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User roles and access rights

by Intuit1061 Updated about 10 hours ago

Note: The QuickBooks Online mobile app supports admin and standard all access. If you have another role, you’ll need to use the web app instead.

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About user roles

Roles decide what people on your account can do with QuickBooks. Your account has a limited number of people who can be assigned to “billable” roles. People with “non-billable” roles don’t count toward this limit. 

You can also invite your accountant as a firm user so they can review your app company file.

Common billable roles

You can see and do tasks in every part of the account, including changes to people’s permissions and roles, and other admin tasks. 

  • When you first set up the account, you are assigned the primary admin role. The primary admin can also give people the company admin role.
  • If you are a company admin, you can perform the tasks above, except changing or reassigning the primary admin.

Note: Only admins can add, edit, or delete other admins, even if someone has permission to manage other people’s permissions or roles.

You can see and do everything with customers and sales, and vendors and purchases. You can also:

  • Add, edit, and delete employees
  • Change preferences
  • View activity log
  • Create, edit, and delete budgets
  • Add, edit, and delete accounts
  • View and categorize online bank feeds
  • Make deposits and transfer funds
  • Reconcile accounts and make journal entries
  • View all reports
  • Manage sales tax data and settings
  • Access and manage aspects of currency and multicurrency
  • Manage payroll if QuickBooks Online Payroll is enabled

In QuickBooks Online Accountant, you can also be assigned the Standard all access (can’t pay bills) role. Firm members can use this to access their clients' companies who have QuickBooks Online Advanced/QuickBooks Bill Pay Elite.

Note: This role was originally the “Standard all access without payroll” role. It was renamed since May 2024.

You can access all bookkeeping and account tools, and financial reports. You can’t access payroll, manage other roles, or do admin tasks. 

You can see and do everything with customers and sales, and vendors and purchases. You can also:

  • View activity log
  • Create, edit, and delete budgets
  • Add, edit, and delete accounts
  • View and categorize online bank feeds
  • Make deposits and transfer funds
  • Reconcile accounts and make journal entries
  • View all reports except payroll reports
  • Manage sales tax data and settings
  • Access and manage aspects of currency and multi-currency

You can access all bookkeeping transactions and tools. You can't access company financial reports, payroll, time, or budgets.

You can:

  • Enter estimates, invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, refunds, charges, and credits
  • Create and delete statements
  • Receive payments from customers
  • Add, edit, and delete customers, products, and services
  • View vendors
  • View customers and accounts receivable (A/R) reports
  • View vendor and A/P reports
  • Enter bills from vendors
  • Pay bills, write and print checks, and view check reports
  • Enter cash and credit card purchases
  • Add, edit, and delete projects
  • Add invoices, expenses, bills, time, purchase orders, project estimates, and receive payments to projects

You can't:

  • View financial reports like P&L, balance sheet, or cash flow
  • Approve bills or pay bills online
  • Manage and run payroll
  • Add, edit, or delete vendors

Note: This role was originally the “Standard limited customers only.” It was renamed May 2024 and given the ability to record bank deposits.

You can see and do everything with customers and sales, and accounts receivable (A/R) reports. You can also:

  • Enter estimates, invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, and refunds
  • Enter charges and credits
  • Create and delete statements
  • Receive payments from customers
  • Fill out timesheets for anyone
  • Add, edit, and delete customers, products, and services
  • Enter bank deposits
  • View customer and A/R reports
  • View tax rates and agency settings
  • Use and adjust sales tax in sales transactions and general journal entries (such as manually overriding calculated tax amounts)
  • Add, edit, and delete currencies
  • Edit exchange rates
  • Add, edit, and delete projects
  • Add invoices, time, project estimates, and receive payments to projects

You can't:

  • Print checks (including refunds)
  • Make bills and purchases billable to customers
  • Add, edit, and delete accounts and inventory
  • View bank registers
  • See total income and expenses on home, vendor, and customer pages
  • Prepare and file a sales tax return and record sales payments
  • Set up multicurrency
  • Perform home currency adjustments
  • Add expenses, bills, and purchase orders to projects

Note: This role was originally the “Standard limited vendors only” role. It was renamed May 2024.

