTypical timeline: 4 to 12 weeks

Projects We've Built

Finance, Investment, and Architecture Work We've Shipped

Sites and apps from our portfolio for finance, investment, and architecture clients. Open any project to see what we built and who it was for.

View All Projects

Our Process

Five Steps From First Call to Software Your Staff Use

You approve the plan, the price, and every client-facing screen before launch, and we schedule switchovers around your filing deadlines.

  1. We follow one new client through your website, inbox, proposal tool, practice platform, and portal. You get a short list of the handoffs that cost your staff the most time.

What Our Clients Say

What Clients Say After Launch

Feedback from teams we've built websites, portals, and integrations for.

We had a pretty specific idea of what we wanted our website to become, but I wasn’t sure how easily we could explain all of it to a development team. There were quite a few moving parts, and we were working toward a deadline, so I expected a few things to get lost along the way. That never really happened. They understood what we were trying to achieve, kept us updated throughout the process, and got everything ready within the agreed timeline. The final site feels much easier to navigate, works beautifully on mobile, and is noticeably smoother for our customers. It was a huge relief seeing the original idea actually turn into the website we had in mind.

Michael BennettFounder & CEO of Northbridge Consulting01 / 03

  • 1,250+

    Projects shipped

  • 10+

    Years of experience

  • 5 stars

    Clutch rating

  • 5 stars

    GoodFirms rating

  • Excellent

    Trustpilot rating

  • Top 3%

    Upwork Top Rated Plus

  • 1,250+

    Projects shipped

  • 10+

    Years of experience

  • 5 stars

    Clutch rating

  • 5 stars

    GoodFirms rating

  • Excellent

    Trustpilot rating

  • Top 3%

    Upwork Top Rated Plus

Want results like these?

Tell us what you are building. You get a reply within 24 hours on business days, then a written estimate.

Book a free callSend a brief

Overview

What does accounting software development include for a CPA firm?

DeveloperLook provides accounting software development services for CPA, tax, and advisory firms. We put TaxDome portals on your domain, connect Karbon, Canopy, and Ignition, and build secure client portals and firm websites. Single setups start at $550 and take 1 to 6 weeks, scheduled around your filing season.

DEVELOPERLOOK

Project facts · Accounting Software Development for CPA and Advisory Firms

Service
Accounting software development (portals, integrations, AI workflows, websites, SEO, ads, lead programs, reviews, security)
Typical timeline
Setups in 1 to 6 weeks, bundles in 4 to 10 weeks
Platforms
TaxDome, Karbon, Canopy, Ignition, QuickBooks Online, Xero, WordPress, and Webflow
Built with
Next.js, Node.js, AWS, Zapier, and vendor APIs
Experience
10+ years of development experience and 1,250+ shipped projects
Post-launch support
30 days included with every plan
Communication
Calls in US, UK, and AU business hours
Starting price
From $550 USD, fixed scope after a free review

Reviewed 29 Oct 2026 by Saimul Islam

Not a fit

  • Budget under $550

    Your budget is under $550. TaxDome's own team helps US and Canadian firms with client import and a custom domain at no charge. If that covers your case, we'll tell you before we quote.

  • Building a ledger product

    You want to build a full accounting product with its own ledger and bank feeds. That's a software product build, and our SaaS Development Services page is the better starting point.

  • Changes inside tax software

    You need changes inside UltraTax CS, Lacerte, or Drake. We don't modify tax preparation software. We connect the portal and practice tools around it.

  • Only a new website

    You only want a new firm website, with no portal or software links. Our CPA website service covers that on its own, from $1,100.

  • Outsourced bookkeeping

    You need someone to do the bookkeeping or prepare returns for your clients. An outsourced accounting partner does that work; we build the portals and tools your team uses.

  • Still choosing software

    You're still choosing practice management software. TaxDome, Karbon, and Canopy sell that directly, and we connect whichever you pick to your site and onboarding.

  • Only a CRM

    You only need a CRM set up for your firm, with no site or portal. Our CRM for Accountants or CRM for Financial Advisors page covers that on its own.

  • Search traffic only

    You only want more clients from search, with no new site or portal. Our SEO for Accounting Firms & CPAs program handles that on its own.

Not sure we're the right fit?

Book a free call or message us. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team.

Book a free callAsk on WhatsApp

Pricing

Transparent Starting Prices for CPA Firm Software

These are starting points in USD. Your final price depends on your tools, office count, and portal features, and you get a fixed proposal after a free review call.

