diff --git a/erpnext/accounts/doctype/cost_center/cost_center.json b/erpnext/accounts/doctype/cost_center/cost_center.json
index 092f701332b3e414063bcd57ad03dfb9e542e3d6..1a267bab8a029c5af19549148fb45795c48e169c 100644
--- a/erpnext/accounts/doctype/cost_center/cost_center.json
+++ b/erpnext/accounts/doctype/cost_center/cost_center.json
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
       "in_list_view": 1,
       "in_standard_filter": 1,
       "label": "Cost Center Number",
-      "read_only": 1
+      "read_only_depends_on": "eval:!doc.__islocal"
      },
      {
       "fieldname": "parent_cost_center",
diff --git a/erpnext/accounts/utils.py b/erpnext/accounts/utils.py
index d23bb02a4c0025a5e3471224e23a02083f2a48ae..26b2be6edcf9d6a008a3e28dcf9defaf33cf06de 100644
--- a/erpnext/accounts/utils.py
+++ b/erpnext/accounts/utils.py
@@ -1184,7 +1184,8 @@ def update_cost_center(docname, cost_center_name, cost_center_number, company, m
 	Renames the document by adding the number as a prefix to the current name and updates
 	all transaction where it was present.
 	"""
-	validate_field_number("Cost Center", docname, cost_center_number, company, "cost_center_number")
+	if not merge:
+		validate_field_number("Cost Center", docname, cost_center_number, company, "cost_center_number")
 
 	if cost_center_number:
 		frappe.db.set_value("Cost Center", docname, "cost_center_number", cost_center_number.strip())