Accounting Permissions

Access to Accounting is decided by three things, and a member needs all three:

1. A licence to use Accounting. Accounting is an add-on: the member needs an Accounting seat (see Member access). The seat decides who can open Accounting at all.
2. A role with Accounting permissions (this page). The role decides what they can see and change once they are in.
3. Access to the company, if you restrict members to certain companies.

A seat without Accounting permissions opens nothing, and Accounting permissions without a seat open nothing either. Default roles give managers accounting.view, so the seat is how you keep the books to the people who should see them.

Permissions

Accounting permissions appear under the Accounting module when you edit a role in Settings → Team. See Team for creating custom roles.

There are two all-area permissions:

Permission	Allows
accounting.view	Viewing every part of Accounting
accounting.manage	Changing every part of Accounting, including Accounting settings

And area permissions, for roles that should only reach part of the books:

Area	View	Manage	Covers
Sales	accounting.sales_view	accounting.sales_manage	Invoices, credit notes, write-offs, customers
Purchases	accounting.purchases_view	accounting.purchases_manage	Bills, vendor credits, expenses, landed costs, prepaid expenses, suppliers
Payments	accounting.payments_view	accounting.payments_manage	Payment Entries, allocations, advances
Banking	accounting.banking_view	accounting.banking_manage	Statements, matching, rules, deposits, transfers
Ledger	accounting.ledger_view	accounting.ledger_manage	Journal entries, opening balances, fixed assets, currency revaluation
Reports	accounting.reports_view	—	Every accounting report

A few rules:

• Manage includes view. A role with accounting.purchases_manage can also see purchases.
• Settings need accounting.manage. The chart of accounts, posting defaults, withholding tax categories, companies, member access, numbering, payment terms, and fiscal years are all configured in Accounting settings, which only accounting.manage opens.
• Customers and suppliers follow their area. Customers are Sales and suppliers are Purchases. Payments permissions also let a member see both lists, because payments need them.
• Opening balances need accounting.ledger_manage or accounting.manage.
• Overriding a blocked credit limit is allowed for owners, admins, and users with accounting.manage or accounting.sales_manage.

The Accounting sidebar only shows the pages a member’s role allows, and the server enforces the same rules.

Default roles

Role	Accounting
Owner	Everything
Admin	accounting.view and accounting.manage
Manager	accounting.view
User	None

Custom roles created before Accounting existed were given accounting.view if they could view reports, and accounting.manage if they could manage settings.

Example: a purchasing clerk

A clerk who enters and pays supplier bills, but should not see sales or the ledger:

• accounting.purchases_manage: create and post bills, vendor credits, and expenses, and manage suppliers.
• accounting.payments_manage: pay suppliers.

Their Accounting sidebar shows Overview, Bills, Expenses, Landed costs, Prepaid expenses, Payments, Suppliers, and Customers (visible because payments can be received from customers). Invoices, Banking, Journal entries, Fixed assets, Reports, and Accounting settings are hidden. The Overview figures come from reports, so they need accounting.reports_view to show values.

Then give them an Accounting seat in Settings → Team.

Related pages

• Setting up Accounting
• Plans and add-ons
• Team
• Accounting overview