Security is an important part of managing your business accounts. Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 features a system of permissions for accessing your company data. This ensures that sensitive financial data is not visible to the people who do not need to view it and that only authorized users can carry out specified business functions.

The Windows user name and password identify users in Accounting 2008. All users must belong to a Windows user group with access to the computer running Accounting 2008. To get instructions about managing users in Windows, see your Windows documentation.

In Accounting 2008, there is no direct connection between an employee (added to the Employee List) and the Accounting 2008 user (added in the Manage Users dialog box). The Accounting 2008 user is directly connected to assignment of the Windows user. If a user is not in the list of Windows users, that user cannot be assigned a role in Accounting 2008. Consider the following:

• The person who installs Accounting 2008 must be a member of the Windows Administrator group on the computer where it is installed. The administrator is not automatically added to any user role and is not shown in the Manage Users dialog box but can still use Accounting 2008 on that computer.

   Note   All members of the Windows Administrator group have full access to Accounting 2008, including installation, setting up the company, managing user roles, archiving, installing add-ins, creating or importing an accountant's backup copy, setting up access for multiple users, and using any of the Data Utilities commands on the File menu, even though their user names do not appear in the Manage Users dialog box. To safeguard your company records, make sure that only appropriate users are listed in the Windows Administrator group on the computer or in the domain where Accounting 2008 is installed. Use caution when removing a user from Accounting 2008. If you remove a user from Accounting 2008 who is a member of the Windows Administrator group, they will retain Accounting 2008 privileges until they are also removed from the Windows Administrator group.

• All users assigned to any role can belong to any Windows group with access to the computer running Accounting 2008.
• Assigning Application Administrator permission to a user allows them control of the Microsoft SQL Server database. With this permission, a user can create the integration with Microsoft Office Outlook with Business Contact Manager. To assign this permission to a user, select Application Administrator.

You can integrate Accounting 2008 with Business Contact Manager for Outlook. When the integration is finished, Business Contact Manager for Outlook users will not have role permissions in Accounting 2008. To allow these users to create Accounting 2008 sales documents from Business Contact Manager for Outlook or to make changes in customer records directly in Accounting 2008, you must assign them Accounting 2008 roles in the Manage Users dialog box.

Authorized Windows users can be assigned to the following preset roles (with associated permissions) in Accounting 2008:

• Owner can only be assigned to users with Windows Administrator privileges. Because a Windows Administrator has full access to Accounting 2008, a user with an Owner role will too. If a user is assigned an Owner role and then removed from the Windows Administrator group, they will have access to only those features in Accounting 2008 that do not require Administrator access.
• Office Manager is responsible for managing the day-to-day financial records of the company, including customer transactions, vendor transactions, banking transactions, and payroll. The Office Manager role has full access to most product areas but cannot set up the company, manage user roles, install add-ins, create or import an accountant's backup copy, set up access for multiple users, use any of the Data Utilities commands on the File menu, import data, or open a closed fiscal year.
• Accountant is responsible for reviewing, updating, and managing the financial data of the company. The Accountant role has all of the permissions of the Office Manager role and can open a closed fiscal year.
• Salesperson is responsible for handling customer transactions and most vendor transactions. The Salesperson role cannot carry out any banking (such as voiding customer credit memos that have a refunded check attached), accounting (such as journal entries), or payroll transactions.
• Read-only User can view customer and vendor transaction information but cannot add, delete, or update any information.

If a command appears dimmed, it is unavailable. You do not have sufficient access to use it.

Users with sufficient access can perform the following administrative tasks:

• Install the Accounting 2008 software
• Manage users and roles
• Set up Accounting 2008 for multiple users
• Grant access to a Business Contact Manager for Outlook user
• Change a password.

 Note   In Microsoft Office Accounting Express, you can manage users only. To manage user roles, you must install Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 Professional.