CBS client - switching accountants - Scenario A

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Product support for the Creative Solutions Accounting platform ended on September 30, 2020.

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Before you begin, you must either transfer the client's CBS license from the former accountant to your own firm or obtain a new license for the client under your own firm's name. (For help with either option, contact CS Customer Service.)

After retrieving the client's CBS license via CS Connect, you will need to provide your client with a transfer disk that contains the new license information.

Ask the client and/or former accountant to provide you with all of the following:

  • The accountant's latest CSA backup of the client database.
  • The accountant's latest system backup file of CSA global data (if the client uses CBS PayCheck or CBS CheckWriter payroll).
  • The client's latest backup of CBS company data files. If the client uses CBS version 99.x or lower, you should ask the client to also provide CBS system files. (It is recommended that you save the client's backup disk in case you need to refer to the historical data.)
  • Any unprocessed CBS data (export data, backup data, and so forth).

Procedure

  1. If the client has been using CBS PayCheck: Begin by completing preliminary steps a-e below. Otherwise, skip to Step 2.
    1. In CSA, create a backup of your own system data (which you will need to restore in Step d below).
    2. Choose File > Restore to restore the global system data from the backup files provided by the client's former accountant.
    3. Choose Utilities > Global Payroll Item Listing to print a list of the payroll items that have been set up by the client's former accountant. Be sure to mark the checkboxes to include all information (all pay items, deduction items, and withholding items, plus W-2, tax treatment, and other optional information). You will need to use this report to determine the properties of the payroll items that are currently being used by your new CBS client.
    4. Choose File > Restore to restore your own CSA system data from the backup file that you created in Step a above.
    5. Choose File > Restore to restore the backup of the CSA client data provided by the client's former accountant.

      Note: The CSA client ID must match the CBS client ID. When you restore the data, the application will create the CSA client using the same ID as that assigned by the client's former accountant. The client ID must be unique.

      If during the restore process CSA finds an existing client with the same ID, the application will display a message prompt requesting permission to overwrite. Click the No button, open the existing client, and temporarily rename the existing client (using the File > Rename command in CSA). You may then continue to restore the new client's data into CSA.

  2. In Accountant's Assistant, retrieve the data from the client's latest export files.

    If the client has been using CBS PayCheck: The application may display a message prompt informing you that the client has added payroll items and so forth. It is recommended that you print the PayCheck Item Diagnostic Report and then add the missing payroll items. In any case, you should use the Global Payroll Item Listing that you printed in Step 1c above to verify whether or not the client is using payroll items in the same way that you have defined them for use with your other CSA clients. (That is, the new client may have one or more payroll items that use names already defined in CSA but that do not have matching properties.)
  3. In CSA and Accountant's Assistant, review and verify or change the setup for the client as desired.
    • If you choose to use the same client setup (Chart of Accounts, and so forth) that was used by the client's former accountant, you can begin processing the client's data as is.
    • If you choose to change the client's Chart of Accounts setup in CSA, you will need to verify that the correct GL account numbers are being used in each of several areas in CSA, Accountant's Assistant, and CBS. Click here for more details.

      Note: If you change the Chart of Accounts for an existing CBS client, the client will be able to create new transactions using the new Chart of Accounts. However, the changes will not affect existing or historical transactions. Any open transactions in the client's application will continue to use the accounts specified when the transaction was saved. Furthermore, any historical data will be reported using the account numbers assigned when the transactions were originally saved.

  4. After restoring and processing any remaining CBS export data, if you renamed an existing client in Step 2 above because the new client has been using the same client ID, you should assign the new client a unique ID.
    • Instruct the client to change the ID in the Accountant's Co ID field in the File > Company Properties > General tab to match the new client ID.
    • After you have renamed the new client, you can change the existing client ID back to its original using the File > Rename command in CSA.

Return to: Setting up a CBS client that is switching from another accountant

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