What to do if you can't accept client invites in QuickBooks Online Accountant

Learn what to do if a client invites you to become their accountant, but you can't connect.

Clients can invite you to become their accountant. This connects their QuickBooks Online company file to your firm so you can review and make edits to their books.

If you can't accept their invite or connect their company files, don't worry. Here's how to fix invite issues so you can start reviewing your client's books.

Step 1: Check your sign-in info

If you already have a QuickBooks Online Accountant firm, make sure your client sent the invite to the correct email address. It should be the one tied to the user ID you use to sign in.

1. Open the invite email.
2. Select Accept Invitation.
3. Sign in with your existing user ID and password.
4. If you see your client’s account listed in the Clients tab, you’re all set to manage their books.

Step 2: Check for web browser issues

If you have other QuickBooks companies open in browser windows or tabs, sign out of them, then try to accept your client's invite again.

If you still can't connect, there may be a web browser issue. Open the invite manually:

1. Open the invite email.
2. Right-click the Accept Invitation link and copy the web address.
3. Open a new private web browser. In Google Chrome, this is called an Incognito window. For other browsers, it's a Private window or Private browser.
4. Right-click the address bar and paste the copied web address.

This opens the sign-in page manually. Enter the user ID and password you use for your QuickBooks Online Accountant firm.

Step 3: Ask your client to cancel the invite

If you are unable to successfully accept the invite using Step 1: Check your sign-in info or Step 2: Check web browser issues, check the invitation date.

Multiple active invitations can cause system errors and override previous invitations, so best practice is to cancel active invitations and send a fresh one.

Client invites expire after 48 hours. If the invite was sent close to or over 48 hours ago, don't ask your client to resend the invite. Instead, ask them to follow these steps to delete the original invite:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online as a primary admin.
2. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Manage users.
3. Select the Accounting firms tab.
4. Look for your accountant firm.
5. In the Action column, select the small arrow ▼ icon and then select Delete. If they see any duplicate invites, also delete those.
6. Confirm that the account has not reached its usage limit for accountant users.

Now they can send you a new invite. If necessary, follow Step 2: Check web browser issues again to accept your client's invite.

Step 4: Check your version of Outlook

Some customers are experiencing the following error when accepting a new user invite from their email:

"Wrong link. You have clicked on an invalid link. Please make sure that you have typed the link correctly."

This error is due to the designated character limit for links in older versions of Outlook on Windows systems.

Workarounds

• Accept the invite using Outlook online instead of the Outlook application on your computer or another web mail client, or:
• Accept the invite using a mobile device, or:
• Update your Outlook program on Windows to the most recent version.

We are working to resolve this issue and hope to have a permanent solution in an upcoming release.