Who is this for?
Store owners and admins who want to restrict employee access to product costs and supplier pricing information across BackOffice.
Overview
BackOffice now lets you control which employees can see product cost information. When you disable the 'Show Product Cost' permission for an employee, all cost-related columns, fields, and values are automatically hidden across multiple pages, including Manage Products, Purchase Orders, Stock Returns, Stock Transfers, Stock Takes, Stock Value reports, and more.
This is especially useful if you have outlet staff who need to receive stock, manage transfers, or perform stock takes, but should not see supplier prices or cost data.
Before You Begin
You must be logged in as the account owner or have manager access to manage employee settings.
The employee whose access you want to change must already exist on the 'Employees' page.
Familiarise yourself with which stock management pages your employees use day-to-day, so you can understand what they will and will not see after the change.
Step-by-Step Guide
Enabling or Disabling the 'Show Product Cost' Permission
1. From your BackOffice, go to the 'Employees' page.
2. Select the employee you wish to edit, or click 'Add Employee' to create a new one.
3. Under the employee's settings, scroll down to the 'Access Control' section.
4. Scroll down to the 'Data Visibility' section. You will see a checkbox labeled 'Show Product Cost'.
5. To hide product cost information, uncheck the 'Show Product Cost' box. To allow product cost information to be seen, ensure the 'Show Product Cost' box is checked.
6. Click 'Save' at the bottom of the page to apply the changes.
Notes:
New employees: The 'Show Product Cost' permission is enabled (checked) by default.
Existing employees: The 'Show Product Cost' permission defaults to match their existing 'Products' page access.
What Happens on Each Page When Cost Is Hidden
Once 'Show Product Cost' is disabled for an employee, cost information is hidden across the following pages. Here is what changes on each page:
Manage Products
1. On the product list page, the 'Cost (RM)' column is hidden.
2. When editing a product, the 'Cost' and 'Supplier Price' fields are hidden in the edit form.
3. When exporting products to CSV, the 'Cost' and 'Supplier Price' columns are excluded from the file.
4. When importing products via CSV, any 'Cost' and 'Supplier Price' values in the uploaded file will not be imported or overwritten.
5. When downloading the product CSV template, the 'Cost' and 'Supplier Price' columns are removed from the template.
Stock Value and Stock Movement Value Reports
1. On the 'Stock Value' page, the 'Cost (RM)' and 'Cost*Quantity (RM)' columns are hidden. The 'Total Value' field is also hidden.
2. When exporting Stock Value to CSV, the 'Cost', 'Cost*Quantity', and 'Margin' columns are excluded.
3. On the dashboard view, the 'Opening Value' under Opening Stocks and 'Closing Value' under Closing Stocks are hidden.
4. When downloading Stock Movement Value as CSV, all cost and value columns listed above are excluded.
Purchase Orders
The behaviour on Purchase Orders depends on the employee's Purchase Order access level:
If the employee has 'Receive and Mark Complete Only' permission:
1. The 'Amount (RM)' column is hidden on the Purchase Orders list page.
2. When viewing a Purchase Order, the following are hidden:
'Supplier Price (RM)'
'Total (RM)' value
'SubTotal', 'Tax', 'Discount', and final 'Total' value
3. When receiving a Purchase Order, the employee can update the 'Received Quantity' without seeing any cost information.
4. When printing or emailing a Purchase Order, cost fields are hidden.
5. When exporting to CSV, the 'Cost (RM)', 'SubTotal (RM)', and 'Total (RM)' columns are excluded.
If the employee has 'Create and Receive' permission:
Cost information remains visible, since creating POs requires knowledge of supplier pricing.
Stock Returns
1. The 'Amount (RM)' column is hidden on the Stock Return list page.
2. When creating or viewing a Stock Return, the following are hidden:
'Supplier Price (RM)'
'Total (RM)' value
'SubTotal', 'Tax', 'Discount', and final 'Total' value
The employee can still see Product Name, SKU, and Returned Quantity.
3. When printing or emailing a Stock Return, cost fields such as 'Cost/Unit Price', 'Amount (MYR)', 'SubTotal', 'Tax', 'Discount', and 'Total' are hidden.
