Portlets overview

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The dashboards in Accounting CS can be populated with a variety of portlets, which provide a snapshot of various pertinent information about your firm, staff, and clients. You can decide which portlets should appear on your dashboards and arrange the layout of the portlets you choose to display. To add portlets to a dashboard, use the Select Portlets dialog.

Portlets may display summaries of data in Accounting CS, including reports, time entry information, client information, your email and calendar, staff availability, FileCabinet CS documents, and more. Some of these portlets also serve as links to data, reports, or other information.

Notes

  • For easier viewing, we recommend that you create a separate portlet view for any portlet that contains information that lists multiple tabs, fields, or images (such as the Payroll & Filing Information portlet).
  • When present, click the maximize maximize button button in the title bar of the portlet to maximize it within the dashboard. To restore it to its previous configuration, click the dashboard icon in the Navigation pane or choose it from View command menu.

Available portlets

The following table lists the portlets that are available for selection in the Home, Firm, Staff, and Client dashboards.

There are a number of portlets that are available in the Workpapers Dashboard. (You must be licensed for Workpapers CS and have the appropriate security privileges set up to activate this service.)

There are a number of portlets that are available in the Bank Feeds Dashboard.

Portlets

Dashboards

Home Firm Staff Client
Account Analysis
Displays the same information that you can create in the Account Analysis - Two Year Comparison report in the Report Designer. To view data in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to access the Actions > View Account Activity dialog.
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Account Balances
Displays account balances for the selected client. To view data in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to access the Actions > View Account Activity dialog.
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Accounting CS Library
Provides a number of custom reports, financial statements, and letters that you can preview and print or import directly into the Report Designer and Print Reports screen.

See Using the Accounting CS Library to import reports, financial statements, and letters for details.
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Aged Payables

Enables you to view the status of current and overdue payables in the form of a pie chart.

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Aged Receivables

Enables you to view the status of current and overdue customer receivables in the form of a pie chart.

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Bank Account Information

Displays bank account descriptions and balances.

Note: To view information in this portlet, you must have the appropriate security privileges to view checks, deposits, payroll checks, and payments in the Actions > Enter Transactions screen.

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Checkpoint

Opens the Checkpoint login page. If you choose to have Checkpoint remember your username and password, you will be logged in automatically.

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Client Access Processing Notifications

Displays the following notifications of actions completed by client staff in Accounting CS Client Access.

  • The posting period has been changed.
  • A payroll batch has been entered via the Enter Batch Payroll Checks screen.
  • A note has been added to a transaction.
  • A bank account reconciliation has been finalized.

Note: You can assign a staff member to review the event and set the status from Not reviewed to In review or Dismissed.

For more information, see Updating the Client Access Processing Notifications portlet.

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Client Information

Displays client information such as business address, phone numbers, email and website information, processors, and reviewers.

Note: If you have the appropriate security privileges, you can click the portlet title to open the Main tab of the Setup > Clients screen.

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Complete Payroll Output Monitor

Displays the status of payroll processes including the time started, staff name, number of clients, and the following status conditions.

  • Printing selected checks. Displays this status until payroll checks and any manually selected items from the Vendors tab or Payroll Liabilities tab have finished printing successfully.
  • Printing liabilities, invoices, and reports. Displays this status until liabilities, invoices, and any reports selected in the report profile have finished printing successfully.
  • Completed - Date and Time. Displays this status when all print cycles listed above have printed successfully.
  • Failed. Displays this status when a process has failed before printing is complete.

    Note: You can click the Ellipsis button next to the Failed status to open an error log and view details about the error. If assistance is needed, you can send the error log to Thomson Reuters for analysis.

See the Complete Payroll Output section of the Automating payroll tasks topic.

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CS Home Page

Opens the home page of our website.

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Employees

Displays employees for the selected client. To view the information in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to access the Setup > Employees screen.

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Engagement Binder Portlet

Enables you to roll forward multiple Tax Return binders at the same time. (Note that only binders with a Tax Return type are listed.) This is helpful for firms that process high volumes of tax returns for their clients. This portlet displays the client ID and name, current status, and period end date of the binders for all clients.

To roll forward binders, mark the checkbox next to the engagement binders to roll forward, update the Binder name and Period end dates, and then click the Roll Forward button.

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Engagement Binder Status

Displays the Engagement Binder name, type of engagement, status, period end date, report release date, completion date, and days remaining. This is same information that you can create in the Engagement Binder Status report in the Report Designer.

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FileCabinet CS Documents

If you are a licensed user of FileCabinet CS, this portlet displays a drawer of your choosing. To change the default drawer, right-click within the portlet and choose Options.

To display a specific document within the selected drawer, navigate to that document and double-click it. (Click the Back button to return to the dashboard.)

To open the FileCabinet CS browser, click the title bar of the portlet.

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Help & How-To

Opens the Browse subjects page for Accounting CS in the Help & How-To Center, offering quick access to information you need while using the application.

