People

Manage individual people associated with your businesses.

Overview

People represent the individuals at each business in your account. They are the contacts you communicate with, send invoices to, and manage your day-to-day working relationships through.

Every person in Beeswax belongs to a business. Even if you are working with a sole trader or freelancer, they exist as a person under their corresponding business record. This ensures that all financial documents — invoices, quotes, expenses, and statements — are correctly linked to both the individual and the organisation they represent.

People can exist in two forms:

  • Contact — A person stored in the system for reference and communication purposes. They have no login access to Beeswax.
  • User — A person who has been invited and granted login access to Beeswax with an assigned role. They can sign in and interact with the system based on their permissions.

A person starts as a contact and can later be invited as a user. You can access people from the People page in the main navigation, which shows all people across all businesses in your account.

Creating a Person

Click the New Person button to open the creation modal.

Fields

Field Required Description
First Name Yes The person's first name.
Last Name Yes The person's last name or surname.
Email Yes Email address. Must be unique within your account. Used for sending invoices, statements, and invitations.
Phone No Landline or office phone number.
Mobile No Mobile or cell phone number.
Fax No Fax number.
Address No Street address.
City No City or town.
State No State, region, or county.
Postcode No Postal or ZIP code.
Country No Country.
Company / Business Yes The business this person belongs to. Select from the list of non-system businesses in your account.
Accounts Contact No Toggle to mark this person as a recipient of automated monthly statements for their business.
Notes No Free-text field for any additional information about this person.

Important Notes

  • The email address must be unique within your account — you cannot create two people with the same email address.
  • The Company / Business field only lists businesses that are not system-generated. You must create the business first if it does not already exist.
  • A person must always belong to a business. You cannot create a standalone person without a business association.

Editing a Person

To edit a person, click the Edit option from the person's action menu. The edit form opens in a modal (delivered via Turbo Stream) and presents the same fields used during creation.

What You Can Change

  • All contact details (name, email, phone, mobile, fax)
  • All address fields (address, city, state, postcode, country)
  • The Company / Business the person belongs to
  • The Accounts Contact toggle
  • Notes

Important Notes

  • Changing the email address — If the person has already been invited as a user, changing their email will invalidate the existing invitation. A new invitation will need to be sent to the updated email address.
  • Changing the business — You can reassign a person to a different business. Any existing financial records (invoices, expenses) linked to the person will remain associated with them.
  • Edits are saved immediately upon submission and reflected throughout the system.

Inviting a Person as a User

Any person in your account can be invited to become a user, granting them login access to Beeswax. This is how you onboard team members, clients, and external collaborators.

How to Send an Invitation

  1. Navigate to the person you want to invite (via the People list or a business detail page).
  2. Open the person's action menu and click Send Invite.
  3. Select a role to assign to the new user.
  4. Confirm the invitation.
  5. The system creates a User account and sends an invitation email to the person's email address.

Available Roles

Role Description
Basic A general user with limited access. Can view and interact with assigned projects and tasks.
Manager (Admin) Full access to manage businesses, people, projects, invoices, and most account features.
Accountant Access focused on financial management — invoices, expenses, statements, and reporting.
Super Admin Full access to all features including account-level settings and user management.
Client External access scoped to a specific client-marked business. Can view their own invoices, quotes, and statements.

Role Selection Rules

  • Client role — When selecting the Client role, you must also select a business that has been marked as a client. The selected business cannot be the account owner's business. The invited user will only have access to data related to that specific client business.
  • Admin restrictions — Admin-level users can only invite people as Admin role. They cannot invite Super Admin, Accountant, or Client users — only the account Owner or a Super Admin can assign those roles. Accountants cannot send invitations at all.

Invitation Flow

  1. The person receives an invitation email with a link to accept.
  2. Clicking the link takes them to a page where they set their password and complete their account setup.
  3. Once accepted, the person's status changes from contact to active user.
  4. Existing users — If the person's email address is already associated with a user on another Beeswax account, the invitation is automatically accepted. They can switch between accounts using the same login credentials.

Important Notes

  • Only admin-level users (Admin, Super Admin, Owner) can send invitations.
  • A person must have a valid email address before they can be invited.
  • If an invitation is pending and the person's email is changed, the original invitation becomes invalid.
  • You can resend an invitation if the person has not yet accepted.

Accounts Contact (Accounts Receivable)

The Accounts Contact toggle determines whether a person receives automated monthly statement emails for their business.

How It Works

  • When the Accounts Contact toggle is turned on for a person, they are flagged as the financial contact for their business.
  • Each month, Beeswax sends an automated statement email to all Accounts Contacts. The statement summarises outstanding invoices for the person's business.
  • A person marked as an Accounts Contact displays an "Accounts" badge next to their name in the contacts list, making it easy to identify who receives statements at a glance.

