QuickBooks List as Read-Only

Tell them if they change it they are history.

Thanks for the advise, but that is not in my job description.

You can't.

Well, at least not and let them still work in the file.

QB permissions system is not all that flexible. User's have access to different 'areas' of the program. Giving a specific user access to the inventory area, for example,

"gives a user the ability to:

§ Write purchase orders. Receive against purchase orders. § Make adjustments to inventory. § Maintain your list of inventory items. § Enter bills. § Edit an item's history. § Print purchase orders. To allow printing, you must select either Full Access or "Create and print transactions" under Selective Access. § Create inventory, purchase, and vendor reports. To allow access to these reports, you must select either Full Access or "Create transactions and Create Reports" under Selective Access."

So, if you don't want folks to have access to the list of inventory items, the administrator can deny them access to inventory. Of course, then they can't do ANY of the other functions listed above.

using MS Access to maintain an item list and have a

Realistically, you have a personnel problem, not a software problem. I would turn on the dreaded "Audit Tracking" feature, so that you can confirm which username is misbehaving, and can then be disciplined appropriately.

If they are making unauthorized/incorrect changes to the database, this will at least CYA & explain to your boss(es) why you are wasting so much time fixing things.

Perhaps then, a training class will take place to alleviate your issues.

Otherwise, as above, you don't have much help for the system.

Good luck,

Tony

and,

I don't mean this as any disrespect to the above posters, or to any others who have similar suggestions or advice, but I think the "personnel problem" in the above "solutions" may be at the management level where these types of so-called "solutions" are being suggested.

By that I mean that sometimes when someone is seeking a way to prevent a future problem, the advice of managers is along the lines of, "tell them if they do it they will be fired", "train the people not to do it", "make a policy that people cannot do that and enforce the policy", "we have to make a rule and stick to it", etc. It sounds like an easy solution, but it is not realistic and it often bypasses a more realistic and less offensive way to prevent the problem. Rather than trying punish their way toward a so-called solution, maybe a little more thought could go into how to prevent the problem in the first place. People are not perfect, and people cannot be watched at every step in what they do. So, to me, the first solution to consider is how to modify the setup or circumstances that would take away the ability of employees to make the mistake in the first place. I think this is especially true in accounting and financial matters when trying to build in internal controls to prevent errors, oversights, theft, etc. Instead of just setting a policy and saying "enforce it", it would be much better in my opinion to structure things to make it impossible for the error to happen in the first place.

I say off with their heads.