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User permissions and inviting an accountant in QuickBooks Online

Someone on the team cannot see the screens they need, or they can see more than they should. An accountant invitation never arrived, or you are worried about using up paid user seats.

Go to Settings (the gear), then Manage users. Add or edit regular users there. Accountant access is on the Accountants or Accounting firms tab of the same screen (Invite). Only admins with the right permissions can manage users. After a role change, the user should sign out and sign back in.

Likely causes

• The person was given a limited role (for example, accounts payable only, or time tracking) that does not include the feature they are trying to use.
• The invitation email went to spam, or they have not accepted it yet.
• The company is already at the user limit for its QuickBooks Online plan. Limits vary by plan; some roles, such as time tracking only, do not always count toward the limit.
• An accountant was added as a regular user instead of being invited as an accountant user.

Quick fixes

1. Open Settings, then Manage users, and review who is already on the company and which role each person has.
2. To add a team member, select Add user, enter their name and email, choose a role, review the features that role can use, and send the invitation. If they cannot find the email, resend it and have them check junk mail.
3. To change access, select Edit next to the user, pick a different role or adjust the account-management settings, and save. Ask them to sign out and back in.
4. To invite an accountant or bookkeeper, use the Accountants (or Accounting firms) area and send the invitation to their email or firm ID. Intuit's current help states that accountant users do not count toward your subscription's user limit.
5. Remove access when someone leaves. Deleting a user is permanent, though their activity remains in the audit log.

A few more questions

Does an accountant use one of my paid user seats?

Intuit's current help says accountant users do not count toward the plan's user limit. Invite them from the Accountants tab rather than adding them as a standard user.

A user accepted the invite but still cannot run payroll or see banking. Why?

Their role probably does not include that feature. An admin can edit the role. Some roles cannot be edited in place (Intuit notes this for time-tracking roles) and have to be removed and re-added.