A bookkeeper needs financial reporting, payouts and order-level financial detail, and generally nothing that changes the store. Read-only across finance is usually the correct shape, because their work is reconciliation rather than operation. They are also frequently external, which makes an end date and a named engagement worth setting from the start.
What this person actually does
This role inverts the usual advice. Most access guidance is about withholding finance; here finance is the job and operations are the thing to withhold.
Read-only is the right default because bookkeeping is a reading activity. They reconcile what happened, and the corrections they identify are normally made by somebody in the business rather than by them directly.
The exception is where they also handle refunds or reconcile disputes, which some arrangements include. If so, grant it explicitly with a limit rather than letting it arrive by implication.
The two layers
Shopify permissions decide what they can do in the admin. The Store Huddle role decides what they see in the workspace. Both are needed, and they are set separately.
| Layer | For this person | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify staff account | Required | Store Huddle runs inside Shopify admin |
| Shopify permissions | Financial reports and payouts, read-only | Reconciliation, not operation |
| Store Huddle role | Custom, or Staff scoped to one room | They need almost no workspace |
| Often external | Yes | Treat it as a contracted engagement with an end date |
| Write access | Only if they process refunds | Grant explicitly, with a limit |
Shopify access to grant
Grant reading across finance, and be sparing with anything that changes state. Shopify's permission labels change from time to time, so these are described by what they control rather than quoted as exact checkbox names. Check the current names in your own admin.
- Financial reports, which is the core of the job.
- Payouts and settlement detail, for reconciliation against the bank.
- Orders, read-only, including financial detail such as discounts, tax and shipping.
- Draft orders, read-only, where invoicing runs through them.
- Refunds, only if reconciling disputes is contracted, and with a stated limit.
Access to withhold, and why
- Product and inventory editing. Nothing in bookkeeping requires it.
- Customer editing. They may need to read customer records; changing them is not their role.
- Staff management and settings.
- Apps. Installing an accounting integration should be a decision made with you, not for you.
Rooms they belong in
Bookkeepers need almost no workspace access. One room is usually the whole requirement.
- A finance room, if you have one, or a direct message with whoever owns the numbers.
- The purchasing room, read access only, where invoice queries originate.
- Not operational rooms. Nothing in the daily fulfilment conversation concerns them.
- Not the general room, which will be noise to them and context they have no use for.
Offboarding
Bookkeepers are usually external and long-running, which is the combination most likely to produce access that nobody reviews for years. Set a renewal review rather than an end date if the engagement is ongoing.
If the engagement is with a firm rather than a person, ask who specifically holds the access and re-check when their staff change. Firms rotate people without telling clients.
Financial access is the category where a stale account matters most, so this is the one worth reviewing quarterly even when nothing has changed.
Common questions
What Shopify access does a bookkeeper need?
Financial reports, payouts and order-level financial detail, generally read-only. Product, inventory and customer editing are not required for reconciliation.
Should a bookkeeper have write access?
Usually not. Bookkeeping is a reading activity and corrections are normally made by someone in the business. Grant refund access only if reconciling disputes is explicitly part of the engagement.
How is this different from a virtual assistant?
Close to the inverse. A VA needs orders and customers and is denied finance; a bookkeeper needs finance and has little use for operational access.
What if my bookkeeper is a firm rather than a person?
Ask who specifically holds the access and re-check when their staff change. Firms rotate people without telling clients, and the leaving person's access is nobody's responsibility until it is.