4. When exporting to CSV, the 'Cost (RM)' and 'Total (RM)' columns are excluded.
Stock Transfers
1. When creating or viewing a Stock Transfer, the following are hidden:
'Cost (RM)'
'Subtotal (RM)'
Final 'Total' value
The employee can still see Product Name, SKU, and quantities.
2. When receiving a Stock Transfer, the employee can update the 'Received Quantity' without seeing cost information.
3. When printing or emailing a Stock Transfer, the option to include 'Cost' and 'SubTotal' is not shown, and these fields are hidden in the output.
4. When exporting to CSV, the 'Cost (RM)', 'SubTotal (RM)', and 'Total (RM)' columns are excluded.
Stock Takes
1. When completing a Stock Take ('Mark as Completed'), the 'Cost Difference' column and 'Total Cost Difference' field are hidden.
2. When viewing a Stock Take detail, the same cost-related fields are hidden.
3. When clicking 'Export Items with Variance', the 'Cost' and 'Cost Difference' columns are excluded from the CSV.
4. When exporting the Stock Take listing to CSV, the 'Cost (RM)' and 'Cost Difference' columns are excluded.
Stock Loss Report (Previously Wastage Report)
1. On the Stock Loss dashboard view, the following are hidden:
'Total Wastage Costs' field
'Total Estimated Revenue Loss' field
'Wastage Costs' column
'Est Revenue Loss' column
2. When exporting Stock Loss to CSV, the 'Wastage Costs' and 'Est Revenue Loss' columns are excluded.
Troubleshooting
Issue | Solution |
I don't see the 'Data Visibility' section in employee settings | Make sure you are logged in as the account owner or an admin. This section only appears in the 'Limit Back-office Access' area. |
Cost columns are still showing after I disabled the permission | Ask the employee to log out and log back in. The change takes effect on their next session. |
I disabled 'Show Product Cost' but the employee can still see costs on Purchase Orders | Check the employee's Purchase Order access level. If they have 'Create and Receive' permission, cost information remains visible by design, since creating POs requires cost knowledge. |
I disabled 'Show Product Cost' but the employee can still see cost data on Reports or Wastage Insights | The 'Show Product Cost' permission does not cover the Reports or Wastage Insights pages. To prevent an employee from seeing cost data on those pages, go to the employee's access control settings and untick the 'Reports' and/or 'Wastage Insights' checkboxes separately. This removes their access to those pages entirely. |
CSV exports still contain cost columns | Make sure the employee is exporting from their own account (not using a shared login with cost permission enabled). The CSV respects the logged-in user's permissions. |
FAQs
1. What is the 'Show Product Cost' permission?
It is a new access control setting that lets store owners decide whether an employee can see product cost and supplier pricing information across BackOffice.
2. Where do I find this setting?
Go to the 'Employees' page, click on the employee, then look under 'Access Control' in the 'Data Visibility' section.
3. Is 'Show Product Cost' enabled or disabled by default?
For new employees, it is enabled by default. For existing employees when the feature is released, it follows the employee's current Product page access. If they have Product page access, cost visibility is enabled.
4. Which pages are affected when I disable this permission?
Cost information is hidden on: Manage Products, Stock Value, Stock Movement Value, Purchase Orders, Goods Received Notes, Stock Returns, Stock Transfers, Stock Transfer Receipts, Stock Takes, Stock Loss Report, and Wastage Records.
5. Can employees still receive Purchase Orders without seeing costs?
Yes. Employees with 'Receive and Mark Complete Only' permission can receive POs and update quantities without seeing any pricing information.
6. Will CSV exports also hide cost information?
Yes. When cost permission is disabled, all CSV exports across affected pages will exclude cost-related columns.
7. Does this affect printed or emailed documents too?
Yes. Printed and emailed documents (such as Purchase Orders, Stock Returns, and Stock Transfers) will also have cost fields hidden.
8. Can I hide costs for some pages but not others?
No. The 'Show Product Cost' permission applies across all affected pages. It is an all-or-nothing setting for cost visibility.
Need Help?
Contact StoreHub Support via live chat in your StoreHub app or email [email protected].
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