To launch this portlet page in your browser window, click its title bar.

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Income Statement - Actual vs. Budget

Displays the same information that you can create in the Income Statement - Current Year - Budget - Variance financial statement in the Report Designer.

Note: To view the information in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to view the information in the Actions > View Net Income/Loss dialog.

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Internet Filing

Includes links to relevant websites for information and electronic filing.

To add another link of your choosing to this portlet, click the portlet title bar and then navigate to the desired location.

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Net Income - Actual vs. Budget

With minor changes to the totals Income Statement - Current Year - Budget - Variance financial statement in the Report Designer, you can create a similar chart in the Report Designer.

Note: To view the information in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to view the information in the Actions > View Net Income/Loss dialog.

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Notices

Displays product alerts and important update release information. When the application is opened, the notification system will automatically notify staff members when an alert has been posted to the Notices portlet.

Included in a single Payroll section of the portal are Payroll and Payroll (After-the-Fact) alerts. (For example, alerts may be issued regarding future tax table updates or payroll tax form updates.)

Notes

  • The Notices portlet is activated on the Home Dashboard by default.
  • Alert notifications can be disabled for individual staff members by marking the Disable alert and update notifications checkbox in the Setup > User Preferences dialog.
  • In the updates section of the portlet, recent CS Connect updates are listed indicating that an update is available for download. You can click the available link to apply the download and read the advanced User Bulletin for the update. (This section does not apply to Virtual Office CS users as all updates are applied automatically and bulletins can be viewed at any time from the News portlet.)
  • Payroll alerts are available for all users that are licensed for Payroll Compliance.
  • Payroll and Accounting alerts can be filtered by Federal, State, or general. A drop-down filter list appears when more than one type of alert is available in the application. For example, if payroll alerts are posted for OH and MI, both of those states are listed in the drop-down filter list. But, if only a single payroll alert is posted, a drop-down filter list is not necessary.
  • The Accounting Updates section of the Notices portlet provides information about updates that are available for download or when updates are ready to be applied. (Your login account must have the appropriate privileges to download and apply updates. If you do not have the appropriate privileges, you can still view the update notifications as necessary.)
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Payroll Tracking

Tracks the status of each payroll batch that needs to be run for the day and enables you to manually enter data related to the payroll. For more information, see Using the Payroll Tracking portlet.

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PPC

Opens the PPC login page. If you choose to have PPC remember your login name and password, you will be logged in automatically.

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Resources

Displays a list of links to important resources such as help topics, PDF guides, Forms CS catalogs, user bulletins, application download information, support tools, and other relevant links.

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Revenues and Expenses

Displays the same information that you can create in the Revenues and Expenses financial statement in the Report Designer.

Note: To view the information in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to view the information in the Actions > View Net Income/Loss dialog.

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Solutions

This portlet enables you to add shortcuts to your dashboard.

Right-click within the portlet and choose Add from the context menu. Then navigate to appropriate file, select it, and click Open to add a shortcut to the application within this portlet.

Note for Virtual Office CS users: Right-click within the portlet, choose Add from the context menu, and then navigate to the X:\PCSSolutionsPortlet folder. Here you will have shortcuts to any applications available to you from Virtual Office CS.

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Source Document Processing Status

Enables you to view the status of source documents or to transmit and retrieve source documents in the engagement binder for all clients without launching the Workpapers Dashboard.

Note: This portlet is available only if you are licensed for Accounting CS Workpapers and have the service enabled for the client.

For details, see Using the Source Document Processing status portlet.

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Staff Availability

Enables you to view the current status of firm staff (For example, in or out of the office, at lunch, in a meeting, and so forth).

To update your own status, click the Update Availability button.

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Staff In/Out Availability

Enables you to indicate your current status (For example, in or out of the office, at lunch, in a meeting, and so forth).

Select the appropriate item from the Availability field and, if appropriate, indicate the time you will return and any additional comments.

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System Information

Displays information about the workstation you are using, including specifications for the hardware, operating system, and various applications.

To send this information to CS Support, click the title bar of this portlet.

Note: This portlet is not available in the Virtual Office CS or Software as a Service environment.

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Tax & Accounting Blog

Opens the Tax & Accounting Blog page of our website.

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Tax & Accounting Community

Opens the Tax & Accounting Community page of our website.

Note: If you opt for the Tax & Accounting Community to remember your name and password, you will be logged in automatically.

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Tax & Accounting Events

Opens the Events page of our website.

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Tax & Accounting Newsletters

Opens the newsletters page of our website.

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Tax & Accounting Press Releases

Opens the Press Releases page of our website.

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Vendors

Displays vendors for the selected client. To view information in this portlet you must have the appropriate security privileges to access the Setup > Vendors screen.

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Web Browser

Opens the default browser to your Home page within the dashboard, enabling you to browse the internet or your network.

Note: This portlet is not available in the Virtual Office CS or Software as a Service environment.

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