Accountant's Assistant Handbook

What makes CBS different from other client 
accounting software? 
There are plenty of other checkwriting and accounting packages on the 
market that are available to small businesses, but CBS is fundamentally 
different from those packages in a number of important ways. 
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Both the CBS software and the marketing concept are designed to
strengthen the bond between you and your clients. After you’ve
purchased a CBS Master License, you can purchase additional CBS
client modules from Thomson Tax & Accounting to provide to your
clients under whatever pricing and support arrangements you choose.
Note: You can update license information both for your own firm’s 
CSA modules and for all of your CBS clients at any time from within 
CSA via download from CS Connect.
®
 
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You decide which CBS features you want to set up for each client. In
addition, you retain control over W-2s, 1099 forms, payroll
reporting, and preparation of professional financial statements.
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Because you are the software provider for your client, we’ve even
included the following features that let you customize CBS for each
client.
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You can use your firm’s own bitmap image as the opening
“splash” screen in place of the default CBS image.
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You can provide a customized help file that your clients can
access from the CBS Help menu.
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You can provide direct access to your firm’s website from the
CBS Help menu.

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Client Bookkeeping Solution Overview 
18 
Accountant’s Assistant Handbook 
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CBS takes advantage of the client data already in your CSA
program. When setting up a new CBS client, you can transfer most
of the setup data, including the Chart of Accounts, vendor
information, and employee information.
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Most accounting software packages for small businesses cannot
accept the client’s “I don’t know” as a data-entry item. With CBS, a
client who doesn’t know the appropriate account number or check
distribution to use for a transaction can attach an electronic note to
you and leave certain fields blank in the data-entry window. When
you retrieve the client’s data, you read the attached notes and then
make any data corrections that may be necessary. Each of your CBS
clients can benefit by being able to record questions as they arise
instead of trying to remember and explain the details of particular
transactions at a later date.
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Most accounting software packages for small businesses do not
easily feed client data back to you; instead they require you either to
re-enter the data or to develop intermediate data bridges in order to
prepare financial statements or annual tax returns. CBS has built-in
provisions for the client to import data from and export data to you,
the accountant.
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CBS accommodates the timing differences between you and your
clients that inevitably arise whenever data must transfer from one
office to the other and then back again. Your clients must be able to
write checks continuously without having to wait for you to update
information in their programs.

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Client Bookkeeping Solution Overview 
Accountant’s Assistant Handbook 
19