Security overview

Show expandable text

We moved!

Help articles have been migrated to the new Help and Support. You can find help for your products and accounts, discover FAQs, explore training, and contact us!

Before your staff can begin using Accounting CS in your firm, you must set up an account on the CS website for each staff member who will use the application. The CS Professional Suite application security overview topic explains the security measures we have taken to ensure that your clients' information is protected.

As an administrator, you can use the security features in Accounting CS to create custom security groups. Each group can have unique permission settings that are specific to a set of tasks or roles within your firm. Then, by assigning individual staff members to one or more security groups, you can restrict access to various features of the application as needed; staff members are able to access only the parts of application that are relevant to the security group(s) to which they have been assigned.

Administrator options

Set up an account on the CS website for each staff member who will use Accounting CS.

Enable firm-level security from the Preferences tab of the Setup > Firm Information > Firm screen so that a staff ID and password are used to open the application.

Set up security groups in the Setup > Firm Information > Security Groups screen. Groups can be set up with a focus on task-specific, payroll-specific, and accounting-specific areas of the application.

Assign one or more groups in the Security tab of the Setup > Firm Information > Staff screen to individual staff members.

Notes

  • After firm security has been enabled in the application, it cannot be disabled.
  • The administrator security group cannot be changed or deleted. All firms must assign the Administrator Security Group at least one staff to ensure that all areas of the application can be accessed.
  • You must enable Firm security on the Preferences tab of the Setup > Firm Information > Firm screen. After you enable firm security, you must exit the application and reopen it to enable access to all the security screens and tabs that are outlined in the following table.
Security level Menu navigation Function Comments
Firm Setup > Firm Information > Firm screen Enable security for the firm in the Preferences tab A staff ID is required when the staff opens the firm database, but the password field can be left blank.
Client

Setup > Clients > Staff Access tab

or,

Setup > Firm Information > Client Staff > Client Access tab

Add, edit, and delete firm staff or client staff (for Client Access).

Grant firm or client staff access to all, or selected clients.

A staff member who has been granted access to clients can perform only those tasks that have been granted to the group in which they are a member.
Group

Setup > Firm Information > Security Groups

or,

Client Security Groups screen

Add, edit, and delete security groups for the firm's staff.

Grant privileges for selected groups for general and specific tasks.

Security Groups can be set up based on tasks that members of the group perform and/or other functional criteria.
Staff

Setup > Firm Information > Staff screen

Add, edit, and delete staff for the firm.

Assign staff to be members of one or more security groups.

Staff can access only those areas of the application based on the groups to which they are assigned. 

When staff members are assigned to more than one security group, the application will use the group with the higher security rights.

Was this article helpful?

Thank you for the feedback!