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Manage users in QuickBooks Online Bureau Dashboard

by Intuit• Updated 8 months ago

In this article, we're going to talk about the two different types of users in the QuickBooks Online Bureau Payroll Dashboard.

  1. Bureau Managers manage a team of payroll processors and can add new users
  2. Payroll Processors processes the payroll for particular clients, with limited permissions

All Payroll Bureau Users MUST be either Primary Admin or a Company Admin User in QuickBooks Online Accountant

Getting Started

When adding Bureau Payroll licenses to QuickBooks Online Accountant, only the Primary Admin has access to these client licenses. The Primary Admin must allocate which users, who must be Company Admins, will have access to those clients in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

NOTE: Company Admins have visibility into the firms own books in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

The first user to access Bureau Payroll, who must be a Primary or Company Admin User in QuickBooks Online Accountant, will become the Bureau Manager. If you want to give a user access to specific clients, this must be done in both QuickBooks Online Accountant by the Primary Admin and in Bureau Payroll by a Payroll Bureau Manager.

There are two types of users: Payroll Processors and Bureau Managers.

Payroll Processors

  • Are responsible for running pay runs in a business but don't have admin access.
  • Can see the bureau activity feed and create workflows and business templates.
  • Can't add other users to the bureau or business view without explicit access.
  • Can access the business payroll file when added to the bureau dashboard.
  • Don't have access to manage users.

Bureau Managers

  • Have access to all brands and businesses.
  • Can manage user access and can add both other bureau admins and payroll processors.

Adding & Managing Users

The Bureau Payroll Dashboard is only available to QuickBooks Online Accountant users with Primary Admin or Company Admin rights.

  1. Ensure the user being added has Company Admin access or higher in QuickBooks Online Accountant.
  2. Ask the new user to log in to QuickBooks Online Accountant, go to Accountant Tools, and select Payroll Bureau. They should then allow access to the Payroll Bureau Dashboard application.
  3. The new user will see a message stating they don't have access to any businesses, and they will be instructed to contact the Bureau Manager to be granted permission.
  4. As the Bureau Manager, access the Bureau Payroll Dashboard and go to Admin. Select the user who needs access, indicated by the "Set up required" message highlighted in red next to their name.
  5. Now you can allocate their access level and, if necessary, the businesses they will manage. This can be done at a business level or a brand level.

If you don't want to grant Company Admin access, contact your account manager. You will need access to a separate instance of QuickBooks Online Accountant dedicated to your Payroll Bureau, where you can grant the necessary access to your user(s).

For further assistance, reach out to your account manager or the support team.

You can get a comprehensive overview of each user's information.

  • Name: shows the user's name and email address.
  • Access level: shows if the user is a Bureau admin or Payroll processor.
  • Businesses assigned to: shows the number of businesses the user has access to. If you select the link, you can see the list of business names.
  • Date: the date the user was given access.
  • Added by: shows the name of the user who created the access.
  • Edit/disable: you can select the pencil icon if you need to make changes. The disable icon blocks user access. If you disable a user, you can reactivate them later by ticking the Show disabled users box.

There are three ways you can add more businesses to an existing user. These are:

  1. Assign them a Brand, multiple brands or All Brands
  2. Check the Available to all businesses box to give them access to all businesses in the partner account.
  3. Use the dropdown to individually select the businesses you want them to have access to.

Bureau admins can remove businesses from a user. To do this:

  1. Select Edit user.
  2. Select the bin icon next to the business name.
  3. Select Save.
  4. Confirm the removal of the payroll admin access for those businesses.

Note: Business can only be removed from the user if it's not associated with a brand or reseller/partner. The user's other permissions will remain the same.

There may be scenarios where you need to deactivate a user, like when an employee leaves your bureau. Deactivating a user will prevent them from accessing:

  • The bureau dashboard
  • Selected bureaus and any brands
  • All payrolls they currently manage
  1. Go to User management.
  2. Look for the user you want to deactivate.
  3. Select the disable user icon.

The user will no longer appear in the User management list unless you select Show disabled users.

When you deactivate a user, you can later choose to reinstate their access. Here's how:

  1. Go to User management.
  2. Select Show disabled users.
  3. Select the Reinstate user icon.

Once the user is reactivated, they will regain access to the bureau dashboard and will be able to manage any payrolls they were previously responsible for.

Need more help?

Bookmark the Bureau Dashboard Resource Hub for quick access to more helpful how-to guides.

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