Most CPA firms do not need every Thomson Reuters product. They need the right combination of tax preparation, accounting, depreciation, workpaper, planning, payroll, and practice management applications.
For many accounting firms, that combination comes from the Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite. The real question is not how many applications you can buy. It is which applications support your firm’s actual workflow and how your team will access them reliably during tax season.
What Is Thomson Reuters Tax Software for Accounting Firms?
Thomson Reuters provides several different product families for tax, accounting, legal, corporate, and research professionals.
Moreover, for CPA firms and tax practices, the most relevant product family is usually CS Professional Suite. It includes applications for professional tax preparation, client accounting, payroll, depreciation, workpapers, tax planning, time and billing, document management, and firm workflow.
Thomson Reuters organizes the suite across accounting and auditing, tax and asset management, payroll, firm management, document management, client portals, and hosted access.
This article focuses on those applications because they are the products most closely connected to the daily work of CPAs, accountants, tax preparers, bookkeepers, and accounting-firm managers.
Which Applications Are Included in CS Professional Suite?
A firm can use selected CS Professional Suite applications or combine several products into a connected tax and accounting environment.
1. UltraTax CS
UltraTax CS is Thomson Reuters’ professional tax preparation application. It supports tax-return preparation and connects with other CS Professional Suite and Onvio products across data collection, preparation, review, and return delivery.
It is generally suited to firms preparing individual, business, estate, trust, federal, state, local, and multistate returns.
2. Accounting CS
Accounting CS is professional accounting software for firms serving multiple clients. It includes write-up, trial balance, financial statements, payroll, and related client accounting functions. It can support firms providing bookkeeping, client accounting services, payroll processing, financial reporting, and year-end accounting work.
3. Workpapers CS
Workpapers CS combines trial balance and tax workpaper management. It helps staff organize supporting documents, collaborate on engagement files, and maintain a more consistent preparation and review process.
4. Fixed Assets CS
Fixed Assets CS helps firms track assets, calculate depreciation, manage additions and disposals, and maintain asset information for tax and bookkeeping work.
It is especially useful for firms preparing returns for businesses with significant depreciable assets.
5. Planner CS
Planner CS supports multi-year tax planning and scenario analysis. Tax professionals can use it to compare possible outcomes and help clients plan beyond the current filing season.
6. Practice CS
Practice CS is practice management software for tracking time, billing, and other firm activities. It helps firms monitor the business side of tax and accounting engagements rather than focusing only on return preparation.
7. Accounting CS Payroll
Accounting CS Payroll supports batch-oriented payroll processing for accounting firms handling payroll for multiple clients. Other Thomson Reuters applications may also support document management, client portals, audit workflows, signatures, and firm operations.
How Do Thomson Reuters CS Applications Work Together?
The main advantage of CS Professional Suite is the ability to support several stages of a client engagement within a connected application environment. Hence, a typical firm workflow may look like this:
- Accounting information is prepared or reviewed in Accounting CS.
- Trial balances and supporting files are managed through Workpapers CS.
- Depreciation information is maintained in Fixed Assets CS.
- Tax returns are prepared in UltraTax CS.
- Future tax scenarios are evaluated in Planner CS.
- Time, billing, deadlines, and firm activity are tracked in Practice CS.
The exact workflow depends on the products licensed by the firm, application configuration, integrations, client requirements, and internal processes.
Also, using applications from the same suite does not automatically eliminate every manual step. The firm still needs clear data-entry responsibilities, naming conventions, user permissions, review procedures, and application configuration.
Which CS Professional Suite Applications Does Your Firm Need?
The answer depends on the services your firm provides.
Tax-focused firms
A firm primarily preparing tax returns may consider:
- UltraTax CS
- Fixed Assets CS
- Planner CS
- Workpapers CS
UltraTax CS handles return preparation, while the supporting applications can help with depreciation, planning, workpapers, and review.
Client accounting and payroll firms
A firm providing bookkeeping, payroll, and financial reporting may use:
- Accounting CS
- Accounting CS Payroll
- Workpapers CS
- Practice CS
This combination can support recurring accounting work, payroll processing, trial balances, billing, and engagement management.
Full-service CPA firms
A larger or more diversified firm may use:
- UltraTax CS
- Accounting CS
- Fixed Assets CS
- Workpapers CS
- Planner CS
- Practice CS
- Document and client portal applications
Therefore, the correct selection should be based on workflow, not simply firm size. Before purchasing another product, identify where staff re-enter information, lose time switching systems, wait for files, or struggle to see the current status of client work.
What Is the Difference Between CS Professional Suite, Onvio, ONESOURCE, and Checkpoint?
These are all Thomson Reuters products, but they are built for different types of work.
- CS Professional Suite supports the tax, accounting, payroll, asset, workpaper, and practice management needs of accounting firms.
- Onvio provides cloud-based firm management, document, project, time, billing, and client collaboration capabilities for accounting firms.
- ONESOURCE is primarily designed for corporate tax departments and larger organizations managing areas such as income tax, indirect tax, tax provision, global trade, and multinational compliance.
- Checkpoint is a tax and accounting research and guidance platform.