$500$1k$1.5k$2k$2.5k$3k$3.5k$4k$550$2,000$3,350

Fix one handoff first: an Ignition and ledger setup from $550, a TaxDome portal on your domain from $650, a practice link from $900, or a secure file portal from $1,350.

$550one-time, USD

Get a fixed quote
  • One setup: Ignition, TaxDome portal, practice link, or secure file portal
  • Free review of the workflow it fixes
  • Tested with sample clients before launch
  • Accounts and settings in your firm's name
  • 30 days of support

Recommended

For firms that want a new site whose inquiries become prospects, proposals, and work in your practice software, in 4 to 6 weeks.

$2,000one-time, USD

Get a fixed quote
  • Firm site with up to 8 pages and online booking
  • Website inquiries sent to Karbon, Canopy, or TaxDome
  • Accepted proposals create the client and work
  • Engagement letters e-signed in the same flow
  • Domain, site, and accounts in your name
  • 30 days of support

For firms that also want tax files out of email, with a branded secure portal on your subdomain, in 6 to 10 weeks.

$3,350one-time, USD

Get a fixed quote
  • Everything in Website and Onboarding
  • Branded secure portal on your subdomain
  • Client and staff sign-in with MFA
  • Encrypted folders for each client
  • Log of every view and download
  • 30 days of support

More Industries

Other Industries We Build Software For

Other client-facing firms need the same building blocks: secure intake, client portals, and booked consultations. Browse the other industries we build for.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers on price, timing, building versus buying, the tools firms run, and client data security.

  • With DeveloperLook, setups for a firm start at $550 for an Ignition services and ledger setup. A TaxDome portal on your domain starts at $650, a practice software link at $900, a secure file portal at $1,350, and a firm site with onboarding at $2,000. A full accounting product with its own ledger is a larger build, which our SaaS Development Services page covers. Software vendors bill their own subscriptions.

  • Single setups take 1 to 6 weeks, depending on the tool. A TaxDome portal on your domain takes about 1 to 2 weeks, and a secure file portal takes 4 to 6. A site with onboarding takes 4 to 6 weeks, and adding the portal makes it 6 to 10. We plan switchovers outside your filing rush, so organizers and reminders are tested before clients see them.

  • The term means software fitted to one firm's workflow, by configuring a product you already pay for or building the pieces it lacks. Most firms keep QuickBooks Online or Xero and a practice platform such as Karbon, then add custom portals or links where those products stop. Rebuilding the ledger itself is rarely the right call.

  • Start with one job the software must do well, such as collecting client documents or turning accepted proposals into work. Map the data it touches (clients, entities, engagements, files, invoices), then decide what to buy and what to build. Connect QuickBooks Online, Xero, or your practice platform through their APIs or Zapier. Add MFA, encryption, and access logs, then pilot it with a few clients before launch.

  • Buy the ledger and the practice platform, then build only the gaps between them. QuickBooks Online, Xero, Karbon, Canopy, and TaxDome are mature products that would cost far more to rebuild than to connect. Custom work pays off where they stop: a portal on your own domain, a link from signed proposal to billing, or partner reports across offices.

  • This is a developer who builds or connects the software accountants use for ledgers, billing, and client files. The work covers data models for clients and entities, integrations with QuickBooks Online, Xero, or practice platforms, and security controls such as MFA and encryption. At DeveloperLook, the same team also designs the screens, tests them with your staff, and supports you after launch.

  • A CPA website is the public site of an accounting firm, built to win new clients and send existing ones to the portal. It usually has service pages for tax, bookkeeping, and advisory work, partner bios with credentials, online booking, and a secure upload path instead of email. Our CPA Website Design Services page covers the full build, from $1,100.

  • We connect TaxDome, Karbon, and Canopy, plus Ignition for proposals and QuickBooks Online or Xero for the books. Karbon's API sends webhooks, and Ignition links to Karbon natively on its Pro and Pro+ plans. Canopy's API needs approval and returns client data only. TaxDome connects to websites through its registration forms and Zapier.

  • We build to the controls in IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule. That means MFA for clients and staff, encryption in transit and at rest, and a log of who opened each file. Alerts go out without attachments, so tax files stay inside the portal. Section 7216 limits how preparers use and disclose return information, so we keep it out of review requests and marketing tools.

  • Your firm does: the code, the domain, your TaxDome or Karbon account, and your client records belong to you. Hosting and software accounts are opened in your firm's name, so changing developers later needs no transfer. You get admin access, documentation, and 30 days of support. After that, you can keep us on for changes or hand the runbook to your own IT support.

Saimul IslamFounder & CEO, DeveloperLook

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