If you're a bookkeeper or accountant managing books for multiple clients, AccountEdge is built for how you work — but a few things are worth knowing up front so your setup scales cleanly across clients instead of becoming ten slightly-different snowflakes.
Company files: how multi-client works
Each client is a separate company file. Your AccountEdge subscription includes 10 company files, with additional files available at $10/file/month. Files are independent — separate charts of accounts, separate preferences, separate everything — so one client's mess never touches another's books.
A habit that pays off: standardize what you can. Use a consistent account-numbering convention and naming pattern across client files. Future-you, opening a file you haven't touched in three months, will know exactly where everything is.
Getting client data in
Coming from Client Accounting Suite (CAS)? There's a dedicated import path at File › Import Data › Client Accounting Suite — the Client Accounting Suite (CAS) Import User Guide walks through the CCH export, both import methods, and the post-import linked-accounts review.
Coming from QuickBooks, Sage 50, or Xero? Route through the Switching to AccountEdge collection — it covers the per-client conversion decision (DIY import vs. professional migration).
Everything else (spreadsheets, other software): Importing Your Data into AccountEdge.
How clients can work with you
You don't need to be the only person in the file:
AccountEdge Connect lets a client enter sales, purchases, and timesheets from a browser, syncing back to the desktop file you manage. You keep control of the books; they handle day-to-day entry. What is AccountEdge Connect?
Sending files back and forth works too for lighter arrangements — see Send Company File to Someone — but establish who has the "live" copy, because merging two divergent copies of a company file isn't possible.
The Partner Program
AccountEdge offers a Partner Program for accounting professionals. If you're managing several clients, it's worth reviewing before you buy licenses piecemeal.
Your setup path per client
For each new client file, the sequence in Setting Up AccountEdge in the Right Order applies — accounts, then cards, then linked accounts, then tax codes. As a professional you'll move through it faster than a first-time owner, but the linked-accounts check especially is worth never skipping: it's the step that determines whether the client's reports make sense later.
One more professional habit: set the administrator password on every client file (the default is none) and keep your own record of them. You're the custodian of other people's financial data.
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