Users & Passwords preferences
Setting up users for your company file
![]() |
You can set up user accounts with full or limited access to features in your company file.
You must have user accounts set up before you can use QuickBooks for Mac in multiuser mode.
Note: If you are the owner of the company file, be sure to create an administrative user for yourself before you create other users.
Add, edit, or delete a user
- To add a user, click the +. Then the User Name and Password options for the user (see below).
- To edit the user, double-click the user name and make your changes.
- To delete a user, select the user name and click -.
User Name and Password options
If you're creating this user account for someone else, be sure you share the account information you enter with them.
- User Name. The name the user will use to log in to the file.
- Password/Confirm Password. The password the user will use to log in to the file.
- Security Question and Answer. If you forget this user’s password, QuickBooks will ask you this question. When you answer it correctly, QuickBooks logs you in. You can then reset the password by coming back to the User Name and Password window.
- (optional) iChat Account. The user's iChat account name. If you're using multiuser mode, you can use iChat to contact other users. If you're not using multiuser, you can just ignore this.
Permissions
Choose the type of access you want the user to have.
- All areas of QuickBooks (Administrative). The name says it all. A user with this permission setting can do anything and everything in the company file. So be careful who you assign this to. If you're the owner of the company file, be sure you create an admin user account for yourself and then be careful who else you created one for.
- Selected areas of QuickBooks (Custom). You get to pick what areas the user can access. This table is a summary of the permissions. The options are additive, so if you select more than one options, the user will have the permissions for all the options you select.
If you pick this... | The user can do this... |
---|---|
Accounts Payable | Work on vendor-related tasks, such as entering and paying bills. |
Accounts Receivable | Work on customer-related tasks, such as accepting payments from customers. |
Check and Credit Cards | Write checks and enter transactions for the company's credit cards. |
Inventory | Order, track, and pay for inventory. |
Payroll | Access all payroll features. |
Sensitive Accounting | Work with accounting-related data that may have sensitive information, such as banking, Merchant Services, 1099s, and Chart of Accounts. |
Sensitive Financial | Work with financial features that may have sensitive information, such as all reports, memorized transactions, Chart of Accounts, lists, and inventory adjustments. |
Time Tracking | Access all time-tracking features. |
If you're setting up more than one user, here's a couple of important things to think about:
- Tell QuickBooks which accounts you use for payroll. Payroll information is very sensitive. Click Set Payroll Accounts to select the accounts that you are using for payroll transactions. Only users with access to Payroll will be able to see transactions in these accounts.
- Set a closing date so new users can't edit transactions on or before that date. Consider doing this if you've been using QuickBooks and want to be sure new users you create can't change anything you've done in the past.