Can I give my external Accountant read only access%3F

Welcome to the Community, Lynne!

Yes, the read only access feature when adding an accountant is unavailable in the current offering in QBO. In-house accountant users have access to all reports, bookkeeping, and accounting tools, but they cannot access payroll or perform admin tasks such as managing users.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) has the ability to add multiple user types to be able to give different access, limiting each user to what he or she can view and change. With that said, we'll need to add a user in QuickBooks Online to manage their roles and limit their access to specific tasks.

I also personally sent feedback about the option of being able to set users to view specific parts of your company. You can also send one by following these steps:

1. Log in to your QuickBooks Online account.
2. Click the Gear icon and click Feedback.
3. Enter your suggestion and click Next.

If you need more help in accomplishing your other QBO tasks, please let me know by adding a comment below. Have a good day!
 

Hi Sheila

Thanks for your response. 

"QuickBooks Online (QBO) has the ability to add multiple user types to be able to give different access, limiting each user to what he or she can view and change. With that said, we'll need to add a user in QuickBooks Online to manage their roles and limit their access to specific tasks."

Whilst I can add another user, I am not able to either add multiple user types nor select anything other than Company admin, which gives them the ability to modify/change everything in the file. There is no option either to manage roles.   Perhaps it has something to do with the subscription as we only have the very basic QBO subscription?  Either way, I am not able to add a user with read only access either as an accountant or additional user.

Thanks for getting back to us, Lynne.

We can add 2 in-house accountant in every QBO subscription plan. Here's the user limits for each subscription version:

QuickBooks Online Simple Start : 1 billable user + 2 accounting firms

QuickBooks Online Essentials     : 2 billable user + 2 accounting firms

QuickBooks Online Plus                : 5  billable user + 2 accounting firms

QuickBooks Online Advanced      : 25 billable user + 2 accounting firms

Since your plan is the basic or the Simple Start version, you're unable to add another user on file since it is a single user file only. If you need to add a new user, you need to upgrade the subscription to higher tier level.

Here's how you can add an accountant user in your QBO file:

1. Click on the Settings icon.
2. Click on Manage users.
3. Click on Accountants tab.
4. Enter your accountants email address and click on Invite.

As for the feature you are looking to be able to add read-only access to the accountant in QBO is not yet available at the moment.

Check this link to learn more about: Add accountant users in QuickBooks Online.

Post again in the Community if you have other questions about QuickBooks. 

Thanks Sheila.

I understand that I can invite multiple Accountants but not as "read only" access.

As we have simple start QBO, this is a single user file, so no option to add another user and define roles.

So in short, I guess answer is no - we cannot add our Accountant as a user in any way with "read only" access.

Thanks for your assistance.