Roles & permissions

KanzleiSynchron has three roles that are assigned to a client (Mandant). They are granted when you invite someone under Settings → Team (/settings/team). This page explains what each role can — and cannot — do.

The three roles

Role (key)	Display name	Who this is
reviewer	Staff (Sachbearbeiter)	Firm employees who do the daily work: import, reconcile, resolve exceptions.
merchant_admin	Firm Admin (Kanzlei-Admin)	The person who sets up the client, manages the team, and maintains settings. Owner of a client.
internal_ops	Internal Operator	KS internal operators with cross-tenant visibility. Assigned at invite time.

Team member, not “user”

A person with access to a client is consistently called a team member. The external tax advisor (Steuerberater) is not a team member — they have no KS login and only receive the handoff pack.

Permission matrix

Task	reviewer (Staff)	merchant_admin (Firm Admin)	internal_ops (Internal Operator)
Upload imports	✓	✓	✓
Reconcile & resolve exceptions	✓	✓	✓
View reports	✓	✓	✓
Create & close a period	✓	✓	✓
Build & send the handoff pack	✓	✓	✓
Manage the team (invite, suspend, change roles)	—	✓	—
Change client settings	—	✓	—
Configure the tax-advisor channel	—	✓	—
Trigger data erasure (GDPR)	—	✓	—
Cross-tenant visibility	—	—	✓

What staff cannot do

A reviewer does all the daily close work — but they cannot manage the team, cannot change client settings, and cannot trigger data erasure. Those tasks are reserved for the merchant_admin.

Why two people are needed for the four-eyes close

Closing a period follows the four-eyes principle. The close wizard checks three gates before it closes a period:

1. Zero open exceptions in the period.
2. ≥ 95 % match coverage of movements.
3. Four-eyes principle: whoever closes the period must not have created it (creator ≠ closer).

The third gate cannot be bypassed. It is role-independent: even two reviewers satisfy it, as long as they are two different people. A single team member — even a merchant_admin — cannot close a period they created themselves.

At least two active team members

If a client has only one person with access, no period can be closed — and therefore no DATEV export can be produced. Invite a second person early. Details on Manage the team.

Related pages

• Manage the team — invite team members, suspend, change roles.
• Glossary — all terms and role keys at a glance.
• GoBD & period close — the close wizard and its gates.