---
title: "Roles and Permissions"
space: "Books"
url: "https://docs.frappe.io/books/roles-and-permissions"
updated: "2026-10-05"
---

Frappe controls who can open Frappe Books and what each user can do. You give access with roles.

## Roles

| Role | Use |
| --- | --- |
| Books User | For staff who record daily work, such as sales, purchases, payments, and stock. |
| Books Manager | For owners and accountants. A Books Manager can do all the work in Frappe Books, see the accounts and the financial reports, and change the settings. |
| System Manager | The administrator role of Frappe. It has all the rights of a Books Manager, and it can also edit forms in Customize Form. |

A user can open Frappe Books only with one of these roles.

## What Each Role Can Do

In this table, **All** means create, edit, submit, cancel, and delete. A dash (—) means no access.

| Area | Books User | Books Manager and System Manager |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quotes, sales and purchase invoices, payments, shipments, purchase receipts, stock movements, POS shifts | Create, edit, submit, and cancel | All |
| Leads and item enquiries | Create, edit, and delete | All |
| Customers, suppliers, and addresses | Create, edit, and delete | All |
| Items, item groups, batches, and serial numbers | Create, edit, and delete | All |
| Journal entries | — | All |
| Accounts and the chart of accounts | — | Create, edit, and delete |
| Tax templates, price lists, pricing rules, coupon codes, loyalty programs, locations, number series | Read | Create, edit, and delete |
| Settings | Read | Edit |
| Print templates | Print | Create, edit, and delete |
| Accounting reports and GST reports | — | Read |
| Stock reports | Quantities | Quantities and values |
| Dashboard | Invoice cards | Invoice cards and charts |
| Setup wizard and Import Wizard | — | Use |

:::note[Ledger Entries]
Frappe Books makes the accounting, stock, and loyalty point ledger entries when you submit or cancel a document. No role can edit or delete a ledger entry directly. When you delete a cancelled document, Frappe Books also deletes its ledger entries.
:::

## Other Rules

- Only a Books Manager can delete a quote, an invoice, a payment, or a stock document. A cancelled document stays as the record that it was cancelled.
- Only a Books Manager sees the value of stock. A Books User sees the quantities, but not the valuation rate or the stock value.
- The server fills the accounts of the documents that a Books User makes, such as the account of an invoice and the cash or bank account of a payment. A Books User does not see these accounts. To let a Books User pay into different bank accounts, make a payment method for each bank account.
- When the POS is on, the **Can Change Rate** and **Can Change Discount** settings of the POS apply to all sales invoices, not only to POS invoices. Only a Books Manager or a System Manager can go past them on a normal sales invoice.

## How Frappe Books Shows Permissions

Frappe Books shows only what your role allows:

- The sidebar shows only the lists and the reports that you can open.
- The **Setup** group shows only to users who can change the settings.
- The dashboard shows only the cards and the charts for data that you can read.
- The **New** button shows only when you can create that document. Actions that make a new document, such as **Create purchase**, also show only then.
- **Save**, **Submit**, **Cancel**, and **Delete** show only when you have that right.
- If you cannot edit a document, its fields are read only.
- [Quick Search](/books/quick-search) shows only the records that you can read.

## Add a User

Frappe Books does not have a page for users. A System Manager adds users in Frappe Desk:

1. Open `https://<your-site>/app/user`.
2. Click **Add User**, or open a user that exists.
3. Enter the email address and the name of the user.
4. In **Roles**, select **Books User** or **Books Manager**.
5. Click **Save**.

To change what a role can do, use the Role Permissions Manager at `https://<your-site>/app/permission-manager`. For more information, see the [Frappe documentation on users and permissions](/framework/user/en/basics/users-and-permissions).