Roles and Permissions
What you see in Al-Mohaseb depends on who you are. This page explains how that works, lists the permissions Al-Mohaseb adds, and shows how to ask for more access when a menu or a button is missing.
Roles and permissions in plain language
- A permission allows one thing, such as View the chart of accounts or Manage the business profile. Each menu item and each button checks for a permission.
- A role is a named bundle of permissions, such as Administrator or Bookkeeper. Your administrator gives each user one or more roles.
- You get every permission of every role you have.
A screen also needs its feature to be turned on. A feature is one part of the product, such as Accounting. If a feature is off, nobody sees its screens, whatever their role. Only administrators turn features on; see Features and settings.
Why menus differ between people
Two people at the same business see different menus because:
- Their roles differ. A bookkeeper sees Books; an administrator also sees Settings, Tools and Access Control.
- Features differ by business. A business that has not turned a feature on has no menu for it.
The built-in roles
The Administrator role has every permission, including every permission below. Al-Mohaseb gives no permission to any other role automatically, so your administrator creates the roles your business needs, such as Owner, Bookkeeper or Cashier, and picks their permissions in Access Control > Roles.
Permissions Al-Mohaseb adds
The names below are the ones your administrator sees in the role editor.
| Permission | What it allows | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Manage the business profile | Open and change Settings > Business profile. | Accounting |
| View the chart of accounts | Open Books > Chart of accounts and see the list of accounts. | Accounting |
| Manage the chart of accounts | Open, add, change and delete accounts. It includes View the chart of accounts. | Accounting |
| View journal entries and the trial balance | Open Books > Journal entries, Books > Recurring entries, Books > Periods and Books > Opening balances, the Trial balance report, and view every entry. | Accounting |
| Enter, post and reverse journal entries | Enter journal entries, save and delete drafts, post entries and reverse posted ones, and set up, pause and delete recurring entries. It includes View journal entries and the trial balance. | Accounting |
| Close and reopen periods and enter opening balances | Close periods and reopen the latest closed one on Books > Periods, and enter Books > Opening balances. | Accounting |
| View the daily sales | Open Sales > Daily sales and see every day. | Sales & receivables |
| Enter and change the daily sales | Enter, change and clear the daily sales. It includes View the daily sales. | Sales & receivables |
| View credit sales, customer balances and other income | Open Sales > Credit sales and payments, Customer balances and Other income, and every customer statement. | Sales & receivables |
| Enter credit sales, customer payments and other income | Record, change and delete credit sales, payments and other income. It includes the view permission. | Sales & receivables |
| View bills, vendor balances and 1099 totals | Open Purchases > Bills, Vendor balances and 1099 totals. | Purchases & payables |
| Enter bills and pay vendors | Enter, change and delete bills and vendor payments. It includes the view permission. | Purchases & payables |
| View background jobs | Open Tools > Jobs and follow every job's progress. | Accounting |
| Manage background jobs | Cancel, pause, resume and requeue jobs. It includes View background jobs. | Accounting |
Customers, vendors, vendor categories, sales categories, sales tax exemptions and payment methods use the content permissions the role editor lists under each of them, such as List Customer content items, Create Vendor and Edit Vendor for others. See Customers and Vendors.
Some permissions include another: a person with Manage the chart of accounts can also view it, even without View the chart of accounts.
Suggested roles
These are starting points. Your administrator can adjust them for your business.
| Role | Permissions to give it |
|---|---|
| Owner | Manage the business profile; Manage the chart of accounts; View journal entries and the trial balance; View background jobs |
| Bookkeeper | Manage the chart of accounts; Enter, post and reverse journal entries; Close and reopen periods and enter opening balances; Enter bills and pay vendors; Enter credit sales, customer payments and other income; View background jobs |
| Staff (cashier, manager) | View the chart of accounts; Enter and change the daily sales; Enter credit sales, customer payments and other income |
The role editor also lists View sensitive identifiers in clear text. No screen uses it yet: the EIN is always shown masked.
Ask for access
If a menu, a button or a setting described in this manual is missing for you, send your administrator a message like this one:
I need to (what you want to do, for example "add accounts to the chart of accounts") in Al-Mohaseb. The User Manual says this needs the (permission) permission and the (feature) feature. Could you add the permission to one of my roles, or turn the feature on?
Every feature page in this manual lists the permission and the feature it needs, in the table at the top of the page.