User Roles & Client Access

This guide explains how user roles and client access work, and how to control who can see and manage each client (entity) in your workspace.

Prosaic uses two layers of permissions:

• Workspace roles – what someone can do across the whole workspace
• Entity access – which specific clients (entities) they can see and what they can do inside each one

You usually use workspace roles to define who someone is (owner, staff, client), and entity access to define which clients they work on.

Workspace roles (what someone can do across your workspace)

Workspace roles control what a person can do at a practice level.

Owner

Best for practice owners.

Owners can:

• See and manage all clients
• Add and remove users
• Change permissions
• Manage billing and workspace settings

There is usually only one Owner per workspace

Admin

Best for practice managers or senior staff.

Admins can:

• See and manage all clients
• Add and remove users
• Grant and remove access to clients
• Manage workspace settings

Admins cannot manage billing.

Advisor

Best for accountants and bookkeepers.

Advisors can:

• Work on the clients they are assigned to
• Create and edit transactions and journals
• Run reports

Advisors:

• Cannot see all clients by default
• Cannot manage users or permissions
• Only see the clients they are given access to

Client

Best for business owners, sole traders.

Currently, Clients are read-only.

Clients can:

• Signup via your practice portal, or be invited into the workspace
• Connect bank accounts
• View their own bank accounts and reports
• Cannot edit or reconcile transactions
• Cannot upload files

Coming soon: Client “Standard” access

We’ll be introducing a new client access level that allows clients to:

• View and reconcile transactions
• Upload files (receipts, documents)
• Stay involved without needing full accounting access

This will make it easier to involve clients in day-to-day workflows while keeping control with your practice.

Entity access (which clients someone can see)

An entity is a ledger set up for a client (company, trust, rental, sole trader, etc). Clients can have multiple entities.

Assigning user access to any given entity determines

• Which clients & entities an advisor practice user can see
• What they can do within each client entity

Owners and Admins automatically have access to all entities.

Advisors and Clients only see the entities they are given access to.

Entity access levels (what someone can do within a clients entities)

Each user can have an access level per entity:

Admin access (per entity)

Can:

• View
• Create
• Edit
• Delete

Used for: practice leads or internal control where needed.

Advisor access (per entity)

Can:

• View
• Create
• Edit
• Cannot delete

Used for: staff accountants and bookkeepers.

Client access (per entity)

Currently:

• View only

Coming soon (Client Standard):

• View
• Reconcile transactions
• Upload files

Used for: business owners who want visibility (and soon, light interaction).

How access is usually set up in practice

Small practice

• Owner: practice principal
• Admin: senior staff
• Advisor: accountant/bookkeeper
• Client: business owner

Larger practice

• Admins see all clients
• Advisors only see their assigned clients
• Clients only see their own business

This keeps client data private and limits what each person can access.

Adding users

Only Owners and Admins can add users.

When you invite someone:

• You choose their workspace role
• This controls what they can do overall

After adding them:

• You grant them access to specific clients (entities)
• This controls which clients they can actually see

Granting and removing access to clients

Owners and Admins can:

• Grant a user access to a specific client
• Remove a user’s access
• Control whether someone can view, edit, or manage data for that client

Access changes take effect immediately.

If an Advisor has no client access, they won’t see any clients at all.

Important rules and behaviours

• Owners and Admins always see everything
• Advisors only see the clients they’re assigned to
• Clients only see their own business
• Clients are read-only for now
• Only Owners and Admins can manage access
• Removing access hides the client immediately
• Users can have different access to different clients

Best practice tips

• Give the minimum access needed
• Only make someone an Admin if they manage people or permissions
• Keep client access limited to their own entity
• Regularly review which staff can see which clients
• Use upcoming Client Standard access for clients who want to help reconcile and upload documents

What’s coming next

We’re rolling out:

• More granular client permissions
• Client Standard access (reconciling + file uploads)
• More control over what Advisors can do per client

This will make it easier to collaborate with clients while keeping clean separation between staff, clients, and internal data.