You can see and do everything with expenses, vendors, and accounts payable (A/P) reports. You can:

  • Enter bills from vendors
  • Enter cash and credit card purchases
  • Pay bills, write checks, and view check detail reports
  • Print checks (except refunds)
  • Add, edit, and delete vendors, products, and services
  • View vendor and A/P reports
  • View tax rates and agencies
  • Use/adjust sales tax on purchase, card, and banking transactions, including overriding calculated sales tax amounts)
  • Run tax reports or view tax history
  • Prepare and file sales tax returns and record sales tax payments
  • Add, edit, and delete currencies
  • Edit exchange rates

You can't:

  • Add, edit, and delete accounts and inventory
  • View bank registers
  • Set up new tax agencies or change tax settings or change existing tax rates, tax methods, or agency settings
  • Set up multicurrency
  • Perform home currency adjustments

You can only submit timesheets.

You can't use any of the accounting features in QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite.

Note: You can’t assign this role to new people after May 2024.

You can see and do everything with customers and sales, and vendors and purchases. You can: 

  • Enter estimates, invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, refunds, charges, and credits
  • Create and delete statements
  • Receive payments from customers
  • Fill out timesheets for anyone
  • Add, edit, and delete customers, vendors, products, and services
  • View customer registers
  • View customer and A/R reports
  • View vendor and accounts payable (A/P) reports
  • Enter bills from vendors
  • Pay bills, write and print checks, and view check reports
  • Make bills and purchases billable to customers
  • Enter cash and credit card purchases
  • Add, edit, and delete projects
  • Add invoices, expenses, bills, time, purchase orders, project estimates, and receive payments to projects

You can't:

  • Add, edit, and delete accounts and inventory
  • View bank registers
  • See total income and expense amounts on home, vendor, and customer pages

Note: This role is only available for Intuit Enterprise Suite. It can be further customized.

You have full access to the projects module, including project reports and transactions. You can:

  • View, create, edit, and delete projects
  • View the project overview page and key metrics like project profitability
  • View, create, and edit and delete project cost estimates and change orders
  • View transactions like invoices, sales receipts, payments, bills, expenses, checks, purchase orders, bank deposits, time charges,.
  • Manage project tasks
  • View time activity
  • Access all project related reports
  • Add and edit customers
  • View vendors

You can't:

  • Access company P&L, balance sheet or other financial reports (requires separate permissions)
  • Access employee paychecks (requires separate payroll permissions)
  • Create or edit invoices, bills, purchase orders, expenses, checks (requires separate permissions)
  • Modify vendors (requires separate permissions)
  • Pay bills online (requires separate permissions)
  • Access bank feeds, registers and chart of accounts (requires separate permissions)

You can only access sales transactions and customers.

You can only access expense transactions and vendors.

You can only access inventory and vendors.

Note: QuickBooks Online Accountant role only.

You can only access payroll, expenses and payroll reports.

Custom roles let you create your own roles and define access to specific areas in QuickBooks Online and Intuit Enterprise Suite. This gives you even more control on what your team can see or do.

QuickBooks Bill Pay billable roles

These roles are available with QuickBooks Online Essentials, QuickBooks Online Plus, and QuickBooks Online Advanced, if you are subscribed to a QuickBooks Bill Pay Elite plan.

You can only approve bills. 

You can't pay bills or take any other action related to bills or payments.

You can add bills and mark bills as paid. 

You can't approve or pay bills.

You can view and pay bills, and edit vendor info. 

You can't add bills or take any other action related to bills.

QuickBooks Online Payroll billable roles

The following roles are available only when you subscribe to QuickBooks Online Payroll.

Note: This role is available to QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite customers. This includes standalone QuickBooks Online Payroll or attached to QuickBooks Online Essentials, QuickBooks Online Plus, or QuickBooks Online Advanced.

You can see and do everything with QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Time. You can:

  • Add, edit, delete employees
  • Run payroll and view payroll reports
  • Approve timesheets
  • Manage benefits

You can't:

  • Manage users
  • View expenses, sales, banking, and company financials

Common non-billable roles

You can see all reports, except reports that show payroll or contact info. You can create custom reports, and add report groups, but can’t view the actual transactions. 

You can’t access the audit log.

Note: This role isn’t available to QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite accounts that are connected to QuickBooks Time. If you integrate QuickBooks Time, this role is removed.

You can access timesheets and time reports, and enter timesheets for yourself. 

Note: Time tracking only users can’t be vendors who track payments for 1099. If you need to track time for 1099 vendors, you can enter timesheets for them. Or you can add them as a user with a different email address.

Note: This role is only available in QuickBooks Advanced or Intuit Enterprise Suite.

You can only submit expense claims.

You can take payments through QuickBooks GoPayment, but can’t access QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite. Your payments will sync in real time with the QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite account.

Related links

QuickBooks Online AdvancedQuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online Payroll CoreQuickBooks Online Payroll EliteQuickBooks Online Payroll PremiumQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple Start

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