Thomson Reuters lists Onvio, ONESOURCE, and Checkpoint as distinct brands alongside CS Professional Suite.
A CPA firm researching UltraTax CS therefore has a different requirement from a corporate tax team researching ONESOURCE or a tax professional looking for research material in Checkpoint.
Is CS Professional Suite Cloud-Based?
Some CS Professional Suite applications are Windows-based applications that can be accessed through a hosted environment.
Thomson Reuters offers Virtual Office CS, which provides online access to CS Professional Suite applications and selected Microsoft products but users have reported multiple downtime scenarios and excessive costly. Firms may also use a third-party managed hosting provider, alternative to Virtual Office CS like OneUp Networks when they require:
- A customized server environment
- Remote access for office and home-based staff
- Hosting for several accounting applications
- Greater control over users and resources
- Managed infrastructure and security
- Backup and disaster recovery planning
- Technical assistance outside normal office hours
The software and hosting are separate. A firm must own or purchase the appropriate Thomson Reuters licenses. A hosting provider supplies and manages the infrastructure but does not replace the software license.
When Should a CPA Firm Consider Managed Thomson Reuters Hosting?
Managed Thomson Reuters hosting may be worth considering when the local or existing hosted environment is becoming an obstacle to tax work. Common signs include:
- UltraTax CS or related applications slow down when more users log in.
- Remote staff struggle with inconsistent access.
- The firm’s server is aging or approaching replacement.
- Internal staff spend too much time managing updates, backups, and security.
- Applications and client files are spread across separate computers or servers.
- Seasonal employees need access without receiving unrestricted network permissions.
- The firm lacks documented recovery targets or a tested disaster recovery plan.
- IT support is difficult to reach during evenings, weekends, or filing deadlines.
Moving an application to a server does not automatically solve performance problems. CPU, RAM, storage IOPS, server location, user count, application placement, internet quality, and profile configuration can all affect the user experience.
A hosting environment should therefore be designed around the firm’s peak workload, not only its average number of users.
Can QuickBooks and Other Accounting Applications Run With CS Professional Suite?
QuickBooks, Microsoft Office, Sage, document tools, tax applications, add-ons, and other supported business software may be hosted alongside CS Professional Suite applications after compatibility and licensing requirements have been reviewed.
A unified environment can be useful when staff regularly move between UltraTax CS, QuickBooks, Accounting CS, Office applications, PDF tools, scanners, printers, and client documents.
However, every application should not be placed on the same server without planning. The hosting provider should review:
- Application versions
- Network and server licensing
- Database requirements
- User permissions
- Storage usage
- Printing and scanning needs
- Add-ons and integrations
- Peak concurrent users
- Vendor support requirements
OneUp Networks supports environments in which CS Professional Suite applications can operate alongside supported accounting applications such as QuickBooks.
What Should a Firm Review Before Moving Thomson Reuters Applications?
Before migration, document the current environment and how the firm works during its busiest period.
Ask:
- How many people use the applications at the same time?
- Which CS Professional Suite applications are installed?
- Which QuickBooks, Microsoft, Sage, document, or third-party tools are also required?
- Where are the application data and client files stored?
- Which printers, scanners, PDF tools, and multiple-monitor setups are essential?
- Who currently installs application and operating-system updates?
- How often are backups created?
- When was the last successful backup restoration test?
- How long could the firm operate without access to UltraTax CS?
- Are seasonal users added and removed through a documented process?
- Does the firm have defined recovery time and recovery point objectives?
These questions help determine the server architecture, storage, access method, security controls, backup plan, and migration schedule.
How Does OneUp Networks Support CS Professional Suite Firms?
OneUp Networks provides managed cloud hosting for properly licensed Thomson Reuters applications, including UltraTax CS, Accounting CS, Fixed Assets CS, Practice CS, Planner CS, and other supported applications.
In short, the environment can be designed around the firm’s users, workload, remote access requirements, accounting software, add-ons, data, printing, scanners, and tax-season demand.
OneUp Networks manages the technical environment, including:
- Server setup and management
- Security monitoring and patching
- Application environment support
- Multi-factor authentication and access controls
- Backup and disaster recovery planning
- 120-day rolling backup retention
- Onsite and offsite backup copies
- User onboarding
- Application and data migration
- Performance monitoring
- 24/7 technical assistance
OneUp Networks can also help coordinate technical issues with Thomson Reuters and other software vendors when a problem involves both the application and the hosted environment.
The migration process covers discovery, architecture planning, server preparation, application installation, data transfer, testing, user onboarding, go-live, and post-migration support.
Nevertheless, your firm continues to own and maintain its Thomson Reuters software licenses. OneUp Networks hosts and manages the licensed application environment.
Build a Thomson Reuters Environment Around Your Firm
The best Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite is not the one with the longest software list. It is the one that helps preparers, reviewers, accountants, and firm managers complete work without unnecessary re-entry, slow remote sessions, disconnected files, or constant IT interruptions.
OneUp Networks can host your licensed CS Professional Suite applications, QuickBooks, Microsoft tools, add-ons, and client data within one managed environment built for your firm’s workflow. Check CS Professional suite guide for more details on individual apps.
Read Also:
