Everyone who works on BooksPOS signs in with their own name, and every bill, payment and stock change records who made it. What each person may do comes from their role. Counters are the tills of the branch: each has its own bill numbers and its own cash shifts. Both are managed on Staff & counters (under Administration), by the owner.
The roles
| Role | What it may do |
|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, including staff accounts, closing the books, the audit log and the plan and billing (Account). "Keep owners few." |
| Manager | Everything except managing staff, closing the books, reading the audit log and the Account pages: billing, returns, voiding a bill (or a supplier bill, stock adjustment or expense) the same day, discounts beyond the limit, prices and promotions, purchasing, stock, school lists, khata, reports, the dashboard, settings. |
| Cashier | "Bills, customer recoveries, own shift, reprints. No price overrides, returns or reports." Cashiers can bill on khata and take khata payments and advances. |
| Accountant | "Reports, day book, khata, recoveries and supplier payments." Also opening balances, refunds of advances, credit notes and expenses. No billing. |
| Warehouse | "Purchases, catalogue and stock adjustments." Also stock counts, moves and publisher returns. No billing. |
| Auditor | "Read-only reports and books." Also the dashboard and the audit log. |
Every screen checks the role on the store server, not only on the screen: a button a role may not use is refused with "This action needs the '…' permission."
The Roles page
Roles (under Administration) lists the six roles with how many active staff hold each. Choose one to see everything it may do, grouped as Selling, Money, Stock and purchasing, Customers and suppliers, Reports, Administration and Your account, each permission in words with its code. Permissions marked Sensitive move money or stock, or change who may do what, without another person's check: for example changing a price beyond the till's limit, selling below cost, voiding a bill the same day, refunding an advance, adjusting stock, closing the books, managing staff and changing the store's settings.
The page is read-only: roles are fixed in BooksPOS and nobody can widen one or add a new one (the owner of BooksPOS decided on 27 September 2026 to keep the six roles). Owners and auditors can open it; give each person the role that fits them under Staff & counters.
How to add a staff member
- Sign in as the owner and open Staff & counters.
- Under Staff, choose Add staff.
- Type the Full name and a Username (3 to 32 lower-case letters, digits, dot, dash or underscore), for example bilal.
- Choose the Role. The window explains it as you choose.
- Type a starting Password of at least 8 characters and tell it to the person privately.
- Keep Active (can sign in) ticked and choose Save. "Bilal can now sign in as 'bilal'."
Staff & counters. Staff accounts and roles, counters, tills on other PCs and PIN sign-in. Screenshot of the current build (28 Sep 2026), synthetic demo data.
Changing a role or resetting a password
Choose Edit, change role or reset password on the person's row. Change the role, or type a new password, and save. After a password reset: "…saved; the new password works now and old sign-ins were ended." The person is signed out everywhere and signs in with the new password.
Changing your own password
Anyone can change their own password. Choose your name at the bottom of the menu (My profile): it shows your name, role and username. Type your Current password, then the New password (at least 8 characters, different from the current one) twice, and choose Change password. "Your password is changed. This PC stays signed in." Your sign-ins on other PCs end, and the change is recorded in the audit log. Wrong current passwords count towards the same five-minute lock as signing in.
Signing out after inactivity
A PC left alone signs itself out, so nobody bills or opens the books under someone else's name. The owner sets the times under Settings › Sign-out: one for Back-office PCs (2 hours unless changed) and one for Counters (8 hours unless changed), from 15 minutes to 24 hours. The counters' time applies to a till on another PC and to anyone who only bills, such as a cashier, on any PC. The section says which time this PC follows. After signing out, the sign-in screen says why; a bill being made on the till is kept on that PC and comes back after signing in.
When someone leaves
Edit them and untick Active (can sign in). They cannot sign in any more and any open sign-in ends. Their name stays on everything they posted; accounts are never deleted.
Two rules protect the shop:
- "The store must keep at least one active owner."
- "You cannot deactivate your own account or change your own role."
Counters
"Each till has its own bill numbers and cash shifts." The first counter, Counter 1 (code C1), is made at setup.
- On Staff & counters, under Counters, choose Add.
- Type the Counter name, for example Stationery counter. "The code (C2, C3…) is given automatically and appears in its bill numbers."
- Choose Add counter. "Stationery counter added as C2. Choose it on that PC under Settings → Receipt printer on this PC."
Bills from C2 are numbered MAIN-C2-S000001 and up. Each counter opens and closes its own shift with its own drawer.
Which counter a PC bills on is chosen on that PC: Settings › Receipt printer on this PC › Counter. A second counter on the store PC itself is possible, but usually each PC in the shop is one counter.
To stop using a counter, deactivate it. Its shift must be closed first ("Close this counter's shift before deactivating it."), and the branch keeps at least one active counter.
Tills on other PCs
The same page lists the other PCs that bill through this store PC, under Tills on other PCs, with Add a till and Remove. See Tills on other PCs.
Staff and the cloud
Staff accounts belong to each store PC. The owner's BooksPOS Cloud account is separate: it signs in to the owner portal, not to the till. See Your BooksPOS Cloud account and two-step sign-in.
Common questions
A cashier needs to take a return. What do I do?
The cashier starts the return; before it is saved, a manager approves it with their PIN on the same till. Nobody signs out. See PIN sign-in and manager approval.
Can a cashier see the day's sales?
Only their own. Sales shows a cashier the bills they made (to reprint one); every counter's bills need the reports permission, which owners, managers, accountants and auditors have. Cashiers cannot open the daily report, profit and loss or ageing either. They can open the stock reports, Stock value and Old editions.
What if someone forgets their password?
The owner resets it under Edit, change role or reset password. Someone who knows their password can change it themselves under My profile.
Why was I signed out while I was away?
The PC reached the sign-out time under Settings › Sign-out without a key or a click. Sign in again; the owner can make the time longer or shorter.
Why is someone locked out after wrong passwords?
That account is locked for five minutes, then they can try again. The owner can also reset the password.
Related guides
Last updated 30 September 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.