When to Use It

  • Flag the person at each client business who is responsible for paying invoices (e.g. the accounts payable officer, the business owner, or the office manager).
  • You can mark multiple people at the same business as Accounts Contacts if more than one person needs to receive statements.
  • Toggle it off if the person changes roles or leaves the business, to stop them receiving statement emails.

Files & Invoices

Each person has a detail page that provides access to their associated files and financial documents.

Detail Page Tabs

Tab Description
Invoices / Expenses Lists all journal entries (invoices, quotes, and expenses) linked to this person. Shows document number, date, amount, and status.
Files Lists all file attachments associated with this person. Files can be uploaded directly to a person's record.

Linking Financial Documents

  • When creating an invoice, quote, or expense, you can select a person as the contact for that document.
  • The document then appears on the person's detail page under the Invoices / Expenses tab.
  • This makes it easy to see the full financial history for a specific individual.

File Attachments

  • Files can be uploaded directly to a person's record from their detail page.
  • Supported file types follow the account's general file upload settings.
  • Files attached to a person are separate from files attached to their business or to individual journal entries.

Note: A person cannot be deleted if they have invoices or expenses linked to them.

Import & Export

Importing People

You can bulk-import people from a CSV file:

  1. Click Import from the People list.
  2. Download the CSV template to see the expected format.
  3. Populate the template with your contact data.
  4. Upload the completed CSV file.
  5. The system processes each row and creates people records.
  6. A report shows how many were successfully imported and any failures.

CSV Import Fields

Field Description
first_name Person's first name (required)
last_name Person's last name (required)
email Email address (required, must be unique)
phone Phone number
mobile Mobile phone number
fax Fax number
address Street address
city City or town
state State, region, or county
postcode Postal or ZIP code
country Country

Important Notes on Import

  • A template CSV file is available for download to ensure your data is formatted correctly.
  • Email addresses must be unique — if a person with the same email already exists, the import will skip or update that row depending on your import settings.
  • The business association for imported people is typically set during the import process or assigned after import.

Exporting People

Use the export dropdown on the People list to download your contacts:

Format Description
Excel Download as .xlsx spreadsheet
CSV Download as comma-separated values
PDF Download as PDF document
Copy Copy table data to clipboard

How-to Guides

Users vs Contacts

A Contact is like a phone contact — a record of someone's details. A User is someone who performs actions in Beeswax. A Contact becomes a User only after accepting an invitation and setting a password. Only invite someone as a User if they need to do things in your account. Contacts are stored under Companies because expenses and invoices are associated with companies.

Create a New Contact

  1. Locate the Company (all contacts must be under a company)
  2. Go to the Company page
  3. Click Add Someone (top right)
  4. Fill in the contact details in the sidebar
  5. Click Save

Permissions by Role

Different roles have different levels of access to managing people.

Action Owner Super Admin Admin Accountant General User Contractor Client
View people All All All All No No No
Create people Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Edit people All All All All No No No
Delete people Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Invite as user Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Assign Super Admin role Yes Yes No No No No No
Assign Accountant role Yes Yes No No No No No
Import people Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Export people Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No

Key Notes

  • Owner, Super Admin, Admin, and Accountant have full access to manage all people records (can :manage, :all).
  • General Users cannot manage people. They interact with people indirectly through projects and tasks they are assigned to.
  • Clients cannot manage people. Their access is limited to viewing their own business's invoices and statements.
  • Contractors cannot manage people. Their access is focused on task management.
  • Only admin-level users (Owner, Super Admin, Admin) can invite people as users. Accountants can manage people records but cannot send user invitations.
  • Admins can invite users with Admin role only — they cannot assign Super Admin, Accountant, or Client roles. Only the Owner or a Super Admin can assign those roles.

Tips & Best Practices

  • Add people to the right business. Always ensure a person is linked to the correct business before creating invoices or sending statements.
  • Use unique email addresses. Each person needs a unique email within your account. If two people share an email, consider which one should be the primary contact.
  • Mark Accounts Contacts early. Flag the appropriate person at each client business as the Accounts Contact so automated statement emails reach the right recipient from day one.
  • Invite users thoughtfully. Only invite people as users when they need system access. Contacts who only need to receive invoices or statements do not need a user account.
  • Choose roles carefully. Assign the minimum role necessary. Use the Client role for external contacts who only need to view their own documents. Reserve Admin and Super Admin for team members who need full management access.
  • Keep contact details current. Email addresses are used for sending invoices, statements, and invitations. An outdated email means documents will not reach the right person.
  • Use CSV import for bulk setup. When onboarding a new account, import your existing contact list from a CSV to save time rather than creating each person individually.
  • Review Accounts Contacts periodically. People change roles and leave businesses. Review who is flagged as an Accounts Contact to ensure statements go to the right individuals.