Add and manage users

If you have more than one person working in your business, you may need to add more users.

Here we explain:

  • Adding a user

  • Setting up access levels

  • Editing a user

  • Removing a user

Before you begin

To invite users to:

  • Accounting, you must sign in as the business owner (the person who signed up) or a user with System Manager access.

  • Payroll, you must first sign in as the business owner.

If you have existing Accounting users and add a Payroll to your subscription, they do not automatically have access to Payroll. The business owner must give users access to Payroll. Once a System Manager has access to Payroll, they can add other users.

Add a user

To add a new user:

  1. From Settings, select User Management.
  2. Select Invite User.
  3. Enter the user’s email address, then Save.

  4. Select whether you want the new user to have System Manager access. System managers have access to the User Management area too, so they can set up new users.

    Note: Only the business owner and new users with System Manager permissions can set up new users.

  5. Select the level of access you want your user to have. For Accounting, you can specify access levels for each area. For Payroll, you specify the access level for the whole application.
  6. Save the changes.

Once saved, if it's a new user, they get an email inviting them to Sage Business Cloud. The first time a user signs in, they’re prompted to specify and confirm a password.

If it's an existing user, they only need to log in.

Once a user has logged in for the first time, a tick is added to the Activated column. You can also see the date they last logged in.

Access levels

Additional users can be given different levels of permission for specific areas of Accounting. For Payroll, additional users can be given Full Access or No Access.

The full list of access levels is as follows:

  • Read Only – The user can view data but they can’t enter, amend, or delete anything.
  • Restricted Access – The user can enter quotes, invoices, credit notes, payments and receipts. Access to the Journals, Settings and Statutory Reporting options defaults to No Access.
  • Full Access – The user has full access to all areas except Business Management, which is only fully available to the business owner.
  • No Access – The user has no access to the specified area and can’t view any data.

These options are available when adding or editing a user, in the Accounting - Advanced Permissions or Payroll - Advanced Permissions sections.

Note: If you change the permission level from the Role drop-down, this changes the permissions for all the Accounting and Payroll advanced permissions.

To find out about how access levels affect what tasks you can do, select an area to find out more.

Accounting access levels

Read-only

  • Can view all entries but can’t make changes.

Restricted access

  • Can enter invoices and credit notes but can’t void them.
  • Can edit or delete draft invoices only.

Full access

As restricted access plus:

  • Can void or edit invoices and credit notes.

You can’t edit an invoice or credit note if it has been reconciled for VAT.

Restrictions

  • To record a payment on an invoice, the user must have either restricted or full access to Banking.
  • Users with no or read-only access to contacts can choose contacts when creating an invoice or credit note. If necessary, they can manually override the address but this doesn’t alter the contact record.
  • They can also choose products or services for the invoice or credit note, but can’t create any new records from within the invoice.
  • If a VAT scheme hasn’t been entered a user with full access must enter this in Settings. In the Financial Settings section, click Accounting Dates & VAT then click Accounting Dates and VAT Details before another user can create an invoice or credit note.

Read-only

  • Can view all entries but can’t make changes.

Restricted access

  • Can enter invoices and credit notes but can’t void them.
  • Can edit or delete draft invoices only.

Full access

As restricted access plus:

  • Can void or edit invoices and credit notes.

You can’t edit an invoice or credit note if it has been reconciled for VAT.

Restrictions

  • To record a payment on an invoice, the user must have either restricted or full access to Banking.
  • Users with no or read-only access to contacts can choose contacts when creating an invoice or credit note. If necessary, they can manually override the address but this doesn’t alter the contact record.
  • They can also choose products or services for the invoice or credit note, but can’t create any new records from within the invoice.
  • If a VAT scheme hasn’t been entered a user with full access must enter this in Settings then in the Accounting Settings section Financial Year & VAT before another user can create an invoice or credit note.

Read-only

  • Can view contact details but can’t make any changes.

Restricted access

  • Can add or edit contact details.

Full access

As restricted access plus:

  • Can add or edit contacts.
  • Send statements.
  • Delete contacts.

You can’t delete a contact record with transactions.

Restrictions

  • If a user has no access to Sales, Purchases or Banking, they can still view customer activity but they can’t see the transaction details.

Read-only

  • Can view all (stock and non-stock type) product records.
  • Can view all service records.
  • Can view the Category list.
  • Can view existing stock adjustments.

Restricted access

  • Can enter and edit all (stock and non-stock type) product records, but can’t delete them or edit prices.
  • Can enter and edit all service records, but can’t delete them or edit prices.
  • Can enter, edit and delete categories.
  • Can create new stock adjustments.

Full access

  • Can enter, edit and delete all (stock and non-stock type) product records.
  • Can enter, edit and delete all service records.
  • Can edit prices.
  • Can enter, edit and delete categories.
  • Can create and edit stock adjustments.

Restrictions

  • Access levels to other areas have no effect.

Read-only

  • Can view all entries but can’t make any changes or enter any transactions.

Restricted access

  • Can enter payments, receipts and bank transfers.

Full access

  • Can enter payments, receipts and bank transfers.
  • Can reconcile bank accounts.
  • Can pay into bank from the cash in hand account.
  • Can access bank records.
  • Can view bank account balances.

Restrictions

  • If the user has no access to sales, purchases or journals, they can view the bank activity but can’t view transaction details.
  • If they have no access to contacts, they can select the contact when recording payments or receipts, but can’t view the contact record.

Read-only

  • Can view journals but can’t make any changes.
  • Can view Correct transactions history but can’t make any changes.

Restricted access

  • No access.

Full access

  • Can create, edit, delete and manage journals.
  • Can create, and view Correct transactions

Restrictions

Access levels to other areas have no effect.

Read-only

  • Can view all reports.

Restricted access

  • Can view customer and supplier reports depending on their access to the Sales and Purchases areas.
  • A restricted user has no access to management reports.

Full access

  • Can view all reports.

Restrictions

  • To view management reports, users must have read-only or full access.
  • To view customer reports such as the Aged Debtors Report, users must have access to Sales.
  • To view supplier reports, such as the Aged Creditors Report, users must have access to Purchases.

Read-only

  • Can only view and amend user settings.

Restricted access

  • Can only view and amend user settings.

Full access

  • If the user is a primary user they can view or edit all settings. If they’re not a primary user but are marked as a System Manager they can view or edit all settings apart from Service Settings and Billing Settings. If they’re not a System Manager, they can only view and amend user settings.

Restrictions

  • Access levels to other areas have no effect.

Read-only

  • Can view statutory returns.

Restricted access

  • No access.

Full access

  • Can create, adjust and file returns online.

Restrictions

  • If the user has no access to Sales, Purchases, Banking or Journals, they can run a VAT Return but can’t view details of the transactions.

The following tasks require a user to have full access:

  • File a VAT Return or any other statutory forms online
  • Adjust a VAT Return
  • Make changes to your business or financial settings
  • Enter journals
  • Reconcile a bank account
  • View management reports
  • Access bank records
  • View bank balances

Payroll access levels

For Payroll, you can either set a user's access level to Full Access or No Access.

Edit an existing user

  1. From Settings, select User Management.
  2. Select the relevant user, then amend their details as required.

The business owner cannot be edited.

Remove a user

  1. From Settings, select User Management.
  2. Select the delete button next to the relevant user name, then click Yes when prompted.

The business owner cannot be deleted.